The Scheme was introduced in 2015 at Suratgarh, Rajasthan to assist State Governments to issue soil health cards to all farmers in the country.
- SHCS has been merged in Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) scheme as one of its components under name ‘Soil Health & Fertility’ from the year 2022-23.
About SHCS:
- Ministry: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
- Objective:
- To issue soil health cards every two years to all farmers.
- To develop and promote soil test based nutrient management for enhancing nutrient use efficiency.
- Features of Scheme:
- Soil Health Cards: Provides information to farmers on nutrient status of their soil along with recommendations on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health.
- Card contains status of soil with respect to 12 parameters, namely N,P,K, S (Macro-nutrients); Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Bo (Micro - nutrients) ; and pH (Acidity or Basicity), EC (Electrical Conductivity) and OC (Organic Carbon).
- Setting up of Village level Soil Testing Labs and Soil Health Card Portal to facilitate generation of SHCs in a uniform and standardized format.
- Soil Health Cards: Provides information to farmers on nutrient status of their soil along with recommendations on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health.
- Implementation: By Department of Agriculture of all the State /UTs
Key-achievements of SHCS
- 24.74 crore Soil Health Cards (SHC) generated.
- Number of SHC issued to farmers increased from 16 lakh (2020-21) to 53 lakh(2024-25).
- Soil and Land Use Survey of India generated 1,987 village-level soil fertility maps for 21 States and Union Territories.
