soil health cards

SEMINAR

NEW INITIATIVES IN AGRICULTURE : AN ANALYSIS OF SOIL HEALTH CARD

SCHEME BY :

KRISHNA D K 20510

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A Glance at New Initiatives in Agriculture Since 2014I. SOIL HEALTH CARDS(SHCs)

II. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna (PKVY)III. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana

(PMKSY)IV. Mera gaon, mera Gaurav V. Student READYVI. MUDRA BANKVII.DD kissan 24x7 channel VIII.Jan dhan yojana etc….

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Soil Health Card INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT {INM} DIVISION

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND COOPERATIONGOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE

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Relevance of the topic: 4

What is a Soil Health Card (SHC) ?

Soil health card is field-specific detailed report of soilfertility status and other important soil parameters that affect crop productivity

It also provides an advisory on soil test based use of fertilizers and amendments

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Soil Health Card Scheme• Soil Health Card (SHC) provides information to the farmers on

soil acidity/salinity/alkalinity and nutrient content.

• Scheme proposes for issue of SHC along with soil test-based site-specific fertilizer recommendations, once in every 3 years.

• Soil testing will be done following uniform sampling and soil analysis procedures.

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It contains..

At present Soil health card contains information on EC, pH,

Organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium with micro

nutrients which is very vital for judicious fertilizer application.

Soil health card also contains the fertilizers recommendation for

major Kharif , Rabi and Summer crop

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Why new Scheme on SHC? The scheme is intended to promote balanced fertilisation, leading to

improved soil health

To curtail the subsidy on fertilizer

To promote site-specific nutrient management involving soil test-based application of fertilizers

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Why new scheme on SHC?

GOI provides assistance to State Govts. under SHM component of NMSA, for

- Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs)- Mobile Soil Testing Laboratories (MSTLs)- Soil testing kits Soil analysis and distribution of SHCs is carried out by the State

Governments. No uniform norms are followed by states in this exercise.

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Scheme Objectives

To issue soil health cards for every 3 years, to all farmers of the country,.

To strengthen functioning of Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs) through capacity building, involvement of agriculture students and effective linkage with (ICAR) / (SAUs).

To diagnose soil fertility related constraints with standardized procedures for sampling uniformly across states and analysis and design taluqa / block level fertilizer recommendations in targeted districts.

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Scheme Objectives

To develop and promote soil test based nutrient management in the districts for enhancing nutrient use efficiency.

To build capacities of district and state level staff and of progressive farmers for promotion of nutrient management practices

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Norms of scheme Card to carry crop wise recommendations of nutrients /

fertilisers for different soil types Details will be displayed on the basis of soil tests Help farmers in judicious use of fertilisers .organic matter s

and water Card to be issued for all 14 crore farmland holdings in three

years Soil samples for testing to be drawn in a grid of 2.5 hectare in

irrigated areas Soil samples for testing to be drawn in a grid of 10 hectare in

rain-fed areas

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Previous works done Patel and Chauhan (2012) found that one third (35 per cent) of

farmers had neutral attitude towards soil health card programme, while 20 per cent of farmers had strongly favourable attitude. Equal number (17 per cent) of farmers had unfavourable and strongly unfavourable attitude towards soil health card programme. Rest of them (11 per cent) had favourable attitude towards soil health card programme, respectively.

reference : Patel, J. K., & Chauhan, N. B. (2012). Attitude of farmers towards soil health card (SHC) programme. Asian Journal of Soil Science, 7(1), 114-116.

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Previous works done

Makadia (2012) advocates strengthening of extension and line department machineries to provide soil health cards and technical guidance to all farmers as effective strategy.

Reference : Dr.Jayantilal Jerajbhai Makadia, (2012), Regional imbalances and impact of Soil Health Card on fertilizer consumption in Gujarat

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Previous works done

Wani et.al (2012) concluded that widespread secondary and micronutrient deficiencies have led to a deteriorated soil health which is reason to low fertilizer response and crop yields in rainfed areas of India. The degrading soil health trend can be reversed through a (Soil) science led approach of adoption of soil test based application of deficient secondary and micronutrients to harness existing productivity potential on a sustainable basis.

