Govt to disburse 14 cr soil health cards in 2 yrs

Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Wednesday expressed satisfaction over the performance of states over preparations for the Soil Health Cards Day (SHC), which will be celebrated on December 5. 

Giving details about the review meeting held with secretaries of all states over various issues, Singh said the Centre has asked the officials to gear up to meet the target on soil health card completion before December 5.

Singh also reviewed other flagship programmes such as Krishi Sinchai Yojna and Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna, which are aimed at promoting organic farming and establishing a national agricultural market. 

“The ministry is providing all assistance to farmers affected by natural calamities like unseasonal rain, hailstorm, etc. The aids were provided to the states soon after the Centre got the assessment report from the affected states,” the minister said.

Briefing about the soil health card, a flagship programme of PM Narendra Modi, Singh said: “Against the target of distributing SHC among 14 crore farmers in three years, the Centre has decided to meet the target in just two years. In the first year (2015-16), 5.50 crore SHC would distributed by the end of this fiscal.”

Speaking about the soil health card day, Singh said, “Every state has planned to observe the day in a big way. The celebrations will be held at state capital level, district level and block level. Some states have planned to hold the event at even panchayat level too. On this occasion, soil health cards will be distributed among farmers and awareness campaigns will also be launched.”

States have been asked to involve local representatives in functions. The Centre has already released funds for organising the programmes. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Nagaland and Sikkim have done well in this direction.

For promoting organic cultivation, the Centre has allocated Rs 300 crore to states. Also a corpus of Rs 508.46 crore has been approved for constituting 7,141 cooperatives in 28 states and Union Territories.