Barnala soil test lab leading in Punjab, farmers made aware of fertilizers
Barnala-The Soil Test Lab of Barnala Agricultural Department has been leading in Punjab in terms of target achievement. As many as 25,391 soil samples have been collected by the lab from the farms of district against the target of 32,388 samples for two years. Deputy Commissioner Barnala Dharam Pal Gupta said that with an achievement of taking more than 78 percent samples, the soil test lab of Barnala was leading in Punjab and also encouraging thousands of farmers to save resources for cultivation of various crops.
Gupta said that with an aim to increase the income of farmers and to shun the excessive use of fertilizers, the government has initiated soil health card scheme. He added that besides testing soil samples free of cost, the test report was also being uploaded on the website of the department for the convenience of famers.
Deputy Commissioner said, “It was learnt that farmers were using chemical and bio fertilizers without any requirement of the crop. The officials of local agriculture department started making farmers aware about soil testing which have also shown positive results.” He added that out of recent 10,000 samples, only 20 were deficient of Sulfur (S), 39 lacking Boron (B), 35 Manganese (Mn), 5 Copper (Cu), 35 Iron (Fe) and in only 24 farms, Zinc (Zn) was required.
DC said that the results of soil samples proves that in majority of cases there was no requirement of fertilizers being used by the farmers without any recommendation. He appealed the farmers to get the soil of their farms tested free of cost from the lab which would help them to identify the actual requirement of fertilizers for their crops.
On this occasion, Chief Agricultural Officer Rachhpal Singh Khosa and Soil Test Officer Sarabjit Singh also informed that there was no requirement of DAP or any other bio-fertilizer for the paddy crop after transplantation.
