Soil Health Card Scheme 2022: Application for the Soil Health Card Scheme, Soil Health Card

The Government of India introduced the Soil Health Card Scheme on February 19, 2015. Under the plan

Aug 10, 2022 - 13:36
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Soil Health Card Scheme 2022: Application for the Soil Health Card Scheme, Soil Health Card
Soil Health Card Scheme 2022: Application for the Soil Health Card Scheme, Soil Health Card

Soil Health Card Scheme 2022: Application for the Soil Health Card Scheme, Soil Health Card

The Government of India introduced the Soil Health Card Scheme on February 19, 2015. Under the plan

The countrywide application of soil health cards has led to a decline in the use of chemical fertilizer by 10%. A study conducted by the National Productivity Council (NPC) says the application of Soil Health Card recommendations has led to a decline of 8-10% in the use of chemical fertilizers.

Summary: Soil Health Card Scheme is a scheme launched by the Government of India on 19 February 2015. Under the scheme, the government plans to issue soil cards to farmers which will carry crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilizers required for the individual farms to help farmers to improve productivity through judicious use of inputs.

All Candidates who are willing to apply online application then download the official notification and read all eligibility criteria and application process carefully. We will provide short information about “Soil Health Card Scheme 2022” like Scheme benefits, Eligibility Criteria, Key Features of the Scheme, Application Status, the Application process, and more.

SHC is a printed report that a farmer will be handed over for each of his holdings. It will contain the status of his soil with respect to 12 parameters, namely N, P, K (Macro-nutrients); S (Secondary- nutrient); Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Bo (Micronutrients); and pH, EC, OC (Physical parameters). Based on this, the SHC will also indicate fertilizer recommendations and soil amendments required for the farm.

The card will contain an advisory based on the soil nutrient status of a farmer’s holding. It will show recommendations on the dosage of different nutrients needed. Further, it will advise the farmer on the fertilizers and their quantities he should apply, and also the soil amendments that he should undertake, so as to realize optimal yields.

About:

  • The soil health card scheme is one of the flagship programs of the Government of India that was launched in February 2015. Schemes are managed by the Integrated Management (INM) Division in the Ministry of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare (AC&FW), Government of India (GoI). 
  • This scheme was launched to help farmers to know their soil health condition as represented by 12 important soil parameters (viz. Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, pH, EC, Organic Carbon, Sulphur, Zinc, Boron, Iron, Manganese, and Copper) and follow management practices accordingly.

Objectives:

  • To issue soil health cards every 2 years, to all farmers, so as to provide a basis to address nutrient deficiencies in fertilization practices. 
  •  To develop and strengthen the functioning of Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs) through capacity building, involvement of agriculture students, and effective linkage with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) / State Agricultural Universities (SAUs). 
  • To build capacities of district and state level staff and of progressive farmers for promotion of nutrient management practices and balanced use of fertilizers.
  • Ensure additional income to farmers and increase yields and promote sustainable farming.

Salient features:

  • It is a centrally sponsored scheme launched in 2015. 
  • Soil Health Card is issued to farmers which carry crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilizers required for the individual farms. Farmers can also get recommendations for additional crops on demand. 
  • The experts analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the soil collected from farms and suggest measures to deal with it. 
  • It will contain the status of his soil with respect to 12 parameters, namely N, P, K (Macro-nutrients); S (Secondary- nutrient); Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Bo (Micronutrients); and pH, EC, OC (Physical parameters). 
  • Based on this, SHC provides two sets of fertilizer recommendations for six crops (three for Kharif and three for rabi) including recommendations for organic manures. 
  • Farmers can also track soil samples on the SHC Portal. 
  • Under the scheme, village youth and farmers up to 40 years of age are eligible to set up Soil Health Laboratories and undertake tests. 
  • Assistance is provided to farmers: 
  • Rs. 2500/ha for distribution of micronutrients 
  • For setting up of mini soil testing labs 
  • Recently a pilot project ‘Development of Model Villages’ has been taken up where soil samples collection has been taken up at individual farm holding with farmer’s participation instead of sample collection at grids.

India is an agriculture-oriented country and this is the reason government launches various innovative schemes to assist farmers on a time-to-time basis. Soil health is a major factor that plays a critical role in deciding the yield and productivity of a crop at the end of the season. Soil Health Card Scheme in India is one of the innovative agrarian schemes of the Government of India for making agricultural activities more efficient and productive by focusing on soil health.

