National Productivity Council (NPC) carried out a study on ‘Soil Testing Infrastructure for Faster Delivery of Soil Health Card in India’ in 2017.  In the study it was found that application of fertilizer and micronutrients based on Soil Health Card (SHC) recommendations resulted in 8-10% of savings and overall increase in the yield of crops to the tune of 5-6% reported by adopting the SHC recommendations.         

         National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad conducted an impact study of Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme (November 2017).  The major findings were that there is some reduction in fertilizer use, especially Nitrogen and increase in bio-fertilizers and other micro-nutrients use.  Overall, paddy farmers reduced use of urea by 9%, Di Ammonium Phosphate (DAP)/ Single Super Phosphate (SSP) by 7%, but increased use of Potassium by 20%.   This is a healthy sign of moving towards balanced use of fertilizers.          

         The States have not reported any challenges faced by them while implementing the scheme.

         Soil Health Card Scheme has been implemented in all parts of the country including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.  The State/Union Territory (UT)-wise details of total number of farm holdings and number of Soil Health Cards issued in given at Annexure.

States/UTs-wise details of total number of farm holdings and number of Soil Health Cards issued

 

Sl. No.	States/UTs	Total No. of farm holding	Soil Health Cards issued
			Cycle-I (2015-17)	Cycle-II (2017-19)	Model Village Programme (2019-20)
1	Andaman & Nicobar	11954	10000	9540	1007
2	Andhra Pradesh	8523910	7455204	6967162	226487
3	Arunachal Pradesh	113253	20532	22128	225
4	Assam	2741711	1300901	1300901	66218
5	Bihar	16412893	6469650	6277942	123866
6	Chhattisgarh	4010772	3890709	4746670	59302
7	Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu	23088	2222	12994	0
8	Goa	74563	25000	16743	2938
9	Gujarat	5320626	5108923	8694942	63591
10	Haryana	1628015	4227238	4143900	25235
11	Himachal Pradesh	996809	385011	960765	19671
12	J & K	1416509	692062	1018051	70246
13	Jharkhand	2802946	637507	641828	58572
14	Karnataka	8680739	7832189	7832189	65034
15	Kerala	7583496	763435	2209717	80045
16	Madhya Pradesh	10003135	8872377	8907385	127585
17	Maharashtra	15285439	13146000	13053000	201837
18	Manipur	150484	114522	114522	10010
19	Meghalaya	232397	209561	246879	3243
20	Mizoram	89774	11986	16458	2119
21	Nagaland	196532	184797	12000	27304
22	Odisha	4865850	2374233	2053734	162405
23	Puducherry	33840	19594	12089	2508
24	Punjab	1092713	1251726	1160568	17793
25	Rajasthan	7654616	6886000	11860699	86341
26	Sikkim	71532	46000	66000	2936
27	Tamil Nadu	7937947	6767000	7016654	58317
28	Telangana	5947735	5720737	4842509	110664
29	Tripura	573194	117723	117723	15602
30	Uttar Pradesh	23821625	17014573	20354551	255517
31	Uttarakhand	881305	750494	882797	13645
32	West Bengal	7242732	5040510	4200000	4520
Total		146422134	107348416	119773040	1964783

 

Source: Total No. of farm holdings-Agriculture Census 2015-16

This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha today.

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APS

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