The Department of Agriculture has collected around 20,000 soil samples in the district for testing. The objective is to retain the fertility of the soil and promote the use of bio-fertilizer.
The district has 9.5 lakh hectare cultivatable land, including dry and irrigated land. The department has been encouraging farmers to get the soil tested to get information about the presence or absence of constituents and minerals in it.
This will help farmers to know what and how much fertilizer should be used on the soil and for which crop for getting a higher yield.
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The State government has been issuing soil health cards from last year for the purpose. Farmers need to collect soil samples and get a detailed report from laboratories on the nature of their land and the quantity of fertilizer that could be used there. The department believes that many farmers, having no knowledge about the quantity of nutrients and minerals present in the soil, were often using excess fertilizer which was damaging soil fertility.
“Because of the unchecked unregulated usage of fertilizer, farmers are unable to get high yield as they affect the soil fertility. Realising the importance of the issue, the government is encouraging farmers to get the soil tested. This will help them keep a check on the use of fertilizer,” D. Manjunath, Joint Director, Agriculture, said.
He said that the department had set a target of collecting 1.41 lakh soil samples in three years.
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