Dirt, Dirt is something that has sustained the human race for generations, it’s something that has made evolution possible.
Due to the recent outbreak of plastic and other non-bio degradable materials, the quality of soil has reduced significantly for that govt of India took an initiative and introduced soil health cards on this day back in 2015. let’s see what it is all about.
What is soil health?
Just like how humans require various nutrients such as protein, carbs, and vitamins the soil also requires healthy nutrients to help farmers get more yield per landmass.. Healthy soil is the kind of soil that allows air and water to move freely through them and contains a balanced amount of nutrients.
What determines soil health?
Soil health cannot be determined by measuring only crop yield, water quality, or any other single outcome. Soil health cannot be measured directly, so we evaluate indicators. Indicators are measurable properties of soil or plants that provide clues about how well the soil can function.
What is the importance of soil health
- Healthy soil is full of organisms that turn dead matter and minerals into vital plant nutrients, hence the most important benefit of healthy soil is increased food production.
- Healthy soil can absorb water very efficiently which becomes vital during droughts
- Healthy soil allows easy collection of groundwater.
- Healthy soil allows important bacterial growth in some cases it is used for antibiotics preparation.
What is soil health card?
A soil health card is used to assess the current situation of the soil and when it is used for a prolonged amount of time we can get to know how the soil health is affected by land management and prevent them from happening.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme on 19th February 2015 at Suratgarh in Rajasthan. The scheme aims at issuing soil health cards to farmers every two years to provide a basis to address nutritional deficiencies in the soil.
Punjab was the first state in India to introduce the soil health card.
Benefits of Soil Health Card
Farmers get detailed information about their farm soil health. A Soil Health Card also informs about the suitability of the soil for which crops. As per the media reports, farmers can increase crop production by using balanced amounts of fertilizers for the selected crop based on nutrients available in the soil. A Soil Health Card also informs that excessive use of fertilizers is not good for crops. This soil health card also helps to save money to increase the fertility of the soil.
Soil is a very important part of the ecosystem which is something we can’t live without. We need to take care of the state in which we keep our surroundings. Most importantly say no to single-use plastic.