In a major development to save the stressed peasantry facing degradation of soil and sinking groundwater table, the Punjab Government has issued more than 1.55 lakh soil health cards to the State’s farmers.
“The Government has initiated an organised awareness campaign for the farmers regarding the usage of fertilisers in accordance with the nutrient status of his soil in accordance with the issued soil health card. A total of 1,55,023 soil health cards have been issued to the farmers,” said State Agriculture director Mangal Singh Sandhu.
He said that when these cards are issued to the farmers, a complete detail of the nutrients present in the soil is entered in the card and recommendations are also made to use suitable fertilisers for increasing the fertility of the soil.
To maintain the soil fertility of the cultivable land and to maintain the purity of underground water being used for irrigation, the Agriculture Department has set up special Soil and Water Testing labs which are being a great help to the farmers.
“The farmers can avail Soil and Water Testing facilities at a very nominal cost from these labs. The Department has set up 66 Soil Testing laboratories in 20 districts of the state,” he said.
While ensuring the land productivity, the government has also ensured big incentive to the farmers by providing them the soil health cards.
The farmers possessing these cards were also imparted required awareness during the interactive sessions chaired by the subject matter specialists of Department of Agriculture, he said.
“To ensure the sustainable productivity of the land under cultivation and purity of water used for irrigation, Punjab has collected 3,10,120 samples of soil and 19,761 samples of water and analysed them at various laboratories across the state during 2014-15,” he said adding that awareness camps have also been organised.
The farmers should not use insecticides, pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals without seeking the experts’ advice because it can adversely affect the soil and cause environmental pollution, he said while making an appeal to the farmers to have soil and water of their farms tested before the next cropping season.