Just 2.28 kg/hectare reduction in urea consumption in 5 years

New Delhi: It seems all the efforts of the government to bring down urea consumption in cultivable lands have gone into vain as even after the five years of Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme implementation, the country has reported just 2.28 kg per hectare reduction in urea consumption.

According to the information provided by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, the consumption of urea has been reduced from 155.81 kg per hectare in 2015-16 to 152.53 kg per hectare in 2019-20.

"The decreasing trend in per hectare consumption of Urea has also been observed in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Jharkhand, Odisha, Puducherry, Tamilnadu, Telangana and Uttarakhand from 2015-16 to 2019-20," Tomar informed Lok Sabha in a written reply in response to a question asked by BJP MP Rajesh Verma, who represents Sitapur parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh. The Soil Health Card Scheme has been implemented since 2015-16 to promote soil test based balanced and integrated use of chemical fertilisers in conjunction with organic and biofertilisers, the minister said in his reply.

After five years, 10.74 crore Soil Health Cards were distributed among farmers during the first cycle (2015-17) and 11.74 crore Soil Health Cards were distributed during the second cycle (2017-19). The government has spent more than Rs 700 crore on the SHC scheme since its launch five years ago.

The Soil Health Card Day was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 19, 2015 at Suratgarh, Rajasthan.