The Hindu : Soil health cards for farmers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 23, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Pondicherry

Soil health cards for farmers

By Our Staff Reporter

Pondicherry June 22. The Department of Agriculture here has initiated steps to issue individual soil health cards to farmers to help them raise crops after ascertaining the nature and health of soil.

V. N. Varma, Deputy Director of Agriculture, told this Correspondent here today that as a preliminary step, the Department has launched a special drive to collect samples of soil from different key villages falling under the jurisdiction of the Uzhavar Udhaviyagams in the Union Territory.

The purpose of the drive was to ensure that soil was properly preserved and water resources periodically ascertained and maintained by farmers.

Variations in the condition of soil health could be controlled by the climatic and agronomic changes.

There was every need to test soil periodically before farmers raised crops.

Keeping track of soil conditions and maintaining records would help monitor the level of soil fertility. Soil degradation could also be averted, it was pointed out.

The Union Territory Administration has set up soil testing labs, which are essential to assess the fertility status and soil conditions. Soil faced the threat of salinity and acidity quite often in Pondicherry and this would cause impoverishment.

Mr. Varma said the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation had launched the soil health assessment programme in the initial stages and the Central government had extended it to the entire country.

The programme now implemented by the Department of Agriculture covered comprehensively the analysis of macro and micronutrients and also physio-chemical tests. The time involved to cover the whole of Pondicherry would be long. But as far as the outlying regions are concerned, it could be done in less than a year. A benchmark unit sample would also be collected at the rate of 10 to 15 hectares to appraise the fertility of a broader unit.

This would help integration of the neighbouring units to get macro level scale of mapping of the soil units, Mr.Varma said.

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