Context

Evaluation of Soil Health Card Scheme has revealed significant reduction in usage of area in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra.

Soil Health Card Scheme

• Soil Health Card Scheme was launched in 2015 to issue ‘Soil card’ to farmers which will carry crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilizers required for the individual farms.
• This is aimed to help farmers to improve productivity through judicious use of inputs.
• It is promoted by the Department of Agriculture & Co-operation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare.
• It is being implemented through the Department of Agriculture of all the State and Union Territory Governments
• It is made available once in a cycle of 3 years, which indicates the status of soil health of a farmer’s holding for that particular period.
  

The unique features of SHC scheme are:-

• Collecting soil samples at a grid of 2.5 ha in irrigated area and 10 ha in un-irrigated areas.
• GPS enabled soil sampling to create a systematic database and allow monitoring of changes in the soil health over the years.
• Uniform approach in soil testing adopted for 12 parameters viz. primary nutrients (NPK); secondary nutrient (S); micronutrients (B,Zn, Mn, Fe & Cu); and other (pH, EC & OC) for comprehensiveness.
• It also provides crop wise fertiliser recommendations.
• It would also lead to crop diversification in the country.

Government interventions to promote Soil Health Card

• Extension activities like farmers training, demonstration on farmer’s field, farmer’s mela/camps, promotion of micronutrients and workshops are organized by State Governments.
• To enable quick soil sample testing and distribution of soil health cards, the soil test infrastructure has been upgraded and soil testing labs have been sanctioned to States.