Under Scheme, the government issues soil health cards to the farmers over a period of 2 years. This scheme helps the government to promote Soil Health Management. This scheme is aimed to reduce the use of fertilizers and maintain the nutrient balance in soil for enhanced productivity by testing soil samples in all the states/UTs of the state.

It was launched on 19th February 2021 at Suratgarh in Rajasthan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  SHC Scheme has played a significant role in improving the health of soil across the country since its launch. Farmers of all the states/UTs are the main beneficiaries of the SHC scheme. Apart from this several people and departments are associated and are behind the implementation of this scheme. This scheme is supported and implemented by the students (Colleges/universities), organizations like ICAR, PRI, SAU, KVK, etc., and STLs (Soil Testing Labs) & Mini STLs.

SCH Scheme is a centrally funded scheme that has been introduced and is managed by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, GoI at the central level. The actual implementation of the scheme across states is carried forward by the respective State Agriculture Departments and District Administration.

soilhealth.dac.gov.in | Soil  Health Card Scheme is a very beneficial scheme for farmers. There are many farmers in India. And they do not know which types of crops they should grow to get maximum yield. They do not know the quality and the type of their soil. They might know by experience what crops grow and what crops fail. But they don’t know what they can do to improve the condition of the soil. Under this post, you will get every piece of information regarding this scheme such as applying the online procedure, SHC New Registration, eligibility, etc. Read this article for the best knowledge about SHC Online Application Form 2022.

A Portal has been developed for the farmers to enroll under this scheme. Farmers have to visit the official website of the Soil Health Scheme via online mode. On this page, you may see many options would present in front of you. The registration process will see later. The government is targeting to maintain the nutrient value of the soil of the farming land. It will decrease the chance of less quantity of production. Then the government will enhance productivity through this kind of activity.

Most people of India is depended on farming. So it should ensure that soil fertility is not hurt too much. Indian farmers will be assisted by various government programs. Many factors help to grow a high rate of productivity but the main factor is soil. Soil is a critical factor for farmers as well as the government. Soil Health Scheme is supposed to give better results in farming than we expect. In the direction of PM Narendra Modi, Soil Health Card Scheme (SHC) has been launched on 19th Feb 2015 at Suratgarh, Rajasthan.

As we can see the impact of the scheme on the life of farmers. Soil Health Card is given to the farmers for 2 years. After two years, they have to apply again. farmers will be awarded about the scheme and the importance of the scheme. Soil Health Management System promoted among farmers so that they can easily understand the objective of the scheme and what farmers get from this scheme. It is a central scheme so there are no boundaries for any farmers. Where you are living, does not matter. If you are interested then you must go through this scheme and get benefits.

Soil is a relatively loose material that comprises fine rock particles and organic matter. Soil takes a long period to be formed. Due to changes in temperature the bedrock develops cracks and gets broken up. This is worked upon by the agents of erosion which transform it into loose fragments of rocks. This further disintegrates into a powdery mass called sub-soil. The decay of vegetative matter called humus is added to this subsoil making the topsoil fertile.

Under this section, we will learn how farmers can register themself on the official portal of the Soil Health Card Scheme for the first time. Interested farmers can enroll under this scheme through an online portal. As much as farmers get enrolled under this scheme, it will show the success of this scheme. If you want to register yourself then you are supposed to follow the below rules.

The Department of Agriculture and Co-operation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare launched an innovative scheme for the country’s farmers. The main motto of this scheme is to check the health of the soil composition of the farmers. This initiative educates farmers and educates them in various aspects like fertilizers usage, chemicals, and other components for their farmland. Moreover, the farmers can also avail themselves of the Soil Health Cards (SHC) from the government. An amount of Rupees 190 (per unit) will be provided for the state government to conduct the farmland soil testing till distributing the soil health card to the beneficiary.

Soil Health Card Scheme is launched by the government of India in 2015 to issue ‘Soil cards’ to farmers. The Soil Card carries crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilizers required for the individual farms. The aim was to help farmers improve productivity through judicious use of inputs. Soil Health Card is used to assess the current status of soil health and, when used over time, to determine changes in soil health that are affected by land management. A Soil Health Card displays soil health indicators and associated descriptive terms. The indicators are typically based on farmers’ practical experience and knowledge of local natural resources. The card lists soil health indicators that can be assessed without the aid of technical or laboratory equipment.

