Revamping Soil Health Card Scheme
Group 2
A,P, Telangana, Tamilnadu, M.P, U.P, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, H.P, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland,
Mizoram
Chairperson: Joint Secretary (INM)
Group Leader: Commissioner Agriculture, Maharashtra
Issues deliberated
• SHC in current year - 2019-20
• SHC – future strategies
• Soil Sampling method
• Period of cycle
• Soil testing infrastructure
• Awareness generation/Village level Extension
• Advanced technologies for soil testing
• Others
strategy for SHC in current year - 2019-20
• Holiday to soil testing
• Large scale 10-15 ha size village level demonstrations- convincing farmers
• Farm holding based testing - village level pilots - use the experience for preparation of future plan
• Extension at village level- volunteers/ RAWE graduates / FAI, Melas
• Focus on infrastructure development keeping in view the landholdings in the state
• Completion of existing projects /demand for new
SHC-future strategies- recommendations
• Soli sampling
• Farm Holding wise testing : demand based /-farmer / volunteers to get sample for testing- payment of sample collection cost of SHC to farmers/volunteers
• Small grids- 1h grid in irrigated & 5 ha in rainfed areas
• Cycle period
• 5 years Cycle- with smaller grid size of 1 ha and 5 ha for irrigated and non- irrigated
• No cycle- demand based
• Quality of sample
• Volunteer/ farmer to be trained technically
• States to be given freedom to choose cycle/ demand based
Soil Testing Infrastructure
•14.5 crore landholdings; 3 crore samples/ year
•STLs of govt / private/ entrepreneurs needed
•Developing modalities for roping in Private agencies
• Fixed targets to existing private labs on payment
• Need for a back ended subsidy scheme for setting up STL in private sector under RKVY or SHM scheme
• MoU for sample testing of fixed samples
•Government lab at district level
•ICP in major labs / increase financial assistance for ICP
•New labs to have Facility for adequate manpower under scheme
•Village level labs by AC&ABC, Co-operatives, PACS, SHGs, FPOs, FPCs, Ex-servicemen, etc. with fixed targets but quality check of minilabs needed
•At least one STL should be NABL accredited in each state as referral lab.
SHC specific extension services at village level
• Haryana model: engage NSS volunteers / cadets for strengthening SHC specific extension services at village level; pay from SHC cost
• UG students under 3 month Rural & Agriculture Work Experience (RAWE) module of SAUs for extension
• Caravan based publicity
• Retailers of PP and fertilisers to display posters of Soil Health management
• Payment linked or incentive linked SHC to farmers to motivate them for SHCs
Incentives to farmers
• Sugar factories to provide Incentives to farmers/FPOs applying fertilizer based on SHC recommendation can be given by sugar factories
• Incentive be given to the farmers bringing samples to the laboratory for testing
• SHC to be made mandatory for getting benefit under various agriculture schemes
• Linking SHC to PMKISAN subsidy
• Linking SHC unique number with DOF portal for fertilizer subsidy.
Development of Hand held devices for soil testing
• Haryana : Hand held device by Singapore based Olympus company which is under calibration and validation process. The device is costing around Rs. 18-20 lakh that give test result in 3 minute per sample.
• Maharashtra : Device by Harvard based MIT company that analyze soil sample at a cost of Rs. 150-200 per sample.
• Bihar: A new Dry soil testing device costing about Rs. 1 crore is under validation and results are likely to be available by year end
Other suggestions
• Promotion of crop specific, area specific customised fertilisers based on SHC recommendations
• Availability of micronutrients at the same dealer of fertilisers
• Support for manpower to be included in the scheme
• SHC to be integral part of all agri/horti schemes
• Development of STCR equations for remaining districts
9
Thank you
10
