Centre to revamp soil health card initiative to aid farmers

New Delhi: The government is redesigning the soil health card initiative, targeting small and marginal farmers with an investment of ₹596.51 crore to analyze 50 million soil specimens in the coming three years.

The revamped programme is set for a launch by the month-end.

Intense cultivation and excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides have been affecting India’s soil fertility. The revamped soil health card is an add-on to ongoing efforts to promote organic farming.

Through the scheme, farmers will be notified about which fertilizers to pick for cultivating a particular crop, two officials aware of the plans said.

“As part of the revamped scheme, the government is also focusing on creating a network of around 7,500 soil health entrepreneurs at the gram panchayat and block level,” one of the officials said.

“Once the network is created, entrepreneurs will be given a small, automated soil testing machine, and farmers can get a service from them at a cost decided by the government. The cost will be minimal as farmers have to get their soil tested before every crop cycle,” the officer added.

Given the economic and political sensitivities surrounding the farm sector, the revamped scheme will address the issues concerning small and marginal farmers.

Currently, one soil sample is collected for every 2.5 hectares of irrigated land and 10 hectares of rain-fed land— decided by the district administrations of the agriculture department. However, there are challenges in verifying the authenticity of the data.

Although the average land holding of small and marginal farmers is less than 2.5 hectares, the reports they receive are for large land holdings. This is because multiple farmers who could be farming the same piece of land are counted separately.

The soil sample reports are crucial because farmers plant crops and use fertilizers based on the soil testing results, an industry official familiar with the scheme said.

Aiming to give farmers an easy decision-tool rather than a complex report, the government is also redesigning the soil health card portal, with emoticons indicating soil health. The revamped portal will make soil health information easily accessible and available.

Farmers will no longer have to visit laboratories; instead, soil samples will be collected from their doorsteps and the report will be sent by SMS.