BackWorld Soil Day celebrated by Avikanagar in village Amli on 5th December 2017

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The World Soil Day was celebrated by ICAR-CSWRI, Avikanagar on 5^th December 2017 in village Amli. On the day, the Director of the the Institute, Dr. Arun Kumar interacted with more than thirty farmers in the village and said soil is an essential part of our agriculture. He said we are taking crops from the field without giving rest to the soil. He said that Govt. of India has launched soil health card scheme in 2015 and since then a total of more than 10 crores cards have been issued to farmers. Under the scheme, the government issues soil cards to farmers. On the card is written crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilisers required for that particular field, which helps a farmer understand his field in a better way and thus use of fertilizers and other inputs by him judiciously. On this occasion, Dr. Ami Lal Babel, Incharge, Agricultural Research Sub-Station, Diggi, who is a soil scientist, interacted with farmers in more informal way. He said to farmers that soil health is very essential to get full production from crops. Health of soil does not only affect health of the plant but also of human and animal health too. There are 16 important nutrients that the soil makes available to plants. We have made our cropping pattern such that we take crops from the field throughout the year, which makes soil decifient in one or many these nutrients. He said organic matter of soil should be increased by adding dung manure in the soil. During the interaction, Dr. A. Sahoo, Head, Animal Nutrition division also interacted with farmers. Dr. S.C. Sharma, Incharge, Transfer of Technology and Social Sciences said that all agronimal practices can give best results only if soil conditions are optimum. More than thirty farmers participated in the programme.