Chandigarh: ‘To control the overuse of fertilizers, reduce the input costs of agriculture and to maintain the health of soil, agriculture department had collected the 10,901 samples of the soils and till now 7630 soil cards have been provided to the farmers.’ Disclosing this the officials of the health department said that earlier large number of farmers were using the fertilizers without any scientific lines which had increased the input costs and also reduced the fertility of the soil. Now, with the efforts of agriculture department farmers are becoming aware of these facts and they are giving priority to the use of soil health cards. This has been improving the financial condition of the farmers and more positive results will come out in future also.
Recently Mohan Singh, Farmer of village Ratwara got his soil health card during a farmer awareness camp which was organized by the Agriculture Department at village Ratwara. Talking about soil testing and soil health card at District Administrative Complex, SAS Nagar, he said that earlier he did not have any scientific information about the usages of soil health card and soil testing but with the efforts of Agriculture Department, SAS Nagar, the soil of his farms was tested and he got his soil health card. Now, he would use the fertilizers according to the soil health card, which would reduce the input costs and also maintain the fertility of the soil. He also appealed to the other farmers that they must also move ahead for the testing of the soil of their fields. Mohan Singh further disclosed that many farmers were using the fertilizers according to the suggestions of the sellers, who were selling the fertilizers. This practice had badly affected the health of the soil but now things were changing with the efforts of the agriculture department.
Giving further details about the health of the soil, officials of the Agriculture Department said that to maintain the fertility of the soil, farmers must be aware of the facts that which element is required for the soil and in which quantity it had to be used. Giving an example, he said that if there was an excess of Phosphorus in the soil then DAP fertilizer was not required for such soil. He said that soil testing is must if we want the information regarding the presence of essential elements in the soil. Agriculture experts recommend the use of fertilizers according to the reports. Improper usage of fertilizers decreases the crop yield. For more details regarding soil testing and soil health cards, farmers could contact the office of Agriculture department situated on the Fourth Floor of the District Administrative Complex, SAS Nagar.