a presentation on soil health card scheme

1. SEMINAR
NEW INITIATIVES IN AGRICULTURE :
AN ANALYSIS OF SOIL HEALTH CARD
SCHEME
BY :
KRISHNA D K
20510
1

2. A Glance at New Initiatives in Agriculture
Since 2014I. SOIL HEALTH CARDS(SHCs)
II. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna (PKVY)
III. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)
IV. Mera gaon, mera Gaurav
V. Student READY
VI. MUDRA BANK
VII. DD kissan 24x7 channel
VIII. Jan dhan yojana etc….
2

3. Soil Health Card
INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT {INM} DIVISION
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND COOPERATION
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE
3

4. Relevance of the topic: 4

5. What is a Soil Health Card (SHC) ?
 Soil health card is field-specific detailed report of soil
fertility status and other important soil parameters that
affect crop productivity
 It also provides an advisory on soil test based use of
fertilizers and amendments
5

6. Soil Health Card Scheme
• Soil Health Card (SHC) provides information to the farmers on
soil acidity/salinity/alkalinity and nutrient content.
• Scheme proposes for issue of SHC along with soil test-based
site-specific fertilizer recommendations, once in every 3 years.
• Soil testing will be done following uniform sampling and soil
analysis procedures.
6

7. It contains..
 At present Soil health card contains information on EC, pH,
Organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium with micro
nutrients which is very vital for judicious fertilizer application.
 Soil health card also contains the fertilizers recommendation for
major Kharif , Rabi and Summer crop
7

8. Why new Scheme on SHC?
 The scheme is intended to promote balanced fertilisation, leading to
improved soil health
 To curtail the subsidy on fertilizer
 To promote site-specific nutrient management involving soil test-based
application of fertilizers
8

9. Why new scheme on SHC?
 GOI provides assistance to State Govts. under SHM component of
NMSA, for
- Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs)
- Mobile Soil Testing Laboratories (MSTLs)
- Soil testing kits
 Soil analysis and distribution of SHCs is carried out by the State
Governments.
 No uniform norms are followed by states in this exercise.
9

10. Scheme Objectives
 To issue soil health cards for every 3 years, to all farmers of the
country,.
 To strengthen functioning of Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs)
through capacity building, involvement of agriculture students and
effective linkage with (ICAR) / (SAUs).
 To diagnose soil fertility related constraints with standardized
procedures for sampling uniformly across states and analysis and
design taluqa / block level fertilizer recommendations in targeted
districts.
10

11. Scheme Objectives
 To develop and promote soil test based nutrient
management in the districts for enhancing nutrient use
efficiency.
 To build capacities of district and state level staff and of
progressive farmers for promotion of nutrient management
practices
11

12. Norms of scheme
 Card to carry crop wise recommendations of nutrients /
fertilisers for different soil types
 Details will be displayed on the basis of soil tests
 Help farmers in judicious use of fertilisers .organic matter s
and water
 Card to be issued for all 14 crore farmland holdings in three
years
 Soil samples for testing to be drawn in a grid of 2.5 hectare in
irrigated areas
 Soil samples for testing to be drawn in a grid of 10 hectare in
rain-fed areas
12

13. Previous works done
 Patel and Chauhan (2012) found that one third (35 per cent) of
farmers had neutral attitude towards soil health card
programme, while 20 per cent of farmers had strongly
favourable attitude. Equal number (17 per cent) of farmers had
unfavourable and strongly unfavourable attitude towards soil
health card programme. Rest of them (11 per cent) had
favourable attitude towards soil health card programme,
respectively.
reference : Patel, J. K., & Chauhan, N. B. (2012). Attitude of farmers towards soil
health card (SHC) programme. Asian Journal of Soil Science, 7(1), 114-116.
13

14. Previous works done
 Makadia (2012) advocates strengthening of extension and line
department machineries to provide soil health cards and technical
guidance to all farmers as effective strategy.
Reference : Dr.Jayantilal Jerajbhai Makadia, (2012), Regional imbalances and
impact of Soil Health Card on fertilizer consumption in Gujarat
14

15. Previous works done
Wani et.al (2012) concluded that widespread secondary and
micronutrient deficiencies have led to a deteriorated soil health which
is reason to low fertilizer response and crop yields in rainfed areas of
India. The degrading soil health trend can be reversed through a (Soil)
science led approach of adoption of soil test based application of
deficient secondary and micronutrients to harness existing productivity
potential on a sustainable basis.
Reference : Wani, S. P., Chander, G., & Sahrawat, K. L. (2012). Soil health
awareness: soil science at doorsteps of the farmers.
15

