Lok Sabha Question No. 2544 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-14
Subject: Harmful Effect on Soil Fertility
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Arun Kumar Sagar, Sunil Dattatray Tatkare, Amol Ramsing Kolhe, DNV Senthilkumar. S., Supriya Sadanand Sule, Subhash Ramrao Bhamre, Kuldeep Rai Sharma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2544 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 14 TH  DECEMBER, 2021

## HARMFUL EFFECT ON SOIL FERTILITY

† 2544.      SHRI ARUN KUMAR SAGAR: SHRI SUNIL DATTATRAY TATKARE: DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE: DR. DNV SENTHILKUMAR. S.: SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE: DR. SUBHASH RAMRAO BHAMRE: SHRI KULDEEP RAI SHARMA:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी

be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has evaluated the fertility of soil across the country and if so, the norms adopted for the purpose and the extent of micronutrients deficiency noticed, State/ UT-wise;
- (b) whether fertility  of  soil  is  also  lost  due  to  over  use  of  chemical  fertilizers,  if  so,  the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  conducted  any  research  in  this  regard,  if  so,  the outcome of the said research;
- (d) the details of the schemes and projects under implementation to check the declining fertility of agricultural land and improve the fertility of soil for increasing agricultural production in the country including Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu; and
- (e) the follow-up action taken and success achieved thereunder during each of the last three years and the current year?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी ( SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR )

- (a): Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme is implemented to evaluate the fertility of soil across the country by adopting uniform norms of soil sampling in a grid of 2.5 ha in irrigated areas and  10ha  in   rainfed areas;    uniform testing of 12 parameters i.e. major nutrients (N, P&K),

secondary nutrients (S), micro nutrients (Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn& B) and other parameters on pH, EC & Organic Carbon. During 2019-20, a  pilot  project  was  implemented  under  which  soil sampling  was  done  on  farm  holding  bases  with  farmers  participation.  The  State/  UT-wise extent of micronutrients deficiency is given at Annexure-I .

(b) & (c): As  such,  there  is  no  harmful  effect  of  chemical  fertilizers  on  soil  health  with balanced  and  judicious  use.  However,  investigations  carried  out by  Indian  Council  of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under All India Coordinated Research Project on 'Long Term Fertilizer Experiments' have indicated that continuous/over use of nitrogenous fertilizer alone had deleterious effect on soil health and crop productivity showing deficiencies of other major and  micro  nutrients.  Even  with  recommended  doses  of  NPK,  deficiency  of  micro  and secondary nutrients has become yield limiting factor over the years. Therefore, Government recommends  soil  test based  balanced and integrated nutrient  management  through conjunctive use of both inorganic and organic sources of plant nutrients to prevent deterioration of soil fertility.

(d) & (e): Government  is  implementing  Soil  Health  Card  (SHC)  scheme  since  2015  to provide  soil  test  based  fertilizer  use  recommendations  to  the  farmers  in  all  States/  UTs including Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.  Soil health card provides nutrient status of the soil along with prescription about balanced and integrated use of inorganic and organic fertilizers to  maintain  good  soil  health  that  results  in  increase  in  production.  The  number  of  farmers provided with soil health cards during last 3 years, State/ UT-wise is given at Annexure-II .

Annexure-I State wise percentage of Soil Samples found deficient in Micro Nutrients