Reference : Wani, S. P., Chander, G., & Sahrawat, K. L. (2012). Soil health awareness: soil science at doorsteps of the farmers.

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Success stories Almost all States have indicated plans for substantial expansion in soil testing programme during

11th and 12th Plans with funding from the National Project on Management of Soil Health & Fertility (NPMSH&F), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Macro Management of Agriculture and State Plan.

Gujarat : Soil Health Cards have been provided to 12,70,000 farmers of the state till now. It has been envisaged to provide more 5.55 lakh soil health cards to the farmers during the current year. The information of nature of soil will be available to the farmers from computer installed in Gram Panchayats under E-gram project.

Karnataka : Bhoochetna programme, implemented in Karnataka and being replicated in Andhra Pradesh, is a good example of collaborative effort (in association with ICRISAT and State Agricultural Universities) with focus on increasing yield.

‘Krishi Mahotsav’ in Gujarat and ‘Apni mitti pehechane abhiyan’ in Uttar Pradesh have been instrumental in rapidly increasing soil testing facilities and issue of soil health cards

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Success stories …Some States (Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Meghalaya and Haryana) have implemented computerization of soil test reports and communication of these reports with appropriate fertilizer use recommendation online or through mobile phones to the farmers. This will greatly help in reducing the time lag between soil analysis and communication of results.

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Components of the scheme 18

Component 1: The Soil Health Card Uniform norms for soil sampling- In irrigated areas large, medium and semi-medium holdings

(size more than 2.5 ha) will be sampled and tested holding-wise. In case of marginal & small holdings, sampling in a 2.5 ha grid will be followed.

- In rainfed areas, all large holdings (size more than 10 ha) will be sampled and tested holding-wise. In case of medium, semi-medium, small & marginal holdings, samples will be collected and tested in a 10 ha grid.

- States have to develop plan of action for soil sampling involving students and SAUs.

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Component 1: The Soil Health Card

Nutrient Recommendations- Based on soil testing, recommendations are made

in terms of nutrient requirement and also in terms of fertilizer quantity for easy understanding of farmers.

- SHCs could be distributed to farmers in soil testing campaigns/ Kissan Melas.

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Component 1: The Soil Health Card

S. No.

Activities/Components Total Expenditure

per STL1 Sampling Cost@ Rs 22 per sample x10,000 2,20,0002 Engagement of contractual services & training per STL 1,90,0003 Analysis of soil samples (10,000 x Rs. 75) i.e. cost of reagents +

Misc. Exp. (Rs. 70,000 per STL)8,20,000

4 Printing @ Rs. 5 per SHC (10 SHCs per sample for 10,000 soil samples)

5,00,000

5 Distribution of SHCs per STL@ Rs 500 per GP (Rs. 500 x 110GP)

55,000

6 Demonstrations (10 No.) @ Rs. 4,000 per demonstration + training @ Rs. 5,000

45,000

7 Awareness/mission management per STL 22,0008 5 GPS for each STL @ Rs. 6,000 per GPS 30,0009 Total funds required per STL of 10,000 sample capacity 18,82,000

Cost of one Sample Rs. 190/-

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Component 2:Training for soil analysis

One-week hands-on orientation training to soil chemists, students/JRFs for soil analysis and fertilizer recommendation in the batches of 20 participants will be organized at SAUs/ICAR Institutes.

S.

No.

Components Expenditure involved

(Rs.)1. Boarding and lodging @ Rs.

400 per person per day for 20 participants

40,000

2. Stationary & Soil testing manual

5,000

3. Honorarium to guest speaker @ Rs. 1,000 for 5 speakers

5,000

4. Accommodation charges for Halls & other training facilities including lab work

10,000

5. Training for one orientation module/STL

60,000

6. Cost for 800 orientation training module for 2014-15

480 lakh


300 lakh


120 lakh

Total 900 lakh

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Component 3 :Financial assistance for nutrient application

Components Expenditure involved (Rs.)