16. Success stories
 Almost all States have indicated plans for substantial expansion in soil testing programme during
11th and 12th Plans with funding from the National Project on Management of Soil Health &
Fertility (NPMSH&F), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Macro Management of
Agriculture and State Plan.
 Gujarat : Soil Health Cards have been provided to 12,70,000 farmers of the state till now. It has
been envisaged to provide more 5.55 lakh soil health cards to the farmers during the current year.
The information of nature of soil will be available to the farmers from computer installed in Gram
Panchayats under E-gram project.
 Karnataka : Bhoochetna programme, implemented in Karnataka and being replicated in Andhra
Pradesh, is a good example of collaborative effort (in association with ICRISAT and State
Agricultural Universities) with focus on increasing yield.
 ‘Krishi Mahotsav’ in Gujarat and ‘Apni mitti pehechane abhiyan’ in Uttar Pradesh have been
instrumental in rapidly increasing soil testing facilities and issue of soil health cards
16

17. Success stories …
Some States (Andhra Pradesh,
Gujarat, Meghalaya and
Haryana) have implemented
computerization of soil test
reports and communication of
these reports with appropriate
fertilizer use recommendation
online or through mobile
phones to the farmers. This
will greatly help in reducing
the time lag between soil
analysis and communication
of results.
17

18. Components of the scheme 18

19. Component 1: The Soil Health Card
 Uniform norms for soil sampling
- In irrigated areas large, medium and semi-medium holdings
(size more than 2.5 ha) will be sampled and tested holding-
wise. In case of marginal & small holdings, sampling in a 2.5
ha grid will be followed.
- In rainfed areas, all large holdings (size more than 10 ha) will
be sampled and tested holding-wise. In case of medium, semi-
medium, small & marginal holdings, samples will be collected
and tested in a 10 ha grid.
- States have to develop plan of action for soil sampling
involving students and SAUs.
19

20. Component 1: The Soil Health Card
 Nutrient Recommendations
- Based on soil testing, recommendations are made
in terms of nutrient requirement and also in terms
of fertilizer quantity for easy understanding of
farmers.
- SHCs could be distributed to farmers in soil
testing campaigns/ Kissan Melas.
20

21. Component 1: The Soil Health Card
S.
No.
Activities/Components Total
Expenditure
per STL
1 Sampling Cost@ Rs 22 per sample x10,000 2,20,000
2 Engagement of contractual services & training per STL 1,90,000
3 Analysis of soil samples (10,000 x Rs. 75) i.e. cost of reagents +
Misc. Exp. (Rs. 70,000 per STL)
8,20,000
4 Printing @ Rs. 5 per SHC (10 SHCs per sample for 10,000 soil
samples)
5,00,000
5 Distribution of SHCs per STL@ Rs 500 per GP (Rs. 500 x
110GP)
55,000
6 Demonstrations (10 No.) @ Rs. 4,000 per demonstration +
training @ Rs. 5,000
45,000
7 Awareness/mission management per STL 22,000
8 5 GPS for each STL @ Rs. 6,000 per GPS 30,000
9 Total funds required per STL of 10,000 sample capacity 18,82,000
Cost of one Sample Rs. 190/-
21

22. 22

23. Component 2:
Training for soil analysis
One-week hands-on orientation
training to soil chemists,
students/JRFs for soil analysis
and fertilizer recommendation in
the batches of 20 participants will
be organized at SAUs/ICAR
Institutes.
S.
No.
Components Expenditure
involved
(Rs.)
1. Boarding and lodging @ Rs.
400 per person per day for 20
participants
40,000
2. Stationary & Soil testing
manual
5,000
3. Honorarium to guest speaker
@ Rs. 1,000 for 5 speakers
5,000
4. Accommodation charges for
Halls & other training
facilities including lab work
10,000
5. Training for one orientation
module/STL
60,000
6. Cost for 800 orientation
training module for 2014-15
480 lakh
7. Cost for 500 orientation
training module for 2015-16
300 lakh
8. Cost for 200 orientation
training module for 2015-16
120 lakh
Total 900 lakh
23

