Soil Health Card Scheme (SHCS) completes 9 Years

Posted 20 Feb 2024

2 min read

Launched in 2014-2015, to assist State Governments to issue Soil Health Cards (SHC’s).
- Promotes Integrated Nutrient Management (INM).
  - In INM, judicious use of chemical fertilizers including secondary and micro nutrients in conjunction with organic manures & bio-fertilizers is done for improving soil health and its productivity.
- Flagship program of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.
- Merged with Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) Cafeteria Scheme as Soil Health & Fertility component in 2022-23.

About SHC
- Provides soil nutrient status of his/her holding to each farmer and advises him /her on the dosage of fertilizers.
- It also suggests the soil amendments needed that should be applied to maintain soil health in the long run.
- SHC contains the status of soil with respect to 12 parameters- Micro-nutrients, Macro-nutrients, Secondary-nutrients and Physical parameters.
- A farm will get the soil card once in every 3 years.
- It helps in reducing the cost of production.

Implementation Strategy
- Implemented through the Department of Agriculture of all the State and Union Territory Governments.
- Integrated with a Geographic Information System (GIS) system.
- Village Level Soil Testing Labs (VLSTLs) have been set up.

Objective: To ensure more inclusive and integrated development of agriculture and allied sectors.
Scheme Type: Centrally Sponsored Scheme
RKVY has been re-structured as RKVY Cafeteria Scheme from 2022-23.
It merges some schemes of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare which includes Rainfed Area Development, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana etc.

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