Farmers may get soil testing machines to conduct soil fertility tests on their own

NEW DELHI: Concerned about the deteriorating quality of soil, the government is considering arming farmers with compact and handheld devices to enable them to conduct soil fertility tests on their own. The Prime Minister’s Office has asked the Niti Aayog to oversee the plan.

“The device will help farmers not just assess the quality of soil but also suggest remedial measures to improve it in a very user friendly manner,” a senior government official privy to the matter told ET. Improvement of soil health is one the top priorities of the government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched a project to hand out soil health cards to farmers in February last year. These cards carry crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilisers required for individual farms to help farmers improve productivity through judicious use of inputs.

But there is a growing realisation among policymakers that the process, targeted to be completed by 2017, may take longer as there are several logistical and other impediments. For instance, all soil samples need to be tested in labs which may not be located close to the places from the samples are collected.

The target is to test 2.5 crore soil samples, but just 28.7% of that is achieved until May 24. Only 1.8 crore, or about 13%, of the targeted 14 crore soil health cards are issued so far. Once the soil tests are done at the labs, experts have to analyse the results and suggest measures to deal with deficiencies, making the entire process tedious and time consuming. Moreover, the exercise will have to be repeated.

The government is keen to quicken the process. “With the handheld device, soil quality can be tested anytime and corrective steps can be taken immediately,” the official added.

Depletion of soil nutrients in India is estimated to be 28 mt annually. While about 20 mt are added back, there is a net gap of 8 mt of nutrients created every year. This has prompted farmers to use more fertilisers, excessive use of which further creates imbalance in soil quality.