| S.No.     | State                                        | Total No. of Samples   |   Boron(B) % Deficient |   Copper(Cu) %Deficient |   Iron(fe) % Deficient |   Manganese(Mn) %Deficient |   Sulphur(S) % Deficient |   Zinc(Zn) % Deficient |
|-----------|----------------------------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------|------------------------|----------------------------|--------------------------|------------------------|
| 1         | Andaman And Nicobar Islands                  | 4,093                  |                   3.08 |                   11.34 |                   0.22 |                       0.42 |                    68.68 |                  10.29 |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh                               | 1,465,147              |                  17.21 |                    4.71 |                  28.36 |                       9.71 |                    10.61 |                  35.61 |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh                            | 21,883                 |                   0.08 |                    8.01 |                   0.62 |                      12.78 |                    22.39 |                  25.03 |
| 4         | Assam                                        | 278,719                |                  89.99 |                    0.83 |                   0.76 |                       4.97 |                     2.46 |                   7.81 |
| 5         | Bihar                                        | 474,490                |                  47.42 |                   21.63 |                  22.33 |                      22.61 |                    44.27 |                  24.59 |
| 6         | Chhattisgarh                                 | 949,751                |                  27.74 |                    3.63 |                  10.33 |                       3.32 |                    35.69 |                  43.04 |
| 7         | Delhi                                        | 1,090                  |                  14.4  |                    0.83 |                   6.7  |                      12.11 |                    22.48 |                   0.92 |
| 8         | Goa                                          | 18,929                 |                  17.75 |                    0.6  |                   0.11 |                       0.41 |                     9.03 |                   5.18 |
| 9         | Gujarat                                      | 1,688,834              |                  49.98 |                    6.18 |                  25.12 |                       4.86 |                    21.92 |                  31.69 |
| 10        | Haryana                                      | 1,356,297              |                  18.65 |                    2.78 |                  39.83 |                      40.42 |                     7.21 |                  28.4  |
| 11        | Himachal Pradesh                             | 107,849                |                   1.74 |                    2.48 |                   8.88 |                      17.49 |                     7.13 |                   8.63 |
| 12        | Jammu And Kashmir                            | 148,118                |                   4.07 |                   16.38 |                  24.54 |                      35.07 |                    22.04 |                  27.76 |
| 13        | Jharkhand                                    | 69,796                 |                  17.66 |                    4.49 |                   6.39 |                       9.14 |                    21.86 |                  20.4  |
| 14        | Karnataka                                    | 1,650,073              |                  53.04 |                    7.49 |                  53.62 |                      16.36 |                    36.92 |                  61.65 |
| 15        | Kerala                                       | 133,503                |                  37.58 |                    3.36 |                   2.67 |                       5.2  |                    27.59 |                   7.47 |
| 16        | Ladakh                                       | 4,805                  |                   7.12 |                    5.27 |                  23.66 |                      28.3  |                     7.49 |                  29.12 |
| 17        | Madhya Pradesh                               | 1,705,871              |                  28.38 |                    6.24 |                  22.47 |                       9.8  |                    25.84 |                  46.34 |
| 18        | Maharashtra                                  | 2,785,554              |                  44.33 |                    2.78 |                  65.94 |                      13.74 |                    51.55 |                  53.03 |
| 19        | Manipur                                      | 2,362                  |                  16.13 |                    7.87 |                   1.1  |                       0.97 |                    17.99 |                  12.36 |
| 20        | Meghalaya                                    | 41,110                 |                   0.04 |                    6.47 |                   4.98 |                      17.93 |                     0.12 |                  18.24 |
| 21        | Mizoram                                      | 10,229                 |                   0    |                    0    |                   0    |                       0    |                     0.1  |                   0.03 |
| 22        | Nagaland                                     | 12,023                 |                   0.08 |                    6.55 |                   0.21 |                       6.9  |                     2.23 |                  32.85 |
| 23        | Odisha                                       | 584,775                |                   3.58 |                    0.22 |                   0.23 |                       0.22 |                     3.89 |                   3.1  |
| 24        | Puducherry                                   | 7,168                  |                  34.63 |                    0.67 |                   8.78 |                       1.53 |                     0    |                   6.56 |
| 25        | Punjab                                       | 779,267                |                   1.63 |                    0.5  |                  10.73 |                      44.25 |                    13.78 |                  13.33 |
| 26        | Rajasthan                                    | 1,499,352              |                   0    |                    4.87 |                  52.22 |                       8.36 |                    16.09 |                  51.02 |
| 27        | Sikkim                                       | 10,319                 |                  47.67 |                   11.52 |                   7.97 |                       7.23 |                     8.57 |                  31.98 |
| 28        | Tamil Nadu                                   | 1,354,982              |                  53.53 |                    3.69 |                  33.09 |                      23.59 |                    36.46 |                  29.7  |
| 29        | Telangana                                    | 1,068,820              |                  21.13 |                    8.57 |                  39.98 |                      19.96 |                    17.33 |                  36.67 |
| 30        | The Dadra And Nagar Haveli And Daman And Diu | 2,429                  |                   1.98 |                    1.03 |                   3.95 |                       1.32 |                     0.58 |                   7.7  |
| 31        | Tripura                                      | 30,967                 |                  17.81 |                    1.45 |                   1.41 |                       1.85 |                     5.29 |                  20.17 |
| 32        | Uttar Pradesh                                | 4,864,001              |                  29.89 |                    4.36 |                  26.55 |                      16.2  |                    37.97 |                  30.93 |
| 33        | Uttarakhand                                  | 140,058                |                  46.93 |                   10.74 |                  16.11 |                      17.53 |                    24.78 |                  18.9  |
| All India | All India                                    | 23,273,814             |                  31.26 |                    4.93 |                  33.55 |                      15.73 |                    28.8  |                  36.92 |

