• 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.