The Soil Health Card Day will be observed tomorrow. It commemorates the day Soil Health Card Scheme was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on February 19, 2015, at Suratgarh, Rajasthan. Coincidentally, the International Year of Soils was celebrated the same year.
The objectives of the Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme are to issue soil health cards to farmers every two years so as to provide a basis to address nutritional deficiencies in fertilization practices. Soil testing is developed to promote soil tests based on nutrient management. Soil testing reduces cultivation costs by applying the right quantity of fertilizer. It ensures additional income to farmers by an increase in yields and it also promotes sustainable farming.
The scheme has been introduced to assist State Governments to issue SHCs to all farmers in the country. SHC provides information to farmers on the nutrient status of their soil along with recommendations on the appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and its fertility.
Deterioration of soil chemical, physical and biological health is considered one of the reasons for the stagnation of agricultural productivity in India.

The challenges are enormous: Indian soils are working with a negative nutrient balance to the tune of 12-14 million tons per year and the negative balance is likely to increase in the future even after using the full potential of the fertilizer industry. The Nutrient deficiency in India is in the order of 95, 94, 48, 25, 41, 20, 14, 8 and 6% for N, P, K, S, Zn, B, Fe, Mn, and Cu respectively. The limiting nutrients do not allow the full expression of other nutrients and lower the fertilizer response and crop productivity.
Improving fertilizer/nutrient use efficiency is important rather than applying more fertilizer in Indian agriculture. Nutrient use efficiency presently is low ranging from 30-50% (Nitrogen), 15-20% (Phosphorus), 60-70% (Potassium), 8-10% (Sulphur) and 1-2% (micronutrients).
The overall strategy for increasing crop yields and sustaining them at a high level must include an integrated approach for managing soil health along with other complementary measures which have a major impact on soil quality, plant growth, crop productivity, and agricultural sustainability.
The Government under the component of Soil Health Management of National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) is promoting soil test-based balanced and integrated nutrient management in the country through setting up/strengthening soil testing laboratories, the establishment of bio-fertilizer and compost units, use of micronutrients, training and demonstrations on balanced use of fertilizers, etc.
SHC scheme was launched in 2015 to evaluate the soil fertility of every farm holdings across the country in every two years. During cycle –I (2015-17), 10.74 crores Soil Health Cards and during the cycle – II (2017-19), 11.74 crore Soil Health Cards have been distributed to farmers. The Government has spent more than Rs.700 crores on the SHC scheme since its launch five years ago.
So far 429 new static Soil Testing Labs (STLs), 102 new mobile STLs, 8752 mini STLs, and 1562 village-level STLs have been sanctioned under the scheme since 2014-15. Out of these sanctioned labs, 129 new static Soil Testing Labs (STLs), 86 new mobile STLs, 6498 mini STLs, and 179 village-level STLs are already established.
The Government is also implementing the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) scheme and promoting customized and fortified fertilizers for balanced use of fertilizers. The recommended subsidy rates (in Rs./Kg) fixed during the year 2019-20 for N, P, K & S are Rs.18.901, 15.216, 11.124, and 3.562 respectively. In order to overcome the deficiency of micronutrients in soil and to encourage their application along with primary nutrients, additional subsidy on Boron and Zinc has also been provided @ Rs.300/- and Rs.500/- per tonne respectively.
So far, 21 fertilizers have been brought under the NBS scheme. Presently, 35 customized and 25 fortified fertilizers notified by the Government are in use.
During 2019-20, a pilot project ‘Development of Model Villages’ has been taken up where soil samples collection has been taken up at individual farm holding with farmer’s participation instead of sample collection at grids.
Under the pilot project, one village per block is adopted for holding-based soil testing and organization of a larger number of demonstrations up to a maximum number of 50 demonstrations (1 ha each) for each adopted village. 
So far 6,954 villages have been identified by the States which is against the target of 26.83 lakh samples / Soil Health Cards, 21.00 lakh samples have been collected, 14.75 lakh samples analyzed and 13.59 lakh cards distributed to farmers. Apart from this 2,46,979 demonstrations and 6,951 Farmer Melas were approved by States.
During the next five years, it is proposed to cover four lakh villages under individual farms holding soil sampling & testing, organize 2.5 lakh demonstrations, set up 250 village-level soil testing labs, strengthen 200 soil testing labs with Intensively Coupled Plasma (ICP) spectrophotometer and promotion of micro-nutrients in 2 lakh hectare area.
Given that more than half of India’s 1.27 billion population depends on agriculture for their livelihood, the declining productivity of soil should be a matter of grave concern for all especially the fact that 86% of these farmers are a marginal and small category.
Soil is a vital resource for achieving food, nutritional, environmental, and livelihood security and thereby managing soil resources and conserving this vital natural resource base for future generations without any deterioration is the major challenge in the 21st century.
Soil Health Card provides two sets of fertilizer recommendations for six crops including recommendations for organic manures. Farmers can also get recommendations for additional crops on demand. They can also print the card as their own from the SHC portal. SHC portal has a farmers' database of both the cycles and is available in 21 languages for the benefit of the farmers. 
Awareness among farmers is being stepped up by coordinated efforts of the Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare and the Department of Fertilizers, backed by technology and the network of Krishi Vigyan Kendras of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research. Farmer can track their samples, print their Cards, etc at Common Service Centres also at the Farmers Corner of www.soilhealth.gov.in and fulfill the mantra of Swastha Dhara to Khet Hara (if the soil is healthy, the fields will be green).
A 2017 study by the National Productivity Council (NPC) found that the SHC scheme has promoted sustainable farming and led to a decrease in the use of chemical fertilizer applications in the range of 8-10%. Besides, the overall increase in the yield of crops to the tune of 5-6% was reported due to the application of fertilizer and micronutrients as per recommendations available in the Soil Health Cards.

