Volume 7, Issue 3, June Issue - 2019, Pages:249-254 |
Authors: Anil Kumar, Navjot Singh Brar, Balwinder Kumar, HK Verma |
Abstract: The present study has analysed the impact of recommendations based on ‘Soil Health Card’ on fertilizer consumption, productivity and profitability of rice-wheat cropping system of the farmers of Tarn Taran district of Majha Region of Indian Punjab. Till 2014-15, farmers used to apply chemical fertilizers on the basis of their traditional knowledge without going for soil testing. They used to apply generally 372.3 and 156.3 kg urea and di-ammonium phosphate, respectively in wheat crop, whereas the usage of said fertilizers in paddy was to the extent of 371.0 and 62.5 kg per hectare, respectively. The total cost of cultivation of rice-wheat cropping system was ?73,765/-. The KVK approached the farmers and suggested them to apply fertilizers based on soil testing. After following soil test based fertilizer recommendations, fertilizer usage came down to 275 kg urea and 10 kg Zn ha-1 for paddy and 275 kg urea and 125 kg DAP ha-1 in case of wheat, indicating a net saving of ?4,414/- per hectare per annum. Use of soil health card also improved soil health of the field resulting into additional crop yields with time. Continuous application of fertilizers based on soil test resulted in increased productivity of rice and wheat to the tune of 70.0 to 76.3 and 47.5 to 51.9 q ha-1, respectively. The respective net returns and B:C ratio of rice-wheat cropping system has also increased significantly to ?1,24,986 and 2.80 as compared to earlier net returns and B:C ratio of ?1,04,264 and 2.41, respectively. Because of good profits, the farmers started motivating fellow farmers to adopt soil test based fertilizer application in different crops to get more crop productivity and sustaining soil health. |
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Full Text: 1 Introduction The high use of chemical fertilizers in Indian agriculture since green revolution has increased the crop productivity many folds. However, their continuous, imbalanced and indiscriminate use has also produced several adverse impacts on soil environment leading to stagnated crop yields in past decades (Sebby, 2010; Kumar et al., 2016; Kumar et al., 2018). Intensive cropping system following indiscriminate use of high analysing fertilizers are further deteriorating soil health and inducing secondary and micronutrient deficiencies in soils, nutrient imbalance in soil and plants, causing environmental hazards and decrease in total factor productivity (Kumar et al., 2017). Microbial populations in soil ecosystem are affecting severely due to sole and indiscriminate usage of chemical fertilizer nutrients. Moreover, excessive fertilizer applications are also contaminating surface and underground water bodies especially by nitrate leaching (Pimentel, 1997). Above facts in turn, are inducing detrimental effects on environment, causing serious health hazards to human and animals. In India, in general, blanket fertilizer recommendations are followed for N, P and K which rarely matches soil fertility need. Secondary and micro nutrients are often ignored in various cropping systems. Therefore, in present context, there is dire need to strictly follow integrated nutrient management system and supply of nutrients based on recommendations given in soil health card (SHC). Soil testing is a scientific method to evaluate soil fertility and suggesting balanced nutritional package involving organic and inorganic sources of nutrients to different crops and cropping systems (Chouhan et al., 2017). However, in past, the soil testing programme in India has unable to produce sensible impression on farming community due to lack of proper soil testing facilities especially micronutrient estimation, poor coverage, delay in dissemination of fertilizer recommendations among farmers, etc. (Biswas, 2002). Keeping in view the above facts, scientists are promoting integrated nutrient management (INM) concept i.e. balanced and judicious use of chemical fertilizers along with organic sources of nutrients (locally available organic manures, crop residues) and biofertilizers based on soil testing to sustain soil health and crop productivity on long term basis (Mahajan & Gupta, 2009; Suri & Kumar, 2011; Choudhary et al., 2014). Fertilizer recommendations based on soil heath card has been proven as a great step towards sustainable crop production and soil health improvement vis-a-vis reduction in fertilizer dosage by farmers. Actually, soil health card provide detailed nutrients information and farmers get a well monitored report about their soil and they are guided by the experts to follow recommendations given in soil health card and improve soil health (Chouhan et al., 2017). Moreover, soil health card contains crop-wise nutrient recommendations (both organic & inorganic sources) and corrective measures that helps farmer to obtain good yield potentials and better soil health. Hence, soil testing play a critical role in ensuring balanced and efficient use of fertilizers and sustaining soil health status and crop productivity. The soil testing facilities for the farmers in the district under study were far away and no guidance on said aspect was available to the farmers. The Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Tarn Taran has approached the farmers and motivated them for soil testing, after that KVK has issued soil health card to the farmers based on soil testing, where recommendations on nutrients application have been provided and now an attempt has been made to analyze the impact of fertilizer recommendations based on SHC on fertilizer consumption, productivity and profitability of farmers of the district. 2 Materials and Methods 2.1 Study site Tarn Taran is one of the border districts, lies in the North West frontier of the Punjab, India. It lies between 31o 7’ and 32o 3' North latitude and 74o 29’ and 75o 23’ in the East longitude. The climate of the district classified as tropical steppe, semi-arid and hot, which is mainly characterized by general dryness except for a short period during southwest monsoon season. During the summer months i.e. from April to June, weather is very hot and dry. The weather becomes humid and cloudy during July to September. The average rainfall of the district is 482.9 mm. 2.2 Technology transfer methodologies In order to achieve the objective of technology transfer on soil testing or soil test based fertilizer application and its adoption by the farmers of the region, different technology tools such as training programmes, demonstrations on soil sampling technique, on farm experimentation, etc. at different locations were carried out and used. The farmers were motivated for soil testing and many farmers follow up the soil testing. The samples so collected or received from farmers of the district were air dried, ground with wooden pestle and mortar, sieved through 2 mm sieve. The soil samples were analyzed for soil reaction (pH), electrical conductivity (EC) and organic carbon (OC), available phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and micronutrients viz. zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) as per the standard procedures. Based on soil test results, the soil health cards were issued to the farmers and recommendations were provided for balanced fertilization and integrated nutrient management. Several farmers started following soil test based fertilizer application in rice-wheat cropping system, which subsequently reduced the dosage of chemical fertilizers in rice-wheat cropping system. 2.3 Impact study and sampling A thorough study was undertaken to assess the knowledge levels and knowledge upgradation of the farmers about soil testing. The study has analyzed the impact of fertilizer recommendations on fertilizer usage, crop yields, net returns, production and monetary efficiencies of the farmers’ in rice-wheat cropping system. After 3 years of issuing soil health cards (i.e. soil health cards were issued during 2014-15 and impact study was conducted during 2017-18), data was collected randomly from 85 farmers (n = 85) of the district to whom soil health cards were issued. The data on fertilizer usage and crop yield before and after soil testing was recorded from said farmers (Table 1). Two major crops of the district i.e. rice and wheat was taken into consideration for the study. 2.4 Economic analysis |
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