Union Agriculture Minister inaugurates National Conference on Soil Health Management for Sustainable Farming
Prime Minister committed to achieve
the goal of sustainable development: Narendra Singh Tomar
22 crore Soil Health Cards distributed to farmers across the country: Union
Agriculture Minister
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Union
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar today
inaugurated the National Conference on Soil Health Management for Sustainable
Farming. On this occasion, Tomar said that due to chemical farming and other
reasons, soil fertility is getting eroded and climate change is going to be a
big concern for the country as well as the world. He said Prime Minister Shri
Narendra Modi has concerns about climate change and from time to time prepares
plans and keeps working on these plans. He said Prime Minister Modi is
committed towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
On the occasion of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and World Soil
Day, NITI Aayog in collaboration with GIZ affiliated to the Federal Ministry
for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany, Chief Guest Union
Minister Tomar said that the lack of organic carbon in the soil is a serious
concern for us. To meet this serious challenge and for better soil health, we
have to promote natural farming, which is beneficial for the environment. He
said that to promote natural farming, the Government of India under the leadership
of Prime Minister Modi is working with the States. The Government has
re-adopted the Indian Natural Farming System for Agriculture. Natural Farming
System is an ancient technique used by farmers for farming and at that time
people also knew how to live in harmony with the nature, he added. States like
Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu etc. have made many innovations to promote natural
farming. During the last year, an additional area of 4.78 lakh hectares has
been brought under natural farming in 17 States. To promote natural farming,
the Central Government has approved the National Mission on Natural Farming as
a separate scheme with an expenditure of Rs. 1,584 crores, Tomar said. Under
the Namami Gange programme, the project of natural farming is going on along
the banks of the Ganges, while the Indian Council of Agricultural Research
(ICAR) and all Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), Central and State Agricultural
Universities and Colleges are making all-round efforts to promote natural
farming.
Tomar said that the Government of India is also working
through Soil Health Card. In two phases, more than 22 crore Soil Health Cards
have been distributed to farmers across the country. Infrastructure development
is also being done by the Government under the Soil Health Management Scheme,
in which there is a provision to set up different types of Soil Testing
Laboratories. So far, 499 permanent Soil Testing Laboratories, 113 Mobile Soil
Testing Laboratories, 8,811 Mini Soil Testing Laboratories and 2,395 Village-level
Soil Testing Laboratories have been established. He said that there was a time
when the policies were production-oriented, due to chemical farming,
agricultural yield increased, but now the situation has changed, and with
climate change, keeping soil health intact is a big challenge. He said that if
an attempt is made to exploit the earth contrary to the principles of nature,
the consequences can be dangerous. Today, due to chemical farming, the soil's
fertility is being eroded, the country and the world should avoid this and
fulfill our environmental responsibility.
In the conference, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, Suman
Berry, Member Prof. Ramesh Chand, CEO Parameswaran Iyer, Senior Advisor Neelam
Patel, Central Agricultural University Vice Chancellor of Jhansi, Dr. A.K.
Singh and Drik Steffis, along with several scientists, policymakers and other
stakeholders were present. Various technical sessions were addressed by experts
at the conference.