Chief Minister Harish Rawat has announced to provide soil health cards to farmers of the state.

Malabar's legendary black pepper is becoming extinct in Wayanad, the very place from where shiploads were once exported across the world and for whose monopoly several European nations sunk fortune

Soil health cards to expand and Urea subsidy cut likely

Seeking to spur agricultural growth, the Centre will soon launch a comprehensive plan to provide `Soil Health Card' to all farmers across the country .

Tests conducted on soil samples to determine level of macro and micro nutrients

Study on the availability of micro and macro nutrients in soil samples collected from Valapurnadu Panchayat atop Kolli Hills reveals that it lacked three of the four main macro ingredients – organic carbon, nitrogen and potash. “On the other hand availability of zinc (micro nutrient) is also below average,” M. Janakiraman, a Soil Pedologist and Consultant said.

A second science-based Green Revolution is needed for increasing rice productivity as the health of rice-based systems determines the fate of Indian agriculture, Robert S. Zeigler, director general, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines, said here on Friday.

At a seminar on “Rice Research Innovations for Addressing Global Food Security in a Changing Climate” held at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in connection with the Centenary Year of the Paddy Breeding Station, he said that this revolution would be made possible by tapping innovations in genetics, molecular biology and plant physiology, and linking soil biology and chemistry.

Farmers can now get online information on the amount of fertilizers that they must apply to a particular kind of soil and crop. This will help them overcome the problem of over-use of fertilizer that is eroding soil health.

The Bhopal-based Indian Institute of Soil Science has developed a web-based system that calculates the quantum and quality of fertilizers that should be applied to the soil for targeted yield.

Inaugurating the programme, the Nilgiris Collector Archana Patnaik urged the farmers to switch to organic farming. The government will extend a helping hand in marketing their products, she said.

Underscoring the need to bring about a mindset change among farmers, she said that they should personally take care of their lands and become technology savvy. Over dependence on subsidies should be eschewed.

Soil test based nutrient management has emerged as a key issue in efforts to increase agricultural productivity and production since optimal use of nutrients, based on soil analysis can improve crop productivity and minimize wastage of these nutrients, thus minimizing impact on environmental leading to bias through optimal production.

This document contains the presentation by H.

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