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What is soil health card scheme? Check eligibility, cost and challenges

Under SHC scheme, a soil health card contains soil health indicators and descriptive concepts based on farmers' knowledge of local natural resources and practical experience

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SHC offers two sets of fertiliser recommendations for six crops, including recommendations for organic manures
BS Web Team New Delhi
5 min read Last Updated : Jun 28 2022 | 7:58 AM IST

Farmers across India could be sometimes unsure of crops they should grow for maximum yield, or they need to test soil quality.

To assist them, the government has the 'Soil Health Card'. The SHC scheme, with the tagline "Swasth Dhara Khet Hara", is under the Ministry of Agriculture and promoted by the Department of Agriculture and Co-operation.

What is a soil health card?

A soil health card provides information on the nutrient status of soil, along with recommendations on the dosage of nutrients to be utilised for improving its fertility and health.

It is printed document issued to farmers once in three years for their land holdings. Farmers can take a printout of the card from the SHC portal, which has a database of all harvesting seasons and is available in 21 languages.

Who is eligible for a soil health card?

All farmers in India are eligible for the SHC scheme. They must contact the agriculture department in their region for more information.

Importance of soil health card

The government launched the SHC scheme as an initiative to curb the overuse of urea or nitrogenous fertilisers causing a deficiency of nutrients in soil like potassium, nitrogen, sulphur, zinc, boron, copper and phosphorus.

Farmers can assess and raise the soil and crop productivity using key inputs from the card that carries crop-wise recommendations and other physical parameters of fertilisers and nutrients required for farm lands. With the help of the SHC, farmers can improve integrated nutrient management by judiciously using the soil nutrients. The card serves as a step-by-step process to address nutritional deficiencies in soil management practices.

The soil health card helps in reducing the cost of production and determining changes in soil health affected by land management.

The SHC carries corrective measures that farmers are required to adopt for the sustenance of a better crop yield. It is a field-specific report that helps the farmers to receive crop-wise recommendations of required fertilizers and nutrients in each type of soil.

SHC offers two sets of fertiliser recommendations for six crops, including recommendations for organic manures.

How to apply for soil health card?

  • Visit the official website of soil health card scheme -- soilhealth.dac.gov.in
  • Click on 'Log In' and select your state and click on ‘continue’ or click on 'Register New User'
  • Enter required credentials like; user log in account details, language, user organisation details etc. and then, click on 'Submit'
  • Log in with your username and password

 

 

When is soil health card day?

The Soil Health Card Day commemorates the day when the SHC scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 19, 2015 at Suratgarh in Rajasthan. The Ministry of Agriculture introduced the SHC scheme on December 5, 2015.

What information does a soil health card carry?

A soil health card includes the nutrient status of soil with respect to 12 nutrients of farm holdings: pH, Nitrogen (N), Potassium (K), Sulphur (S), Phosphorus (P), Zinc (Zn), Electrical Conductivity (EC), Manganese (Mn), Copper (Cu), Organic Carbon (OC), Boron (B), Iron (Fe). Based on this, the SHC will also include fertilizer recommendations and soil amendments required for the farm land.

A soil health card contains soil health indicators and descriptive concepts based on farmers' knowledge of local natural resources and practical experience. Soil health indicators on the SHC card can be understood without the help of laboratory or technical equipment.

How uniform soil health cards are generated across India?

National Informatics Center (NIC) produces uniform soil health cards through its web portal (soilhealth.dac.gov.in) which has four modules:

  • Registration of soil samples
  • Samples testing in soil testing laboratory
  • Fertilizer recommendation based on Soil Test Crop Response (STCR) evaluation
  • Soil sample testing reports

What are soil testing norms to generate a soil health card?

Soil samples are to be divided between a grid of 2.5 ha in the rain-fed area and 10 ha in the irrigated area with the help of revenue maps and GPS tools. The state government collects samples and involves the students of local agriculture and science colleges.

A trained person collects the soil samples from a depth of 15-20 cm by cutting the soil in a 'V' shape and then the selected sample is sent to a soil test laboratory for analysis. The soil samples are taken twice a year, after harvesting seasons of Rabi and Kharif crops, respectively.

State Governments are provided with an amount of Rs 190 per soil sample that covers the cost of collection, testing, generation and distribution of a soil health card to the farmer.

Challenges with SHC scheme

  • Inadequate soil testing labs and centres
  • Soil health card focuses more on chemical nutrients
  • Soil health card does not include essential characteristics like moisture retention and microbial activity
  • Lack of development communications specialists who can help some farmers to follow the recommended practices, understand the SHC content and overcome language barriers
  • Some important features are not included such as -- water resources or soil moisture, depth, slope, color and texture, cropping history, and micro-biological activity etc
  • No SHC awareness and distribution campaigns before the sowing season
  • Lack of co-ordination among farmers and agricultural extension officers
  • Number of soil samples per unit area not based on soil variability

How to locate soil testing laboratory?

  • Go to -- soilhealth.dac.gov.in
  • Click on 'Locate soil testing laboratory' under 'Farmer's Corner' tab on the homepage
  • Select state and district and then click on 'View Report' option

Topics :Soil healthfarmersAgricultureNarendra ModiFarmingagri schemesfarm sectorFertilizersMinistry Of Agricultureagriculture sectorAgriculture reform

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