Head of the Post Graduate Programme
Agriculture growth is vital for the economic growth of the country. The World Bank has also emphasized developing countries to increase their farm productivity and increase farmers’ income. Agricultural development in developing countries as a prerequisite for economic growth and higher standard of living of farmers and the most effective tool to reduce the gap between developed and developing countries. Increase in agricultural production with technological advancement increases farmers income , contributes to the food processing industry and generates new job opportunities as well as strengthens the value chain and leads to higher export proceeds.
It has been proved that agriculture investment multiplier is significantly more important in increasing farmers income and reducing the level of poverty in India.. To achieve sustainable agricultural food production, developing countries need to increase their investment in agriculture production systems and processes. The technological and innovative agricultural practices need to be essentially incorporated in the government budget allocation policy to increase productivity and production that develops resilient ecosystems and promotes green production with decreased consumption of water and fertilizer and maintains soil health . Soil health management can reduce greenhouse gas emission, water consumption per unit of crop and inflation, leading to sustainable economic growth.
To avoid disruption of the ecosystem and sustainability of growth and price level in the economy and world market, the only mantra is resilient and sustainable agriculture practices. The fertility of soil enhances agricultural productivity resulting in an increase in farm income and a reduction in the debt burden of the farmers.
Soil Health Card Scheme
Keeping into consideration the well-being of farmers and farm health and World Bank’s Millennial Sustainable Goal of agriculture development, the Indian government in 2015 had taken an initiative to launch Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme with deployment of 86 million USD for the implementation of this scheme.
The Soil Health Card Scheme of Government of India has been launched with the objective to inform farmers about the nutritional status of the soils and how to reduce the cultivation cost by educating farmers about the benefits of balanced use of fertilizers. The government has also taken steps to promote use of Neem Coated Urea by farmers through ensuring adequate supply of it. The government is encouraging organic farming and helping farmers to adopt new technologies in agriculture such as space technology for better planning through forecasting of crop production, agricultural land-use mapping, drought prediction, and utilization of fallow paddy fields for Rabi crops. The technology driven Kisan Suvidha App and Kisan Call Centre help farmers to receive real time information and guidance that helps them to maximize their crop proceeds. .
The objective of Soil Health Card Scheme is to provide nutrient recommendations to farmers based on local soil health tests to promote balanced nutrient management farm practice in India. The card helps to find the soil health that helps government officers to suggest the amount of fertilizer required to produce a specific crop. The government officers will evaluate the soil health on a frequent basis, the nutrient level of the soil and the amount of fertilizer required to grow a specific crop.
The initiative taken by the government of India to improve farmer’s income through structural reforms can only generate fruitful results if farmers are sensitized regarding different schemes launched by the government and how it can help them to be a part of the global value chain. It is essential to determine the extent of awareness amongst farmers about the soil health card scheme, its benefits, and the impact of it on the farm performance and income and fertilizer expenses of the farmer as well as on the quality of life of the farmers.
Pertinent Questions
Most pertinent questions for the policy- makers are whether the information contained in Soil Health Card is too technical and difficult for farmers to understand, do they know the importance of nutrients and micronutrients present in the soil, do they know the meaning of PH value of soil, do they know organic carbon present in the soil and how it helps in a higher yield, do they get any guidance for the use of fertilizer and how much to be used, are they aware of Neem Coated fertilizer, do they find it is easy to understand farm-related government initiatives through pictures, story or one to one interaction with government employees and understand , do they have soil health labs close to their farm for testing micronutrients in soil.
Head of the Post Graduate Programme
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