Lok Sabha Question No. 310 (STARRED), answered on 2025-03-21
Subject: Soil Fertility in Baghpat
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: Dr. Rajkumar Sangwan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS

## DEPARTMENT OF FERTILIZERS

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 310* TO BE ANSWERED ON: 21.03.2025

## Soil Fertility in Baghpat

## 310*:  DR. RAJKUMAR SANGWAN:

Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has taken cognizance of the problem of degradation in the soil fertility due to excessive use of urea by the farmers in Baghpat district;
- (b) if  so,  the  response  of the  Government in this regard along with the awareness programmes organised for farmers including the details of the recommendations for alternative fertilizers;
- (c) whether the Government has taken any initiatives to promote organic and biofertilizers in Baghpat;
- (d) if  so,  the  details  thereof  including  the  steps  taken  to  control  and  monitor  the distribution of fertilizers and to guide the farmers for their proper use; and
- (e) whether the Government has carried out any scientific study on the condition of soil in Baghpat and if so, the findings of the said study?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS

## (SHRI JAGAT PRAKASH NADDA)

- (a) to (e) A statement is laid on the table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED TO LOK SABHA  STARRED QUESTION NO.  310*  FOR 21.03.2025  REGARDING  'SOIL  FERTILITY  IN  BAGHPAT'  TABLED  BY  DR. RAJKUMAR SANGWAN

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(a) & (b):    Under the centrally sponsored scheme National Mission on Natural Farming, a total of 1,886 clusters covering 94,300 hectares in 75 districts have been sanctioned by  the  Government  of  India,  including  10  clusters  spanning  500  hectares  in  Baghpat district, for the promotion of natural farming from 2024-25 onwards. Additionally, under the  National  Project  on  Soil  Health  and  Fertility  (NPSHF),  a  sub-scheme  of  National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) Scheme, the Government of Uttar Pradesh is operating a farmers' advisory service at the block level in Baghpat district. During the financial year 2024-25, 70 Gram Panchayats in Baghpat district have benefited from this advisory service.

Further, Government is implementing Soil Health and Fertility Scheme to assist State Governments to issue Soil Health Cards (SHCs) to farmers in the country. SHCs assist  in  promoting  Integrated  Nutrient  Management  (INM)  through  judicious  use  of chemical fertilizers including secondary and micro nutrients along with organic manures &  bio-fertilizers,  for  improving  soil  health  and  fertility.Various  activities  like  setting  up/ strengthening  of  Soil  Testing,  Fertilizers/  Bio-fertilizers  &  Organic  Fertilizers  Quality Control Labs, promoting Micro-nutrients, and testing soil samples to issue Soil Health Cards  is  implemented  under  the  scheme.Soil  Health  Card  provides  information  to farmers on nutrient status of their soil and recommendation on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and its fertility. The achievement under this scheme is as under:

In  the  country,  24.84  crore  Soil  Health  Cards  have  been  generated till  date. 7 Lakh  demonstrations,  93,781  farmer's  training  programmes  and  7,425  farmer's  mela have  been  organized  on  the  balanced  use  of  fertilizers  to  improve  soil  quality. Advisories are issued to farmers through Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs). In addition, 70,002 Krishi Sakhis are trained to issue soil health card advisories.

(c) & (d): National  Centre  for  Organic  &  Natural  Farming  (NCONF)  has  informed that Government has taken several initiatives for promoting the use of bio-fertilizers and organic alternatives to reduce the dependency on use of Urea by farmers in the country including Baghpat District. Some of the key initiatives are as follows:

- i. National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF): To promote chemical free farming including the use of organic and bio-fertilizers.
- ii. Parampargat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY):To support and promote organic farming.

- iii. Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Padhati (BPKP): Promotion of traditional indigenous practices i.e., on-farm biomass recycling with major stress on biomass  mulching,  use  of  cow  dung-urine  formulations,  plant-based preparations  in  exclusion  of  all  synthetic  chemical  inputs  directly  or indirectly.
- iv. Mission  Organic  Value  Chain  Development  for  North  Eastern  Region (MOVCDNER):  Development  of  certified  organic  production  in  a  value chain  mode to link growers with consumers and to support the development of entire value chain starting from inputs, seeds, certification, to the creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing, marketing and brand building initiative.

Government of Uttar Pradesh has informed that during the ongoing FY 2024-25, they  are  promoting  the  use  of  Bio-fertilizer  Scheme  in  Baghpat  district.  For  this Azotobacter,  Phosphate  Solubilizing  Bacteria  and  Rhizobium  Species  are  utilized  to produce about 10,530 packets (200 gm each) of Bio-fertilizers, and these packets are then distributed to the farmers through at sources subsidy (75 percent of the production cost).As  an  alternative  to  chemical  fertilizers,  Bio-Fertilizer  and  Organic  fertilizer  are being used by farmers in place of Urea and DAP. Apart from this 16,032 bottles Nano Urea, 7,467 bottles Nano DAP and 1,390 bottles Bio-fertilizer (500 ml) have been used by farmers of Baghpat District.

Government of India has approved provision of Market Development Assistance (MDA)  @₹1,500/MT  for  promotion  of  Fermented  Organic  Manure  (FOM),  Liquid Fermented Organic Manure (LFOM), Phosphate Rich Organic Manure (PROM).

(e) Government  of  Uttar  Pradesh  has  informed  that  no  scientific  study  on  the condition of soil in Baghpat District has been carried out.

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