Government has launched a comprehensive scheme to provide soil health card to all the farmers in the Country

STARRED QUESTION NO. 334

DR. CHANDRA SEN JADON

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृषि एवं किसान कल्याण मंत्री be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has launched a comprehensive scheme to provide soil health card to all the farmers across the country;

(b) if so, the norms laid down for issuing soil health card to farmers along with the policy guidelines issued to sustain the fertility of soil;

(c) the details of the funds allocated for this purpose during the current year, State-wise;


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(d) whether the Government proposes to set up soil testing and research laboratories and mobile soil testing laboratories at various places in the country; and

(e) if so, whether such laboratories are also proposed to be set up in Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh?

(a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 334  DUE FOR REPLY ON 17TH  MARCH, 2020.

(a) & (b)  Government has been implementing Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme since 2015 to provide soil health cards to all farmers across the country once in a cycle of 2 years. Soil Health Card provides information to farmers on nutrient status of their soil based on 12 parameters namely primary nutrients (N,P & K); secondary nutrient (S); micronutrients (B, Zn, Mn, Fe, & Cu); and others (pH, EC & OC) along with recommendations on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and its fertility for major crops of the area. In cycle-1(2015-17), 10.74 crore and in cycle-2 (2017-19), 11.75 crore SHCs were distributed to the farmers. During 2019-20, a pilot project ‘Development of Model Villages’ has been initiated in 6954 villages( one village/ revenue block) where individual farm holding based sample collection with farmer’s participation is ensured along with awareness campaign and demonstration of application of fertilizers as per prescription of SHC. So far 14.32 lakh soil health cards have been issued in the Model Villages along with demonstrations.

(c)    State- wise funds allocated for SHC scheme during the current year (2019-20) is given at  Annexure.

(d) Static and mobile Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs) are sanctioned as per proposals / requirement of State Government under Soil Health Management component of National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA). During 2014-15 to 2019-20, 10845 STLs have been sanctioned to States including 429 static STLs, 102 mobile STLs, 8752 mini STLs and 1562 village level STLs. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has been sanctioned 1076 Mini STLs for KVKs for creating awareness about soil health among farmers through testing of soil samples.


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(e)   As per information from the State Government of Uttar Pradesh, the state already has 243 static soil testing labs, having STLs in each district including 3 in Ayodhya, the erstwhile Faizabad district.

Sl. No.	State	Amount (Rs – lakh)
1	Andhra Pradesh	1197.41
2	Arunachal Pradesh	159.07
3	Assam	610.81
4	Bihar	1534.95
5	Chhattisgarh	239.50
6	Goa	19.74
7	Gujarat	432.78
8	Haryana	228.06
9	Himachal Pradesh	172.76
10	Jammu & Kashmir	670.06
11	Jharkhand	419.86
12	Karnataka	343.15
13	Kerala	515.39
14	Madhya Pradesh	668.65
15	Maharashtra	854.69
16	Manipur	100.66
17	Meghalaya	59.31
18	Mizoram	39.18
19	Nagaland	212.95
20	Odisha	638.08
21	Punjab	201.43
22	Rajasthan	577.76
23	Sikkim	48.00
24	Tamil Nadu	556.36
25	Telangana	868.12
26	Tripura	164.13
27	Uttar Pradesh	1330.37
28	Uttarakhand	160.80
29	West Bengal	656.19
30	Puducherry	18.60
31	Dadar & Nagar Havelli	5.53
32	Andaman & Nicobar Islands	17.74
33	Ladakh	0.00
	Total	13722.09

Source : Lok Sabha