Lok Sabha Question No. 394 (STARRED), answered on 2023-03-28
Subject: Soil Health Card Scheme
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: DNV Senthilkumar. S.

कृ ष

एवं

कसान

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 394

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 28 TH  MARCH, 2023

## SOIL HEALTH CARD SCHEME

- *394. DR. DNV SENTHILKUMAR. S:

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

- (a) whether the Soil Health Card Scheme has been implemented in the State of Tamil Nadu;
- (b) if so, the number of farmers who have been issued Soil Health Cards in the State of Tamil Nadu;
- (c) whether the Government has achieved the objectives for which Soil Health Card Scheme has been implemented and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the challenges faced by the Government while implementing the scheme;
- (e) whether the Government has set up adequate number of Soil Testing Laboratories across the country to facilitate farmers and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise along with the number of farmers who have availed benefits of such laboratories so far; and
- (f) whether all the Soil Testing Laboratories in the country are functional to provide services to farmers and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कयाण

मंी

(SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

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

## STATEMENT IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) TO (f) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 394 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 28.03.2023 REGARDING SOIL HEALTH CARD SCHEME.

(a) & (b):      Yes, sir, the Government has implemented the Soil Health Card Scheme in the country including Tamil Nadu since 19 th  February, 2015. The Soil Health Cards issued to the farmers in the State of Tamil Nadu is as under:

| S. No.   | Year                | Number of Soil Health Cards issued to the farmers   |
|----------|---------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| 1        | 2015-2017 (Cycle-I) | 67.71 lakh                                          |
| 2        | 2017-2019 (Cycle-I) | 70.17 lakh                                          |
| 3        | 2019-20             | 3.42 lakh                                           |
| 4        | 2020-21             | 3.57 lakh                                           |
| 5        | 2021-22             | 3.22 lakh                                           |
| Total    | Total               | 148.09 lakh                                         |

(c) & (d): The  Scheme  is  being  implemented  with  an  aim  to  assist  the  State Governments/ Union Territories to provide Soil Health Cards for all farm holdings across the country. Soil Samples is processed as standard procedures and analysed for various parameters viz, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), Organic Carbon, available N, P, K, S and micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn & B). Soil health card provides information to the farmers on  fertility  status  of  their  soils  to  enable  them  to  apply  soil  health  card  based recommended dosages of fertilizers including micro-nutrients, bio-fertilizers, manures as well as soil ameliorants so as expected to reduce the consumption of chemical fertilizers and increase use of organic sources of plant nutrients which in turn increase productivity and farmers' income besides improving soil health and its fertility.  A soil health card portal is  developed  for  samples  registration,  test  result  entry,  automatic  fertilizer  dosages recommendations and generation of soil health cards. So far, against the target of 10.74 crore soil health cards, 10.74 crore (100%) grid based soil health cards have been issued to the farmers during 1 st  cycle (2015-17), whereas, during the 2 nd  cycle (2017-19) against the target of 12.37 crore, 12.19 crore (98.38%) grid based soil health cards have been issued to   the farmers across the country. Whereas, in the year 2019-20 (Model Village

Programme), 23.71 lakh land holding based soil health cards and in the year 2020-21, 11.52  lakh  land  holdings  based  Soil  Health  Cards  have  also  been  issued  to  farmers across the country. In order to create the awareness among the farmers, since 2015, around 6.45 lakh demonstrations, 93781 farmers' trainings and 7425 farmers melas are organized/conducted under the scheme.

Now, mobile application has been revamped for easy hassle free QR code enabled soil  sampling  and  testing.  The  Soil  Health  Card  portal  has  also  been  revamped  and integrated with a GIS system so that all the test results will be captured and can be seen on a map. Focus is on providing service at the doorstep to the farmers by encouraging and  facilitating  soil  testing  facilities  at  a  local  level  through  entrepreneurs,  Self  Help Groups  (SHGs),  Cooperatives,  Schools,  Farmers  Produce  Organizations  (FPOs)  etc. Data  parameters  for  collection  of  soil  data  have  been  standardized  to  allow  use  of certified/validated equipment in a decentralized manner. The States are requested to link up all the existing and new soil testing labs for automatic transmission of test data to the geo-referenced platform.

