Lok Sabha Question No. 3910 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-22
Subject: Fertility of Soil
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: HARISH DWIVEDI, MEENAKASHI LEKHI, PREM SINGH CHANDUMAJRA, BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO, DUSHYANT CHAUTALA, PREM DAS RAI, C.R. CHAUDHARY, FEROZE VARUN GANDHI, ALOK SANJAR, SIRAJUDDIN AJMAL, RAMSINH PATALYABHAI RATHWA, ANTO  ANTONY, V. PANNEER SELVAM

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

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3910

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE  22 ND  DECEMBER, 2015

## FERTILITY OF SOIL

3910.    SHRI HARISH CHANDRA ALIAS HARISH DWIVEDI:

SHRIMATI MEENAKASHI LEKHI:

SHRI PREM SINGH CHANDUMAJRA:

SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

SHRI DUSHYANT CHAUTALA:

SHRI PREM DAS RAI:

SHRI C.R. CHAUDHARY:

SHRI FEROZE VARUN GANDHI:

SHRI ALOK SANJAR:

SHRI SIRAJUDDIN AJMAL:

SHRI RAMSINH RATHWA:

SHRI ANTO ANTONY:

SHRI V. PANNEERSELVAM:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE ‡ãðŠãäÓã एवं किसान िल्याण ½ãâ¨ããè be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  evaluate  fertility  of  soil  and  set  up  a periodical's camps in villages for full exploitation of agricultural soil in the country;
- (b)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  number  of  new  soil  testing  technology developed for the purpose and the ratio of farmers to soil testing labs in the country, State/UT-wise;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to give impetus to the Soil Health Card Scheme through organization of Krishak Melas and Seminars in various parts of the country;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government to make the said Scheme accessible to the common farmers; and
- (e)  whether  the  Government  has  launched  any  campaign/programme  to  educate  the farmers on usage of chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides to protect the agriculture from adverse impacts of such inputs and if so, the details thereof and the success achieved therefrom?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF  STATE IN THE  MINISTRY OF  AGRICULTURE AND  FARMERS  WELFARE

‡ãðŠãäÓã एवं किसान िल्याण ½ãâ¨ããÊã¾ã ½ãñâ Àã·¾ã ½ãâ¨ããè ( SHRI MOHANBHAI KUNDARIA )

(a)  & (b): 'Soil  Health  Card'  (SHC)  scheme  has  been  introduced  from  2014-15  to assist State Governments to evaluate fertility in all 14 crore farm holdings and issue soil health  cards  to  farmers  regularly  in  a  cycle  of  3  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 its fertility.

Under Soil Health Management  (SHM) scheme, setting up of 103 new static and 77  new  mobile  soil  testing  laboratotries  have  been  sanctioned  during  2014-15    and 2015-16.

State-wise statement on number of existing soil testing laboratories and number of farm holdings is given at Annexure .

(c) & (d): To  give  impetus  to  the  'Soil  Health  Card'  scheme,  soil  health  card campaign across the country was organized through print advertisements in local and national news papers, video spots and radio jingles.  'World Soil Day'was celebrated on 5 th December 2015 at state, district, block and village levels.    Several Union Ministers and Members of Parliament have participated in the event across the country.  All the State  Governments  distributed  soil  health  cards  and  organized  workshops,  seminars, rallies  on  the  occasion.      Regional  Workshops  to  sensitise  and  activate  States  have been  organized  at  Lucknow  (UP),  Bangaluru  (Karnataka)  ,  Dispur  (Assam),  Patna (Bihar) and one more to be organized at Raipur (Chhattisgarh).  Funds amounting to Rs. 73 crore have been earmarked for Information Education and Communication (IEC) publicity. Campaign has been planned to be covered in electronic and print media.

(e): To  educate  the  farmers  on  usage  of  chemical  fertilizers  and  pesticides  and protect  agriculture  from  adverse  impacts  of  such  inputs,  following  steps  have  been taken:-

(i)        Government  is  recommending  soil  test  based  balanced  and  integrated  nutrient management through conjunctive use of inorganic and organic sources of plant nutrient management to sustain good soil health.

