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Source: The post is based on the article “New Soil Health Card Scheme” published in PIB on 11th August 2023.
What is the News?
The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has informed Lok Sabha about the Soil Health Cards (SHCs) Scheme.
What is a Soil Health Cards (SHCs) Scheme?
The Soil Health Cards (SHCs) Scheme was initiated in the fiscal year 2014-15 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Aim: To aid State Governments in distributing soil health cards to all farmers across the nation.
– These cards furnish farmers with information about their soil’s nutrient composition, along with recommendations for applying the appropriate amount of nutrients to enhance soil health and fertility.
Features: Soil Health Card provides two sets of fertilizer recommendations for six crops including recommendations of organic manures.
– Farmers can also get recommendations for additional crops on demand. They can also print the card as their own from the SHC portal. SHC portal has a farmers database of both the cycles and is available in 21 languages for the benefit of the farmers.
What are the new changes made to the Soil Health Card Scheme?
Firstly, the scheme has been merged in Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) cafeteria scheme as its one component under name ‘Soil Health & Fertility’ from the year 2022-23.
Secondly, the government has made some technological interventions in the Soil Health Card Scheme. The Soil Health Card portal has been revamped and integrated with a Geographic Information System (GIS) system so that all the test results are captured and seen on a map.
What is the significance of the Soil Health card scheme?
National Productivity Council (NPC) carried out a study on ‘Soil Testing Infrastructure for Faster Delivery of Soil Health Card in India’ in 2017. The study was conducted in 76 districts in 19 States. It was found that: –
– Application of fertilizer and micronutrients based on Soil Health Card (SHC) recommendations resulted in 8-10 % of savings.
– Overall increase in the yield of crops to the tune of 5-6% reported by adopting the SHC recommendations.
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