24. Component 3 :
Financial assistance for
nutrient application
Components Expenditure involved
(Rs.)
Gypsum/ phospho-
gypsum/ bentonite
sulphur
50% of the cost of
material limited to Rs.
700 per ha
Micronutrients 50% of the cost limited to
Rs. 500 per ha
All Bio-fertilisers 50% of the cost limited to
Rs. 300 per ha
Lime/liming materials 50% of the cost of
material limited to Rs.
1000 per ha
Total Rs. 2500 per ha
Cost for 1st
year
(60,000 farmers)
Rs. 15 crore
Cost for 2nd
year
(90,000 farmers)
Rs. 22.50 crore
Cost for 3rd
year
(90,000 farmers)
Rs. 22.50 crore
Total Rs. 60.00 crore
In the target villages, financial
assistance for soil test-based
nutrient balancing will be
provided to farmers. Willing
farmers will be registered for
application of recommended
doses through organic and
inorganic nutrients.
24

25. Component 4:
Capacity building, monitoring and evaluation
 Orientation for technical and line staff will be conducted by
states with technical backstopping from SAUs/ICAR
institutions.
 Coordination committees will be constituted in the target
districts for facilitating implementation for balanced nutrient
practices.
 Identified farmers will be registered for financial support for
adoption of nutrient packages.
25

26. Abstract of financial norms for capacity
building
S.No. Activities/Components Total expenditure
(Rs. in Crores)
1 Training for farmers
Rs. 24,000 x 20 trainings x 29 States
1.39
2 Training for staff: Rs. 36,000 x 20
trainings x 29 States
2.09
3 I.C.T @ Rs. 12.93 lakh x 29 States 3.75
4 Workshops @ 1.5 lakh x 29 States 0.44
Total for States (each year) 7.67
26

27. Component 5:
Mission Management
S.
No.
Activities/Components Expenditure (Rs. in
lakhs)
1st
Year
1. Staff at national level Rs. 3.00 lakhs x 12 36.00
2. Staff at state level Rs. 3.35 lakhs x 29 97.15
Total 133.15
2nd
Year
1. Staff at national level Rs. 4.50 lakhs x 12 54.00
2. Staff at state level Rs. 5.03 lakhs x 29 146.00
Total 200.00
3rd
Year
1. Staff at national level Rs. 4.50 lakhs x 12 54.00
2. Staff at state level Rs. 5.03 lakhs x 29 146.00
Total 200.00
Total for 3 years
1. Staff at national level 144.00
2. Staff at state level 389.15
Total 533.15
For Mission Management, Advisors / Consultants, Programme Manager, Senior Programmer, Technical Assistants,
part-time Consultants, Stenographer, Data Entry Operators and Attendants/ Peons will be engaged on remuneration/
honorarium paid to similar staff engaged in Mission Management Cells/ Technical Support Groups established for other
plan schemes or mission being implemented by DAC in consultation with IFD.
27

28. Year-wise budget requirement (Rs. in crores)
S.
No.
Component 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 Total
1. Soil Health Cards @ Rs.190/sample
1st
Year: 55 lakh; 2nd
Year: 97 lakh
3rd
Year: 96 lakh; Total: 248 lakh
104.50 184.30 182.40 471.20
2. Training for technical staff
@ Rs. 60,000/- training
1st
Yr: 800 trainings; 2nd
Yr: 500 trainings
3rd
Yr: 200 trainings; Total: 1500 trainings
4.80 3.00 1.20 9.00
3. Financial assistance @ Rs. 2500/ha
1st
Yr: 60,000 farmers; 2nd
Yr: 90,000
farmers; 3rd
Yr: 90,000 farmers
Total: 2,40,000 farmers
15.00 22.50 22.50 60.00
4. Capacity building and use of ICT in states 7.67 7.67 7.67 23.01
5. Mission Management 1.33 2.00 2.00 5.33
Grand Total 133.30 219.47 215.77 568.54
GOI share 75% 99.98 164.60 161.83 426.41
State share 25% 33.32 54.87 53.94 142.13
28

29. Agencies that may be involved for
sampling
a) Directly through Agriculture Department staff and soil
testing laboratories.
b) By involving Science Colleges and students and its soil
testing laboratory staff.
c) By SAUs and its soil testing staff.
29

30. Agencies that may be involved in testing
a) By outsourcing to private agencies through tender.
b) By outsourcing soil testing laboratories.
c)By nominating Science Colleges and providing
them equipment.
d) Directly through soil testing laboratories.
e) KVKs
30