Gypsum/ phospho-gypsum/ bentonite sulphur

50% of the cost of material limited to Rs. 700 per ha

Micronutrients 50% of the cost limited to Rs. 500 per ha

All Bio-fertilisers 50% of the cost limited to Rs. 300 per ha

Lime/liming materials 50% of the cost of material limited to Rs. 1000 per ha

Total Rs. 2500 per ha

Cost for 1st year (60,000 farmers)

Rs. 15 crore

Cost for 2nd year (90,000 farmers)

Rs. 22.50 crore

Cost for 3rd year (90,000 farmers)

Rs. 22.50 crore

Total Rs. 60.00 crore

In the target villages, financial assistance for soil test-based nutrient balancing will be provided to farmers. Willing farmers will be registered for application of recommended doses through organic and inorganic nutrients.

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Component 4: Capacity building, monitoring and evaluation Orientation for technical and line staff will be conducted by

states with technical backstopping from SAUs/ICAR institutions.

Coordination committees will be constituted in the target districts for facilitating implementation for balanced nutrient practices.

Identified farmers will be registered for financial support for adoption of nutrient packages.

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Abstract of financial norms for capacity building

S.No. Activities/Components Total expenditure (Rs. in Crores)

1 Training for farmers Rs. 24,000 x 20 trainings x 29 States

1.39

2 Training for staff: Rs. 36,000 x 20 trainings x 29 States

2.09

3 I.C.T @ Rs. 12.93 lakh x 29 States 3.75

4 Workshops @ 1.5 lakh x 29 States 0.44

Total for States (each year) 7.67

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Component 5: Mission Management

S.No.

Activities/Components Expenditure (Rs. in lakhs)

1st Year1. Staff at national level Rs. 3.00 lakhs x 12 36.00 2. Staff at state level Rs. 3.35 lakhs x 29 97.15

Total 133.152nd Year

1. Staff at national level Rs. 4.50 lakhs x 12 54.002. Staff at state level Rs. 5.03 lakhs x 29 146.00

Total 200.003rd Year

1. Staff at national level Rs. 4.50 lakhs x 12 54.002. Staff at state level Rs. 5.03 lakhs x 29 146.00

Total 200.00Total for 3 years

1. Staff at national level 144.002. Staff at state level 389.15

Total 533.15

For Mission Management, Advisors / Consultants, Programme Manager, Senior Programmer, Technical Assistants, part-time Consultants, Stenographer, Data Entry Operators and Attendants/ Peons will be engaged on remuneration/ honorarium paid to similar staff engaged in Mission Management Cells/ Technical Support Groups established for other plan schemes or mission being implemented by DAC in consultation with IFD.

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Year-wise budget requirement (Rs. in crores)

S.

No.

Component 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 Total

1. Soil Health Cards @ Rs.190/sample

1st Year: 55 lakh; 2nd Year: 97 lakh3rd Year: 96 lakh; Total: 248 lakh

104.50 184.30 182.40 471.20

2. Training for technical staff @ Rs. 60,000/- training

1st Yr: 800 trainings; 2nd Yr: 500 trainings3rd Yr: 200 trainings; Total: 1500 trainings

4.80 3.00 1.20 9.00

3. Financial assistance @ Rs. 2500/ha

1st Yr: 60,000 farmers; 2nd Yr: 90,000 farmers; 3rd Yr: 90,000 farmersTotal: 2,40,000 farmers

15.00 22.50 22.50 60.00

4. Capacity building and use of ICT in states 7.67 7.67 7.67 23.01

5. Mission Management 1.33 2.00 2.00 5.33

Grand Total 133.30 219.47 215.77 568.54

GOI share 75% 99.98 164.60 161.83 426.41

State share 25% 33.32 54.87 53.94 142.13

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Agencies that may be involved for sampling

a) Directly through Agriculture Department staff and soil testing laboratories.b) By involving Science Colleges and students and its soil testing laboratory staff.c) By SAUs and its soil testing staff.

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Agencies that may be involved in testing

a) By outsourcing to private agencies through tender.b) By outsourcing soil testing laboratories.c)By nominating Science Colleges and providing them equipment.d) Directly through soil testing laboratories.e) KVKs

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Scheme ImplementationThe implementation will be coordinated by Integrated

Nutrient Management (INM) Division, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of Agriculture at National level, through State Governments. State may designate agencies or go for outsourcing.

