Soil Health Cards Explained: A Step-by-Step Guide for Farmers

Table of Content

• Introduction
• What is a Soil Health Card
• What are the key features of a Soil Health Card
• What are the benefits of a Soil Health Card
• What are the Impacts of Soil Health Card
• How can farmers get Soil Health Card
• Conclusion

Introduction

The Indian farmers are not aware of the importance of soil health. They must know that a better yield can be achieved when the soil has enough nutrients in the soil. Most of them are not aware of the right selection of crops, intercropping practices, and irrigation methods that improve soil fertility. Thus, a Soil Health Card will benefit all the farmers across the country and make them aware of the importance of soil fertility.

The Soil Health Card scheme was launched by the Indian government in February 2015. Under the SHC scheme, the government provides soil cards to farmers that carry crop-wise fertilizers and nutrient requirements for each grange, ensuring better yield and profits.

What is a Soil Health Card?

A Soil Health Card is used to assess the present health status of the soil when used over time to observe changes in its health affected by land management. This card contains soil health indicators and related descriptive terms. The indicators provided in the card are based on the farmers’ practical experience and their familiarity with local natural resources. The card contains soil health indicators that can be accessed without using technical or laboratory equipment.

A Soil Health Card is a printed report provided to the farmers for each of their holdings. It features their soil status regarding 12 parameters, including P (Phosphorous), N (Nitrogen), K (Potassium) [Macro-nutrients]; S (Sulphur) [Secondary- nutrient]; Cu (Copper), Fe (Iron), Zn (Zinc), Bo (Boron), Mn (Manganese) [Micro-nutrients]; and pH, EC, OC (Physical Parameters). According to these parameters, this card will indicate fertilizer recommendations and soil amendments needed for the farm.

This scheme is promoted by the Department of Agriculture & Co-operation, which is under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. The SHC scheme is implemented by the Department of Agriculture of all the State and Union Territory Governments.

What are the key features of the Soil Health Card Scheme?

• This card contains an advisory regarding the soil nutrient status of a farmer’s particular holding. It provides suggestions on the dosage of different nutrients needed. Further, it also suggests to the farmers which fertilizer and in how much quantity should be applied, as well as the soil amendments that need to be undertaken, which helps in getting ideal yield.
• Under this scheme, the Indian government is planning to cover a large number of farmers within the country.
• This scheme will cover the entire country.
• Farmers will get the Soil Health Card in the form of a report, which contains all the details of a particular farm’s soil.
• The Soil Health Card will be provided after every three years for a particular farm.

What are the benefits of a Soil Health Card?

• This scheme offers better monitoring of the particular farm’s soil and provides a formatted report, which helps decide which crop is suitable for cultivation and which crop needs to be skipped.
• The soil monitoring is done by the respective authorities on a daily basis, and a report will be provided after every three years. It keeps farmers tension-free even if the soil nature changes because of different factors, and they will be up-to-date about their soil health.
• The government will employ experts to help farmers take corrective measures to improve soil health after providing the list of measures needed to enhance the quality of the soil.
• Farmers will receive a complete soil health record through the SHC scheme and can learn about soil management methods. It will help them plan the future of their crops and land accordingly.
• Unlike other schemes, where a person carrying out the study of a specific farmer gets changed, the Soil Health Card Scheme ensures the same person carries out the soil analysis for a particular farmer. It further enhances this scheme’s effectiveness.
• The SHC card provides a detailed analysis of which nutrients are lacking in the soil, which helps you choose the right crop. It also gives details about which fertilizer is required, resulting in better crop yield.
• The main objective of this scheme is to find out the type of a specific soil and suggest ways to improve it. In case soil has some limitations, something can be done to get the most out of it.

What are the impacts of a Soil Health Card?

In February 2017, the National Productivity Council performed a study and submitted its report on ‘Soil Testing Infrastructure for Faster Delivery of Soil Health Card in India.’ The study took place in 76 districts of 19 states, covering 170 soil testing labs and 1700 farmers. The finding of the study is listed below:

• More than 90% of farmers who participated in the survey informed that they hadn’t performed soil testing before the implementation of the SHC scheme.
• 92% of farmers reported that they hadn’t used balanced fertilizers and micronutrients in the absence of information regarding nutrient availability in their soil.
• As per the Soil Health Card recommendations for the application of fertilizer and micronutrients, it has been found that the use of chemical fertilizer has decreased by 8 to 10%, and an overall increase of 5 to 6% in crop yield has been reported.

How can Farmers get a Soil Health Card?

Farmers can get a Soil Health Card by following the below steps:

• First, you need to download the SHC mobile app.
• Then, you need to open the app and navigate to the login page, where you have to select “Soil Health Card” or “School Soil Health Card,” “User Type,” “username” and “password.”
• Select the type in the radio button of your login.
• Choose the user type STL or Saathi by opening the dropdown menu.
• Now, enter the credentials and click on login.
• Once you are logged in, you will see many schemes on your scheme. Tap and choose the scheme name listed in the dropdown menu.
• Now choose the year option and select the cycle listed in the dropdown menu to see the cycle-wise progress.
• You can also select your preferred language by clicking on the “Change Language” button provided in the triple bar icon provided on the top left corner.
• Now, you need to select the district from the dropdown where you are going to collect the samples and tap on “Download” to download the village list of the selected district. You can also select a village from other districts by following the same procedure.
• Now, you can register yourself for sample collection both online and offline by using the toggle button provided on the homepage.
• Now, you need to add the farmer details for whom the soil sample test needs to take place. You can do it by clicking on the “Farmer Registration” button, providing all the details, and clicking on the “Submit” button.
• Once the farmer details are available in the database, you can go for sample collection. For that, you need to click on the sample collection button, enter the mobile number of the registered farmers, add plot details and register a plot, and lastly click on collect the sample.
• After that, the sample collection process will be performed. According to sample collection norms, the samples will be drawn in a grid of 2.5 hectares in irrigated regions and 10 hectares in rain-fed regions using GPS tools and revenue maps.
• A staff of the Department of Agriculture of the state government or an outsourced agency will collect the soil samples. The state government may also ask the students of local agriculture/science colleges to collect the samples.
• Soil samples are usually taken twice a year, either after harvesting of Kharif or Rabi crops or when there is no crop in the field.
• The final step involves soil testing in the laboratory. The testing takes place as per the approved standards based on 12 parameters and the report will be provided to the respective farmer in the form of a soil health card.

Conclusion

The Soil Health Card scheme helps farmers get a fair idea about the fertility and nutrient contents in their soil. Using the SHC report, they can understand how much fertilizer is required in the field, thereby saving costly fertilizers and determining which crop is best suited for this soil, resulting in better yield and more crop production, which ultimately results in overall profitability.