Vol. 12, Special Issue 12 (2023)

Author(s):
Ravi Kumar Dubey, HO Sharma, Prashant Namdeo, KK Nayak, Venkteshwar Jallaraph and Sanjana Shrivastava

Abstract:
An attempt has been made to analyze the impact of Soil Health Card Scheme (SHC) on productivity, fertilizer consumption and farmers’ income in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh. The data were gathered from 66 SHC holders and the impact of SHC was assessed based on the farmers’ use of SHC. It was observed from the study that majority of farmers have a positive opinion regarding SHCs. They were found to have reduced the use of urea (28.08%), DAP (3.80%), MOP (51.77%) and Zinc sulphate (3.85%) and increased the SSP (36.84%), and organic manure (72.19%) in cultivation of paddy after adoption of the SHC recommendations. But still an average farmer not followed recommended doses of fertilizer and there was found a gap of 10.65%, 4.48%, 9.24%, 11.14%, 3.50% and 55.96% in Urea, DAP, MOP, Zinc sulphate, SSP and Organic manure as compared of recommended doses of fertilizer. Due to Soil Test Value (STV) based nutrient application net income increased by 23.96 percent after adoption of SHC. The benefit-cost ratio revealed that for an investment of ₹ 1.00, an average SHC holder received a return from ₹ 1.95 to 2.18 (11.86%) in paddy cultivation. The SHC Scheme is highly beneficial to the farmers in terms of increasing crop production and farmer’s income. However, in order for the SHC recommendations to be adopted more widely, it is necessary to raise awareness among farmers of the advantages of this Scheme in terms of cost savings through STV-based nutrient application. Additionally, soil testing services and laboratories should be strengthened. This will help in balanced consumption of fertilizers in crop. Making the SHC accessible to farmers through information technology, including the internet and mobile, is urgently needed, in some way.