Note: Statement prepared by NIC on bases of data uploaded by States / UTs on soil health portal for the cycle-II (2017-19).

## State-wise number of farmers provided with Soil Health Cards during last three years

| Sl. No.   | States/UTs        |   2018-19 |   2019-20 |   2020-21 |
|-----------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1         | Andaman & Nicobar |      3894 |      1007 |      3000 |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh    |   3462629 |    226487 |         0 |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh |     10266 |      5432 |        53 |
| 4         | Assam             |   1157702 |     67493 |         0 |
| 5         | Bihar             |   4151316 |    123866 |    305223 |
| 6         | Chhattisgarh      |   2811066 |     65341 |       387 |
| 7         | D&N Haveli        |      2838 |         0 |         0 |
| 8         | Goa               |      6066 |      9281 |      6556 |
| 9         | Gujarat           |   4372845 |     63591 |         0 |
| 10        | Haryana           |   2497185 |     30261 |     18972 |
| 11        | Himachal Pradesh  |     56433 |     19613 |      5168 |
| 12        | J & K             |    546930 |     56357 |    159890 |
| 13        | Jharkhand         |    320914 |     14572 |         0 |
| 14        | Karnataka         |     38538 |     73221 |     40104 |
| 15        | Kerala            |    773204 |    171207 |    118022 |
| 16        | Ladakh            |     16500 |      2103 |         0 |
| 17        | Madhya Pradesh    |   5388000 |    127000 |    133000 |
| 18        | Maharashtra       |   2792042 |    201837 |         0 |
| 19        | Manipur           |     10357 |     10357 |     10010 |
| 20        | Meghalaya         |    139741 |     45286 |      8531 |
| 21        | Mizoram           |     11986 |      2119 |         0 |
| 22        | Nagaland          |     12000 |     27304 |         0 |
| 23        | Odisha            |    925635 |    431418 |     52056 |
| 24        | Puducherry        |        53 |        32 |        64 |
| 25        | Punjab            |    580000 |    580568 |     19196 |
| 26        | Rajasthan         |     73660 |     23104 |     33347 |
| 27        | Sikkim            |      3300 |      2936 |         0 |
| 28        | Tamil Nadu        |   3533971 |    101144 |     32750 |
| 29        | Telangana         |    472987 |    110664 |    165527 |
| 30        | Tripura           |     18034 |     15614 |      6467 |
| 31        | Uttar Pradesh     |  17472000 |    255517 |     20000 |
| 32        | Uttarakhand       |    445556 |     13645 |      6700 |
| 33        | West Bengal       |    612500 |      4520 |         0 |
| Total     | Total             |  52720148 |   2882897 |   1145023 |

Note: -

- i. During 2020-21, soil testing was done by states under state programme (except Uttar Pradesh).
- ii. During current year (2021-22) States to issue SHCs on need base.

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