Maps to guide farmers on nutrient deficiency in soil
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service
Moga, May 29
To check the overuse of fertilisers on crops, the Agriculture Department has initiated a move to install “soil fertility map” hoardings in all villages of the district showing deficiency of various nutrients in that particular area.
These hoardings being installed on the premises of the village cooperative societies and common places will guide farmers about the nutrient deficiency in the soil in their particular area so that farmers can make judicious use of fertilisers in their fields as per the actual requirement.
Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO), Moga, Dr Paramjit Singh Brar said the department had designed soil fertility maps on the basis of soil samples collected under the Central Government’s Soil Health Scheme across the district.
“These block-wise soil fertility maps have been designed in a way that farmers can get knowledge about deficiency of any particular nutrient in the soil in their respective village so that they can accordingly apply required nutrients. The areas with deficiency of nutrients are marked in separate colours,” he said.
Dr Brar said the overuse of fertilisers cause an imbalance in the soil and creates a deficiency of other nutrients. “This practice will not only help in keeping the soil healthy but also save farmers’ money being spent on unnecessary fertilisers,” he said.
He said of total 330 villages in the district they had successfully installed soil fertility map hoardings in over 150 villages, while the rest of the villages would be covered in the next few weeks before the commencement of the transplantation of paddy seedlings.
Meanwhile, Assistant Plant Protection of Moga Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar has urged farmers to use fertilisers according to the soil fertility maps installed in their villages and if they wanted more accuracy they could get their soil tested from the Agriculture Department.
The major nutrients include nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, zinc, ferrous and manganese sulphate.