State Govt. may outsource following activities:i. Soil sampling involving students, farmers, field extension

machinery, etc.ii. Analysis of soil samples involving science/ agriculture

students, JRF of SAUs, ICAR, etc.iii.Use of ICT for database management for faster delivery of

soil health cardsiv.Preparation and distribution of soil health cardsv. Extension services to disseminate crop-specific nutrient

management practices

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State Level Executive Committee (SLEC)1. Approve Annual Action Plan prepared by the State nodal Department.

2. Oversee the implementation of Mission components through regular meetings with the nodal and other line Departments.

3. Provide inputs to the Executive Committee for appropriate policy formulation.

Monitoring1. The Mission envisages a coordinated approach for monitoring and evaluation with

active involvement of implementing agencies, beneficiaries and other stakeholders.

2. A combination of periodic desk review, field visits, and web-based mechanism will be adopted for release of funds, physical and financial progress and monitoring the progress of Mission interventions at National level by INM Division in the DAC.

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Number of soil samples and SHCs as per land use and class of holding

Class of holding

Net Area sown (Mha)

Wholly Irrigated Area (Mha)

Rainfed Area (Mha)

Average size of holding (ha)

No. of Soil Samples (Million) No. of SHCs (Million)

Irrigated Rainfed Total

Marginal 32 15 17 0.39 6(15/2.5)

1.7(17/10)

7.7 93

Small 32 11 21 1.42 4.4(11/2.5)

2.1(21/10)

6.5 25

Semi-Medium

34 11 23 2.71 4.0(11/2.71)

2.3(23/10)

6.3 14

Medium 29 10 19 5.76 1.7(10/5.76)

1.9(19/10)

3.6 6

Large 14 4 10 17.38 0.2(5/17.38)

0.5(10/17.3

7)

0.7 1

Total 141 51 90 16.3 8.5 24.8 139 Million or

say 14 crore

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State-wise number of Operational Holdings and SHCs issued to the farmers in the Eastern States

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State/UTs

Operational Holdings (No. in lakh)

SHCs issued till March 2013 (No. in lakh)

SHCs as per cent of Operational Holdings

Assam 27.20 6.33 23.27

Bihar 161.91 10.70 6.60

Chhattisgarh 37.46 5.67 15.13

Jharkhand 27.09 1.73 6.38

Orissa 46.67 23.41 50.16

Uttar Pradesh 233.25 150.18 64.38

West Bengal 71.23 3.50 4.91

ALL INDIA 1383.26 569.34 41.15

Soil Testing Laboratories in Eastern States, their Analyzing Capacity, and Utilization (2013-14)

State

No. of STLs Total AnnualAnalyzing Capacity

('000)

Samples Analyzed

('000)

CapacityUtilization

(%)

State Govt. Fert. Industry

Static

Mobile

Static

Mobile

Static

Mobile

Total

Chhattisgarh 7 5 0 4 8 5 13 105.00 116.02 110.50Uttar

Pradesh 255 18 5 3 260 21 281 4159.50 3404.58 81.85

Bihar 39 0 0 0 39 0 39 230.00 248.71 108.13

Jharkhand 8 0 0 0 8 0 8 40.00 10.67 26.68

Odisha 17 6 1 0 18 6 24 270.00 255.06 94.47West

Bengal 10 8 0 2 10 10 20 112.40 60.43 53.76

Assam 7 4 0 0 11 0 11 84.00 60.76 72.33ALL INDIA 343 41 6 9 354 42 396 5396.9 4156.23 547.72

Role of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)

The State Government and other designated implementing agencies, to the extent possible, will ensure active participation of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the implementation of this scheme.

PRIs may also be involved in publicizing the demonstrations and training of farmers and in ensuring participation of farmers from nearby areas for widespread dissemination of technology.

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Suggestions for preparation of Annual Action Plan (AAP)

Determine the target number of samples for 2015-16 for each Mandal/ block, taluka, district and finally the State as a whole (preferably 1/3 of total holdings) duly considering the rainfed and irrigated holdings.

Assess analyzing capacity existing in Government, fertilizer industry and private STLs in order to determine the number of samples that can be allotted or outsourced in the year. Accordingly, allocation to the laboratories/agencies may be finalized through a tender or other procedure for analyzing the collected samples.

