Parliament Question: Beneficiaries of Soil Health Card Scheme

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1520 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 29TH JULY, 2025 BENEFICIARIES OF SOIL HEALTH CARD SCHEME

1520. SHRI GURMEET SINGH MEET HAYER:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ(cid:874)ष एवं (cid:873)कसान क(cid:227)याण मं(cid:287)ी be

pleased to state:

(a) the farmers who have benefitted from the Soil Health Card Scheme since its launch, year wise, State-wise and district-wise data;

(b) the extent impact of the scheme had on soil fertility, fertilizer usage and overall crop yield;

(c) whether any assessment has been conducted to measure its success or challenges;

(d) the number of Soil Health Cards that have been distributed in Punjab and across the country, how frequently are they updated for farmers;

(e) the percentage of farmers actively using the recommendations provided in the Soil Health Cards;

(f) the challenges that have been identified in the implementation of the scheme and the corrective measures being taken; and

(g) whether there are any plans to enhance or modify the scheme to improve its effectiveness and farmer participation, if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ(cid:874)ष एवं (cid:873)कसान क(cid:227)याण रा(cid:207)य मं(cid:287)ी (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR)

(a): State wise, year wise details of Soil Health Cards (SHCs) issued to farmers since inception of Soil Health and Fertility Scheme is at Annexure. District wise details of generation of Soil Health Card from the year 2023-24 to 2025-26 is available at SHC portal

https://www.soilhealth.dac.gov.in/scheme-progress under state wise drill down option.(b) & (c): National Productivity Council (NPC), New Delhi carried out a study 'Soil Testing Infrastructure for Faster Delivery of SHC in India' in 2017 in 76 districts of 19 States covering 170 soil testing labs and 1700 farmers. As a result of application of fertilizer and micro-nutrients as per SHC recommendations, there has been a decrease of use of chemical fertilizer application in the range of 8-10% was found. Overall 5-6% increase in the yield of crops was reported, due to application of fertilizer and micro nutrients as per SHC. An impact study of Soil Health & Fertility Scheme (November 2017) was conducted by National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad. As per report, about 62.8% of the farmers use fertilizers according to the recommendations on the SHC. The cost per acre by reduced by 4 to 10 % due to low fertilizer use. Crop yields increased for majority of the crops, although moderately. Overall, paddy farmers reduced use of urea by 9%, Diammonium Phosphate

(DAP)/Single Super Phosphate by 7%, but increased use of Potassium by 20%.

(d) & (e): 25.17 crore SHCs have been distributed across the country since inception of the Scheme till date (i.e. 24.07.2025). 28.21 lakh SHCs have been distributed in Punjab till date (i.e. 24.07.2025). Diagnostic soil health assessment of farmer fields are taken taken up periodically, to issue SHCs once in a three years.

(f) & (g): In order to increase efficiency, provision has been made in SHC portal for samples registration, test result entry, automatic fertilizer dosages recommendations and generation of soil health cards. Under the scheme, regular awareness programmes are conducted by States under the scheme to educate farmers to use SHC recommendations. 93,781 farmer’s trainings, 6.80 lakh demonstrations, 7425 farmer’s melas/ campaigns on soil health card recommendations have been organized across the country. Agri-extension worker like Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA), Krishi Vigyan Kendras are also involved in knowledge dissemination to farmers about SHC recommendations. Further, under this scheme the component of School soil health programme is also implemented in 1020 schools to inculcate importance of soil in young mind of students to ensure behavioral change. Under the programme, 1.32 lakh students are enrolled to undertake soil sampling, testing, generation of SHCs and educating farmers about judicious use of fertilizers as per SHC recommendations.

Government has upscaled the programme in 5000 PM Shree Schools.Annexure State-wise Soil Health Cards issued to the Farmers under Soil Health & Fertility of PM-RKVY No. of SHCs issued to Farmers Sl.

States/UTs Cycle-I Cycle-II Total No. 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 (2015-17) (2017-19) Andaman & 1 10000 9540 1007 3000 2850 604 9999 108 37108 Nicobar 2 Andhra Pradesh 7455204 6927733 226487 0 0 259929 449753 63175 15382281 Arunachal 3 20532 44256 5432 53 0 2275 100020 734 173302 Pradesh 4 Assam 1300901 1296197 67860 0 0 295182 1011791 31127 4003058 5 Bihar 6469650 6277942 123866 333359 1510587 250053 500000 26452 15491909 6 Chhattisgarh 3890709 5514508 65341 5317 0 160922 174876 56741 9868414 Dadra & Nagar 7 Haveli and 2222 12994 581 0 0 0 0 0 15797 Daman & Diu 8 Goa 25000 19550 2909 6556 9033 8783 8987 853 81671 9 Gujarat 5108923 8671152 63591 0 88422 178286 619520 97 14729991 10 Haryana 4227238 4143900 25605 18972 600000 297772 571953 0 9885440 Himachal 11 385011 960765 19671 25152 24134 12370 74084 20340 1521527 Pradesh For Jammu & 12 692062 1014182 56742 77519 2021-22, 186890 57905 80257 15704 2181261 Kashmir no fund 13 Jharkhand 637507 263815 24037 0 0 113195 234988 21305 1294847 for Soil 14 Karnataka 7832189 9073145 73221 105546 Samples 177359 221427 268000 84 17750971 were 15 Kerala 763435 2319002 126540 118022 0 0 103363 0 3430362 allocated 16 Ladakh 0 0 1718 0 to 0 931 138 0 2787 17 Madhya Pradesh 8872377 8907385 127585 168454 States. 168208 467661 1106994 197865 20016529 18 Maharashtra 12977232 13067735 201837 0 206153 240246 487707 14950 27195860 19 Manipur 114522 114522 10010 4147 7800 0 339 0 251340 20 Meghalaya 209561 216659 3243 14195 0 13000 24999 279 481936 21 Mizoram 11986 16458 2119 0 2857 5170 29727 0 68317 22 Nagaland 184797 12000 27304 0 14800 14752 110977 1 364631 23 Odisha 2374233 2047308 440927 142078 325484 14163 498763 14453 5857409 24 Puducherry 19594 12089 2508 3006 0 3002 3000 43 43242 25 Punjab 1251726 1160568 19196 19196 168745 87944 96592 17324 2821291 26 Rajasthan 6886000 12079000 104774 0 154429 268579 340990 130946 19964718 27 Sikkim 46000 66000 2936 0 3000 15035 60000 1672 194643 28 Tamil Nadu 7000000 7016654 58317 357000 134050 250400 400000 82607 15299028 29 Telangana 5720737 4842509 110664 165527 0 0 139575 5245 10984257 30 Tripura 117723 158337 15002 6816 20000 15212 36661 370 370121 31 Uttar Pradesh 17014573 20354551 255517 28109 392257 485022 826001 384278 39740308 32 Uttarakhand 750494 882797 13645 81876 25305 52368 100913 9701 1917099 33 West Bengal 5040510 4423049 91360 0 0 326095 370031 28347 10279392 Total 107412648 121926302 2371552 1683900 4222363 4118283 8840998 1124801 251700847 *****