31. Scheme Implementation
The implementation will be coordinated by Integrated Nutrient
Management (INM) Division, Department of Agriculture &
Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of Agriculture at National level, through
State Governments. State may designate agencies or go for
outsourcing.
State Govt. may outsource following activities:
i. Soil sampling involving students, farmers, field extension machinery,
etc.
ii. Analysis of soil samples involving science/ agriculture students, JRF
of SAUs, ICAR, etc.
iii. Use of ICT for database management for faster delivery of soil
health cards
iv. Preparation and distribution of soil health cards
v. Extension services to disseminate crop-specific nutrient
management practices
31

32. State Level Executive Committee (SLEC)
1. Approve Annual Action Plan prepared by the State nodal Department.
2. Oversee the implementation of Mission components through regular meetings with
the nodal and other line Departments.
3. Provide inputs to the Executive Committee for appropriate policy formulation.
Monitoring
1. The Mission envisages a coordinated approach for monitoring and evaluation with
active involvement of implementing agencies, beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
2. A combination of periodic desk review, field visits, and web-based mechanism will
be adopted for release of funds, physical and financial progress and monitoring the
progress of Mission interventions at National level by INM Division in the DAC.
32

33. Number of soil samples and SHCs as per land use and
class of holding
Class of
holding
Net Area
sown
(Mha)
Wholly
Irrigated
Area (Mha)
Rainfed
Area (Mha)
Average
size of
holding
(ha)
No. of Soil Samples (Million) No. of
SHCs
(Million)
Irrigated Rainfed Total
Marginal 32 15 17 0.39 6
(15/2.5)
1.7
(17/10)
7.7 93
Small 32 11 21 1.42 4.4
(11/2.5)
2.1
(21/10)
6.5 25
Semi-
Medium
34 11 23 2.71 4.0
(11/2.71)
2.3
(23/10)
6.3 14
Medium 29 10 19 5.76 1.7
(10/5.76)
1.9
(19/10)
3.6 6
Large 14 4 10 17.38 0.2
(5/17.38)
0.5
(10/17.3
7)
0.7 1
Total 141 51 90 16.3 8.5 24.8 139
Million or
say 14
crore
33

34. State-wise number of Operational Holdings
and SHCs issued to the farmers in the Eastern
States
34
State/UTs Operational
Holdings (No. in
lakh)
SHCs issued
till March 2013
(No. in lakh)
SHCs as per cent
of Operational
Holdings
Assam 27.20 6.33 23.27
Bihar 161.91 10.70 6.60
Chhattisgarh 37.46 5.67 15.13
Jharkhand 27.09 1.73 6.38
Orissa 46.67 23.41 50.16
Uttar Pradesh 233.25 150.18 64.38
West Bengal 71.23 3.50 4.91
ALL INDIA 1383.26 569.34 41.15

35. Soil Testing Laboratories in Eastern States, their Analyzing
Capacity, and Utilization (2013-14)
State No. of STLs Total Annual
Analyzing
Capacity
('000)
Samples
Analyzed
('000)
Capacity
Utilization
(%)
State Govt. Fert. Industry
Static Mobile Static Mobile Static Mobile Total
Chhattisgarh 7 5 0 4 8 5 13 105.00 116.02 110.50
Uttar
Pradesh 255 18 5 3 260 21 281 4159.50 3404.58 81.85
Bihar 39 0 0 0 39 0 39 230.00 248.71 108.13
Jharkhand 8 0 0 0 8 0 8 40.00 10.67 26.68
Odisha 17 6 1 0 18 6 24 270.00 255.06 94.47
West
Bengal 10 8 0 2 10 10 20 112.40 60.43 53.76
Assam 7 4 0 0 11 0 11 84.00 60.76 72.33
ALL INDIA 343 41 6 9 354 42 396 5396.9 4156.23 547.72

36. 36

37. Role of Panchayati Raj Institutions
(PRIs)
 The State Government and other designated implementing
agencies, to the extent possible, will ensure active
participation of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in
the implementation of this scheme.
 PRIs may also be involved in publicizing the
demonstrations and training of farmers and in ensuring
participation of farmers from nearby areas for widespread
dissemination of technology.
37

38. Suggestions for preparation of Annual
Action Plan (AAP)
 Determine the target number of samples for 2015-16 for each
Mandal/ block, taluka, district and finally the State as a whole
(preferably 1/3 of total holdings) duly considering the rainfed and
irrigated holdings.
 Assess analyzing capacity existing in Government, fertilizer
industry and private STLs in order to determine the number of
samples that can be allotted or outsourced in the year. Accordingly,
allocation to the laboratories/agencies may be finalized through a
tender or other procedure for analyzing the collected samples.
38