(ii)        Under  Soil  Health  Management  (SHM)  component  of  National  Mission  for Sustainable  Agriculture  (NMSA),  financial  assistance  for  training  to  farmers  including field  demonstrations  on  balanced  use  of  fertilizers  is  provided  @  Rs.  10,000/-  per training for 20 or more participants. Financial assistance for frontline field demonstration is also provided @ Rs. 20,000/- per demonstration.  So far 1568 Farmers trainings,  1259  demonstrations  and  977  Frontline  field  demonstrations  have  been sanctioned under the scheme.

- (iii) In  addition  Indian  Council  of  Agricultural  Research  (ICAR)  also  impart  training, organizes front line demonstrations to educate farmers on this aspect.
- (iv)        Under  the  scheme  'Strengthening  and  Modernization  of  Pest  Management Approach in India' farmers are educated to adopt Integrated Pest Management (IPM) as cardinal principle and main plank of plant protection strategy in overall crop production programme.  Under  the  ambit  of  IPM  programme,  the  Government  of  India  has established  31  Central  IPM  Centres  which  conduct  Farmers  Field  Schools  (FFSs)  to educate farmers about mechanical, cultural and biological control measures including use  of  biopesticides  against  different  crop  pests  and  weeds  and  judicious  use  of chemical pesticides as a measure of last resort.
- (v)        The  Insecticides  Act  1968  and  the  Rules  framed  thereunder  mandate  that pesticides are registered for use in agriculture in india only after a detailed evaluation of safety.  Once registered, a pesticide is legally obligated to display and carry approved labels and leaflets containing critical information on safe use of pesticides for the benefit of farmers & extension functionaries etc.  Application of pesticides in accordance with instructions on the label and leaflets is not likely to cause any harm to human health.

## State-wise Number of Soil Testing Laboratories and number of land holdings

| Sl. No              | State Number of STLs   | Number of land holdings   |
|---------------------|------------------------|---------------------------|
| South Zone          |                        |                           |
| 1Andhra Pradesh     | 88                     | 131.75                    |
| 2Karnataka          | 64                     | 78.32                     |
| 3Kerala             | 26                     | 68.31                     |
| 4Tamil Nadu         | 48                     | 81.18                     |
| 5Puducherry         | 2                      | 0.33                      |
| 6A&N Island         | 0                      | 0.12                      |
| Total               | 228                    | 360.01                    |
| West Zone           |                        |                           |
| 7Gujarat            | 139                    | 48.86                     |
| 8Madhya Pradesh     | 63                     | 88.72                     |
| 9Maharashtra        | 158                    | 136.99                    |
| 10Rajasthan         | 59                     | 68.88                     |
| 11D&N Haveli        | 0                      | 0.15                      |
| 12Chhattisgarh      | 13                     | 37.46                     |
| 13Goa               | 2                      | 0.78                      |
| Total               | 434                    | 381.84                    |
| North Zone          |                        |                           |
| 14Haryana           | 40                     | 16.17                     |
| 15Punjab            | 71                     | 10.53                     |
| 16Uttarakhand       | 16                     | 9.13                      |
| 17Uttar Pradesh     | 281                    | 233.25                    |
| 18Himachal Pradesh  | 15                     | 9.61                      |
| 19Jammu & Kashmir   | 13                     | 14.49                     |
| 20Delhi             | 1                      | 0.2                       |
| Total               | 437                    | 293.38                    |
| East Zone           |                        |                           |
| 21Bihar             | 39                     | 161.91                    |
| 22Jharkhand         | 8                      | 27.09                     |
| 23Odisha            | 24                     | 46.67                     |
| 24West Bengal       | 20                     | 71.23                     |
| Total               | 91                     | 306.9                     |
| NE Zone             |                        |                           |
| 25Assam             | 11                     | 27.2                      |
| 26Tripura           | 6                      | 5.78                      |
| 27Manipur           | 8                      | 1.51                      |
| 28Meghalaya         | 6                      | 2.1                       |
| 29Nagaland          | 3                      | 1.78                      |
| 30Arunachal Pradesh | 8                      | 1.09                      |
| 31Sikkim            | 6                      | 0.75                      |
| 32Mizoram           | 6                      | 0.92                      |
| Total               | 54                     | 41.13                     |
| Grand Total         | 1244                   | 1383.26                   |

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