Lok Sabha Question No. 334 (STARRED), answered on 2019-07-16
Subject: Soil Testing of Farms
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Janardan Singh Sigriwal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION & FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 334

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE   16 TH  JULY, 2019

## SOIL TESTING OF FARMS

- *334.     SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government proposes a scheme for increasing soil testing of farms in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the number of soil testing laboratories functioning at present in the country, State/UTwise including Bihar; and
- (d) the further steps being taken by the Government to make appropriate arrangements for the soil testing in the country including Bihar?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी

(SHRI NARENDRA  SINGH TOMAR)

- (a) to (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 334  DUE FOR REPLY ON 16 TH  JULY, 2019.

- (a) & (b): Government has been implementing 'Soil Health Card' (SHC) scheme since 2015 to assist State Governments in soil testing and providing soil health cards to all farm holdings in the country regularly in a cycle of 2 years. Soil health cards provide information to farmers on nutrient status of their soil along with recommendations on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and it's fertility. The Samples are collected at a grid of 2.5 ha in irrigated area and 10 ha in un-irrigated area. 12 Soil Health parameters viz. primary nutrients (NPK); secondary nutrient (S); micronutrients (B, Zn, Mn, Fe, & Cu); and others  (pH,  EC  &  OC)  are  analyzed  for  comprehensiveness.    During  the  1 st Cycle  (20152017) of the scheme, 10.73 crore soil health cards and during the 2 nd Cycle (2017-19), 10.69 crore soil health cards have been distributed by State Governments to farmers across the country.

Under Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme, during current year (2019-20) soil sample collection has been taken up at individual farm holding with farmer's participation instead of sample collection at grids. This will result in acceptance of SHC by farmers. This has been taken  up  on  pilot  basis,  one  village  per  block  for  farm  holding  based  sample  collection  & testing. Organization of larger number of demonstrations up to a maximum number of 100 demonstrations (1 ha each) for each adopted village for prescribing SHC based application of fertilizers.

- (c):        As per information received from states, presently 7949 soil testing laboratories are functioning in the country including Bihar.  State/UT-wise number of static, mobile, mini and village level soil testing laboratories (functional) including Bihar is given in Annexure-I.

-2-

(d): Under  the  Soil  Health  Management  (SHM)  scheme,  Government  is  providing financial  assistance to  States for  setting  up  /  strengthening  of  various  types  of  soil  testing laboratories according to their requirement.

So far 411 new static Soil Testing Labs (STLs), 100 new mobile STLs, 8752 mini STLs and 1562 village level STLs have been sanctioned under the scheme since 2014-15. This includes  6  mobile  STLs  and  28  village  level  STLs  sanctioned  to  Bihar.  Out  of  these sanctioned labs, 129 new static Soil Testing Labs (STLs), 86 new mobile STLs, 6498 mini STLs and 17 village level STLs are already established.

Annexure- I State-wise Soil Testing Laboratories functioning in the country

| Sl. No.   | States/UTs        | Total no. of STLs   | Total no. of STLs   | Total no. of STLs   | Total no. of STLs   | Total no. of STLs   |
|-----------|-------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|
| Sl. No.   | States/UTs        | Static              | Mobile              | Mini Lab            | Village level       | Total               |
| 1         | A&N Islands       | 1                   | 0                   | 0                   | 0                   | 1                   |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh    | 47                  | 13                  | 1328                | 16                  | 1404                |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh | 5                   | 3                   | 8                   | 0                   | 16                  |
| 4         | Assam             | 9                   | 0                   | 214                 | 0                   | 223                 |
| 5         | Bihar             | 38                  | 9                   | 0                   | 0                   | 47                  |
| 6         | Chhattisgarh      | 33                  | 0                   | 170                 | 0                   | 203                 |
| 7         | D&N Havelli       | 0                   | 0                   | 0                   | 0                   | 0                   |
| 8         | Goa               | 2                   | 0                   | 0                   | 0                   | 2                   |
| 9         | Gujarat           | 81                  | 2                   | 230                 | 0                   | 313                 |
| 10        | Haryana           | 35                  | 2                   | 50                  | 47                  | 134                 |
| 11        | Himanchal Pradesh | 11                  | 10                  | 69                  | 0                   | 90                  |
| 12        | J&K               | 22                  | 12                  | 0                   | 0                   | 34                  |
| 13        | Jharkhand         | 16                  | 3                   | 1300                | 0                   | 1319                |
| 14        | Karnataka         | 98                  | 1                   | 6                   | 88                  | 193                 |
| 15        | Kerala            | 15                  | 13                  | 152                 | 0                   | 180                 |
| 16        | Madhya Pradesh    | 91                  | 10                  | 626                 | 0                   | 727                 |
| 17        | Maharashtra       | 235                 | 20                  | 17                  | 0                   | 272                 |
| 18        | Manipur           | 4                   | 3                   | 0                   | 0                   | 7                   |
| 19        | Meghalaya         | 3                   | 3                   | 6                   | 0                   | 12                  |
| 20        | Mizoram           | 3                   | 3                   | 0                   | 0                   | 6                   |
| 21        | Nagaland          | 3                   | 0                   | 0                   | 0                   | 3                   |
| 22        | Odisha            | 27                  | 12                  | 0                   | 0                   | 39                  |
| 23        | Puducherry        | 2                   | 0                   | 0                   | 0                   | 2                   |
| 24        | Punjab            | 52                  | 3                   | 0                   | 0                   | 55                  |
| 25        | Rajasthan         | 101                 | 12                  | 0                   | 0                   | 113                 |
| 26        | Sikkim            | 3                   | 0                   | 0                   | 0                   | 3                   |
| 27        | Tamil Nadu        | 31                  | 16                  | 0                   | 2                   | 49                  |
| 28        | Telangana         | 40                  | 4                   | 2050                | 0                   | 2094                |
| 29        | Tripura           | 3                   | 3                   | 100                 | 0                   | 106                 |
| 30        | Uttar Pradesh     | 254                 | 0                   | 0                   | 0                   | 254                 |
| 31        | Uttarakhand       | 13                  | 0                   | 0                   | 1                   | 14                  |
| 32        | West Bengal       | 26                  | 8                   | 0                   | 0                   | 34                  |
|           | Total             | 1304                | 165                 | 6326                | 154                 | 7949                |

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