39. Suggestions for preparation of
Annual Action Plan (AAP)
 Prepare a schedule for soil sampling during lean period i.e.
April/May along with the agencies to be involved in
sampling. For example, if in year 1 the number of samples
to be tested is 4.24 lakh and your total capacity is 2.06
lakh, you may have to plan for MSTLs or outsourcing.
 Plan the schedule for soil analysis once the samples are
stored at designated place, such as Block Agriculture
Office. The allocation of samples to various laboratories
may be completed by June.
39

40. 40
• Each STL has annual capacity of 10,000 samples or about 1,000 samples per
month. We may aim to complete block-wise/district-wise samples in two
month time. Once testing is completed, the data base may be used for printing
of SHCs.
• Distribution of SHCs may be scheduled in lean months, preferably in kisaan
melas, so as to have direct interaction with farmers. They need to be educated
at Gram Panchayat or block level on how to use the SHCs.
• Methods of soil testing and format of SHCs vary among States. Therefore,
single, generic and uniform web-based software is under development by
National Informatics Centre (NIC) under NeGP- Agriculture Mission Mode
Project for online generation of ‘SHC and fertilizer recommendations’.
Suggestions for preparation of AAP Contd …..

41. procedure for Approval &
Fund Flow Mechanism
 AAP submission: Annual Action Plan (AAP) duly
approved by SLEC along with the minutes of SLEC, shall
reach DAC for examination, deliberation and final
approval. INM Division in DAC will examine AAP before
it is placed before the EC for consideration and sanction of
AAP
41

42. 42

43. 43

44. Is it a mammoth task ?..
If so what are the challenges ?
44

45. Challenges
 A soil testing laboratory can analyse 10,000-odd samples on an average
annually. (one-third of 141 million fields to be covered per year, need 4,700
laboratories, as against only about 1,250 —1,050 stationary and 200 mobile —
today
 ‘new class of entrepreneurs’ may set up their establishments in urban areas and
towns, but it is the villages that are mostly uninformed and severely affected.
 The cost of testing the soil is Rs. 150 per sample for basic parameters like pH,
electrical conductivity and primary-secondary nutrient content(N,P K and
Ca,Mg,S).
45

46. Challenges…
 the cost of other equipment, chemicals, salaries of employees,
capital cost, etc. is added up, it turns out to be more than Rs. 75
lakh.
 A large number of States have indicated the shortage of required
technical personnel to soil testing laboratories.(eg . Karnataka and
Punjab )
 Training of existing manpower is another area requiring attention.
 Space is a constraint in some States requiring construction of
laboratory buildings.
46

47. Can the govt. overcome ?
 Subsidize soil testing
 Provide incentives for entrepreneurs
 Set up camps to spread awareness about the importance of soil health
 Set up laboratories in regions that need immediate attention.
 Establish soil health clinics where unaware farmers can access the
benefit
47

48. Future Strategy
 Issue of SHCs to be taken-up in Mission mode in the Eastern
states as vast untapped potential lies there for enhancing crop
productivity through balanced fertilization.
 Capacity utilization of STLs needs to be increased. Except
Odisha and Assam, all States have capacity utilization less than
50%.
 Annual Action Plan under SHC scheme to be submitted by
States for timely release of funds.
 To involve PPP models for effective soil health management
48

49. Way ahead…
 Development of various methods for soil
sample collection along with standard sampling
norms,
 Quality control in the soil analysis, training of
sampling staff and STL personnel,
 Intensive use of ICT for database management
for faster delivery of soil health cards in PPP
mode
 Popularizing soil test based INM through field
demonstrations/field days.
49

50. Take Home Message For Us….
 Huge scope for the assessment of the
effectiveness of this scheme in near future in
large scale
 Scope to spread the info on these schemes
via . mKRISHI , post office linkage model,
affiliated institutes
 trainings for input dealers and other line
department workers to advice right proportion
of fertilisers
50

51. Literature consulted
1. Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi.http://agricoop.nic.in/dacdivision
2. TNAU Agritech Portal. http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/agri_soil_soilhealthcard.html
3. The Indian Express[/I], July 1, 2004
4. The Financial Express[/I], June 20, 2004
5. http://currentaffairs.gktoday.in
6. Compendium on soil health ,ministry of agriculture
7. Department of agriculture , govt of Gujarat
8. http://infochangeindia.org/agriculture/news/farmers-benefit-from-soil-health-cards.html
51

52. 52
“Healthy Earth; Healthy Farm”