India celebrates 8th Soil Health Card Day on February 19th .

February 21, 2023

Soil Health Card Day is celebrated on February 19 every year to celebrate launching of the Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme in 2015.
- 2015 was also marked as the International Year of Soils.

Objectives of Soil Health Card Scheme

To issue soil health cards every two years to all farmers, so as to provide a basis to address nutrient deficiencies in fertilization practices.
- Soil Health Card is a printed report that a farmer is given for each of his holdings. It contains the status of his soil with respect to 12 parameters, namely
  - N (Nitrogen), P (Phosphorus), K (Potassium) [Macro-nutrients];
  - S (Sulphur) [Secondary- nutrient];
  - Zn (Zinc), Fe (Iron), Cu (Copper), Mn (Manganese), Bo (Boron) [Micro – nutrients]; and
  - pH levels , Electric Conductivity, Organic Carbon (Physical parameters).
- Based on these, the SHC will also indicate fertilizer recommendations and soil amendment required for the farm.
To strengthen functioning of Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs) through capacity building, involvement of agriculture students and effective linkage with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) / State Agricultural Universities (SAUs).
To diagnose soil fertility related constraints with standardized procedures for sampling uniformly across states and analysis and design taluka / block level fertilizer recommendations in targeted districts.
To develop and promote soil test based nutrient management in the districts for enhancing nutrient use efficiency.
To provide financial assistance to farmers to apply corrective measures for deficiencies and popularizing balance and integrated nutrient management practices for their cropping systems.
To build capacities of district and state level staff and of progressive farmers for promotion of nutrient management practices.