Soil Health Card Scheme was initiated by the Prime Minister of India for the welfare of the farmers. The scheme helps farmers know about the crops that can be planted depending on the soil based on scientific methods. By doing this, the farmers can get maximum yield while harvesting the crops. Under the scheme, based on analysis, the farmers are provided with a soil health card that determines the crops that can be cultivated in the particular soil and measures to develop the productivity of the crops. In this article, we look at the various aspects of the soil health card schemes in detail.

Farmers are mostly uneducated and there were no standard guides to test the soil samples. Due to this, the farmers were uncertain of the outcome of their cultivation. By providing the soil health card, the farmers are aware of the nature of the soil and the right fertilizers that have to be used to increase their productivity. The farmers can also seek help from experts to assist them to know about the scheme. A soil health card is provided to farmers once every 3 years.

The authorities of the scheme collect various soil samples and these samples will be sent to the testing laboratories where experts would conduct tests on the samples. Soil samples are drawn by the State Government by the Department of Agriculture staff by using GPS tools and revenue maps in a grid of  2.5 ha in irrigated areas and 10 ha in rainfed areas. Once testing is done, the experts analyze the soil samples and note the strengths and weaknesses of the soil. If there can be changes made to improve the nutrients of the soil, then experts will give suggestions to make the changes. The government includes all this information in the soil cards of the farmers in a comprehensive manner. A fee of Rs. 190 per soil sample has to be paid to the State Government to conduct tests. The fee includes the cost of collection of the soil sample, testing, generation, and distribution of soil health card to the farmer.

Soil Samples are taken twice regularly in a year after the harvesting of Rabi and Kharif crops or when there is no crop in the field. The samples will be collected by the State Government staff where the soil will be cut to a depth of 15-20 cm in a V shape. The obtained sample will be coded and then sent to laboratories for conducting tests. The testing laboratories are also in the form of mobile vehicles so that tests can be conducted in remote areas.

Name of the Scheme Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme
Category Central Govt. Scheme
Type of Scheme Centrally Funded Agricultural Scheme
Concerned Department Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare
Ministry   Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India
Purpose Free checkup of Soil (Issue soil health cards to farmers to access the current status of soil health and take corrective measures to improve soil fertility & farmer income)
Area Covered PAN India
Beneficiaries Farmers
Launch Date  19th February 2015
Issue of Soil Health Card Every 2 Year
Current Status Active
Official Portal soilhealth.dac.gov.in

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