In a bid to prevent desertification, strengthen soil and increase its productivity, the Department of Agriculture will set up six new Soil Health Centres in the state.
With this, the number of SHCs will increase from the existing 22 to 28. These Centres are being set up under the National Soil Health and Productivity Management programme of the Central government.
A copy of the government order available with Express, shows that the new centres will come up at Chitradurga, Chamarajnagar, Ramanagar, Chikkaballapur, Udupi and Bijapur. The Central and State governments are equally sharing the cost of setting up these laboratories.
While the Central grant is being used to purchase equipment, the state will bear the cost of construction and paying salaries to the staff of Agricultural Department. There are instructions not to create new posts to run this laboratory.
The new laboratories need 90 personnel to be deputed by the Agricultural Department, where each Centre will be headed by an agriculture officer. The Department has already procured equipment and chemicals for these laboratories and it is expected to start functioning soon.
Speaking to Express, Deputy Director of Agriculture Sujatha said: “The aim of these laboratories is to effectively use fertilisers, advise farmers to provide the right nutrients and micro-nutrients to the soil. This will help farmers prevent desertification of soil due to excessive usage of fertilisers and pesticides.” Thanking the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) for their initiation to improve the fertility of soil in the district, she said: “After their arrival, there is a marked improvement in the productivity and they were the first to report the deficiency in micro-nutrients.”
She advocated the use of compost manure and biofertilisers to enrich the soil and said the SHCs will improve the conditions in the long run and that it is a boon to the district.
Comments
0 comment