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Suggestions for preparation of Annual Action Plan (AAP)

Prepare a schedule for soil sampling during lean period i.e. April/May along with the agencies to be involved in sampling. For example, if in year 1 the number of samples to be tested is 4.24 lakh and your total capacity is 2.06 lakh, you may have to plan for MSTLs or outsourcing.

Plan the schedule for soil analysis once the samples are stored at designated place, such as Block Agriculture Office. The allocation of samples to various laboratories may be completed by June.

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40• Each STL has annual capacity of 10,000 samples or about 1,000 samples per

month. We may aim to complete block-wise/district-wise samples in two month time. Once testing is completed, the data base may be used for printing of SHCs.

• Distribution of SHCs may be scheduled in lean months, preferably in kisaan melas, so as to have direct interaction with farmers. They need to be educated at Gram Panchayat or block level on how to use the SHCs.

• Methods of soil testing and format of SHCs vary among States. Therefore, single, generic and uniform web-based software is under development by National Informatics Centre (NIC) under NeGP- Agriculture Mission Mode Project for online generation of ‘SHC and fertilizer recommendations’.

Suggestions for preparation of AAP Contd …..

procedure for Approval & Fund Flow Mechanism

AAP submission: Annual Action Plan (AAP) duly approved by SLEC along with the minutes of SLEC, shall reach DAC for examination, deliberation and final approval. INM Division in DAC will examine AAP before it is placed before the EC for consideration and sanction of AAP

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Is it a mammoth task ?..If so what are the

challenges ?

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Challenges A soil testing laboratory can analyse 10,000-odd samples on an average

annually. (one-third of 141 million fields to be covered per year, need 4,700 laboratories, as against only about 1,250 —1,050 stationary and 200 mobile — today

‘new class of entrepreneurs’ may set up their establishments in urban areas and towns, but it is the villages that are mostly uninformed and severely affected.

The cost of testing the soil is Rs. 150 per sample for basic parameters like pH, electrical conductivity and primary-secondary nutrient content(N,P K and Ca,Mg,S).

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Challenges… the cost of other equipment, chemicals, salaries of employees, capital

cost, etc. is added up, it turns out to be more than Rs. 75 lakh.

A large number of States have indicated the shortage of required technical personnel to soil testing laboratories.(eg . Karnataka and Punjab )

Training of existing manpower is another area requiring attention.

Space is a constraint in some States requiring construction of

laboratory buildings.

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Can the govt. overcome ? Subsidize soil testing Provide incentives for entrepreneurs Set up camps to spread awareness about the importance of soil health Set up laboratories in regions that need immediate attention. Establish soil health clinics where unaware farmers can access the

benefit

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Future Strategy Issue of SHCs to be taken-up in Mission mode in the Eastern

states as vast untapped potential lies there for enhancing crop productivity through balanced fertilization.

Capacity utilization of STLs needs to be increased. Except Odisha and Assam, all States have capacity utilization less than 50%.

Annual Action Plan under SHC scheme to be submitted by States for timely release of funds.

To involve PPP models for effective soil health management

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Way ahead… Development of various methods for soil

sample collection along with standard sampling norms,

Quality control in the soil analysis, training of sampling staff and STL personnel,

Intensive use of ICT for database management for faster delivery of soil health cards in PPP mode

Popularizing soil test based INM through field demonstrations/field days.

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Take Home Message For Us….

Huge scope for the assessment of the effectiveness of this scheme in near future in large scale

Scope to spread the info on these schemes via . mKRISHI , post office linkage model, affiliated institutes

trainings for input dealers and other line department workers to advice right proportion of fertilisers

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Literature consulted 1. Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi.http://agricoop.nic.in/dacdivision

2. TNAU Agritech Portal. http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/agri_soil_soilhealthcard.html

3. The Indian Express[/I], July 1, 2004

4. The Financial Express[/I], June 20, 2004

5. http://currentaffairs.gktoday.in

6. Compendium on soil health ,ministry of agriculture

7. Department of agriculture , govt of Gujarat

8. http://infochangeindia.org/agriculture/news/farmers-benefit-from-soil-health-cards.html

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http://currentaffairs.gktoday.in/

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