With a view to improving the fertility of soil after ascertaining the minerals and micronutrients it lacks, the agriculture authorities have issued 16,000 soil health cards to farmers in Sirsa. Samples of soil taken from the fields of 16,000 more farmers have been collected and the authorities hope to issue cards to them by next month.

“The agriculture department has set up a laboratory in the district where the soil is tested for NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) culture,” said the Deputy Commissioner J Ganeshan.

The Agriculture department on Monday launched a soil testing drive--Apni Mitti Pehchano--that will be carried out in four phases across the state. Several mobile soil testing labs were flagged off for rural areas from the Agriculture directorate in the state capital by Agriculture Director Mukesh Gautam in the presence of senior officials of the department.

Gautam said the four-phase campaign from May 7 to May 28 aimed at collecting about 26 lakh samples of soil and making farmers aware of the health of their soil after testing.

The corporate sector has evinced interest in the Assam farming sector for the first time by setting up the first farmer field school at Natoli in the Kaliabor subdivision of Nagaon district recently. The school, set up by United Phosphorus Limited (UPL)-Advanta, a crop protection, chemicals and seeds company, is the 26th such institution in the country.

Studies carried out by a team of scientists at the Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR) have revealed high levels of phosphorus in the soil samples from Kozhikode and Wayanad districts.

Overuse of chemical fertilisers and neglect towards soil test-based fertiliser recommendations have resulted in imbalances in the nutrient levels of the soils, according to IISR.

PATNA, 29 FEB: The election may still be far away, but the ruling Nitish Kumar government in Bihar has already drafted a well thought-out, new political strategy to beat its rivals in the polls. In a marked shift from his previous strategy of focusing on “good roads” and “improved law and order” to woo voters, the ruling NDA this time plans to reach out to the farmers with a roadmap for promoting agriculture. At least, that was the message the chief minister offered to coalition leaders at a meeting of NDA legislators at his official residence Tuesday evening.

The race to buy mines is on not just in metals and coal. Agriculture is caught in an equally-intense struggle for new mines. And the billions farm input companies are willing to invest seem worth it because these mines are critical to global food production. ET helps you join the dots. Modern agricultural production relies heavily on the use of fertilisers, especially urea, phosphate and potash. While urea comes from inorganic sources, the other two minerals are extracted from mines. Phosphorus comes from mines containing phosphate rock.