(e) & (f): Under  the  scheme,  the  financial  assistance  is  provided  to  the  State Governments/ Union Territories for purchasing of machinery & equipment, chemicals & glassware for setting up Soil Testing Laboratories based on their requirement. 511 static soil testing laboratories (analyzing capacity @ 10000 samples per annum per laboratory), 123 mobile soil testing laboratories (analyzing capacity @ 5000 samples per annum per laboratory),8811 mini soil testing laboratories (analyzing capacity @ 3000 samples per annum per laboratory) and2395 village level soil testing laboratories (analyzing capacity @ 3000 samples per annum per laboratory) have been sanctioned across the country under the scheme to provide service to farmers from the year 2015.The State-wise Soil Testing Laboratories sanctioned under the scheme is at Annexure-I .

## Annexure-I

## Details of State-wise Soil Testing Laboratories sanctioned to states from the year 2014-15 to 2022-23

| S. No   | States            | Number of               | Number of               | Number of             | Number of                      | Number of   |
|---------|-------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-----------------------|--------------------------------|-------------|
|         |                   | Static Soil Testing Lab | Mobile Soil Testing Lab | Mini Soil Testing Lab | Village Level Soil Testing Lab | Total       |
| 1       | Andhra Pr.        | 0                       | 9                       | 1328                  | 16                             | 1353        |
| 2       | Arunachal Pr.     | 6                       | -                       | -                     | -                              | 6           |
| 3       | Assam             | 21                      | 2                       | 200                   | 35                             | 258         |
| 4       | Bihar             | 0                       | 6                       | -                     | 258                            | 264         |
| 5       | Chhattisgarh      | 23                      | -                       | 111                   | 35                             | 169         |
| 6       | Goa               | 1                       | 1                       | -                     | -                              | 2           |
| 7       | Gujarat           | 4                       | 2                       | 230                   | 114                            | 350         |
| 8       | Haryana           | 22                      | 6                       | 109                   | 150                            | 287         |
| 9       | Himachal Pr.      | 1                       | 7                       | 69                    | -                              | 77          |
| 10      | Jharkhand         | -                       | -                       | 1300                  | -                              | 1300        |
| 11      | Karnataka         | -                       | 7                       | 6                     | 289                            | 302         |
| 12      | Kerala            | -                       | 2                       | 152                   | -                              | 154         |
| 13      | Madhya Pr.        | 265                     | 10                      | 626                   | 30                             | 931         |
| 14      | Maharashtra       | 41                      | 10                      | 1318                  | -                              | 1369        |
| 15      | Manipur           | 9                       | -                       | -                     | 2                              | 11          |
| 16      | Meghalaya         | 2                       | -                       | 8                     | -                              | 10          |
| 17      | Mizoram           | 5                       | -                       | -                     | 0                              | 5           |
| 18      | Nagaland          | 20                      | 3                       | -                     | 74                             | 97          |
| 19      | Odisha            | 4                       | 19                      | -                     | 135                            | 158         |
| 20      | Puducherry        | -                       | -                       | -                     | 10                             | 10          |
| 21      | Punjab            | -                       | -                       | 128                   | 104                            | 232         |
| 22      | Rajasthan         | 55                      | -                       | -                     | 50                             | 105         |
| 23      | Sikkim            | -                       | -                       | -                     | 14                             | 14          |
| 24      | Tamil Nadu        | 8                       | 10                      | -                     | 2                              | 20          |
| 25      | Telangana         | -                       | 3                       | 2050                  | 711                            | 2764        |
| 26      | Tripura           | 4                       | 2                       | 100                   | 25                             | 131         |
| 27      | Uttar Pr.         | 3                       | 10                      | -                     | 300                            | 313         |
| 28      | Uttarakhand       | -                       | 2                       | -                     | 1                              | 3           |
| 29      | West Bengal       | 12                      | 4                       | -                     | -                              | 16          |
| 30      | Union Territories | 5                       | 8                       | -                     | 40                             | 53          |
|         | Total             | 511                     | 123                     | 7735                  | 2395                           | 10764       |
| 31      | ICAR              | -                       | -                       | 1076                  | -                              | 1076        |
|         | Grand Total       | 511                     | 123                     | 8811                  | 2395                           | 11840       |

*****