Compendium on Soil Health - Department of Agriculture & Co ...

Existing Status
Orissa
Number of Soil Testing Before the beginning of 11
Laboratories
th Plan, there were 11 static and 1
mobile laboratories.
Annual analyzing The analyzing capacity of 12 labs was 1,20,000 samples per
capacity
year. The capacity is being increased with establishment of
new labs and strengthening of existing labs. At the end of
the 11 th Plan, it is expected that there would be 33 Static
STLs and 24 mobile STLs. The projected analyzing capacity is
about 4,00,000 samples per year. The existing 11 labs have
been strengthened with micronutrient testing facility.
Capacity Utilization It varies between 92% (2007-08) to 99% (2009-10).
Review of functioning The State Govt. has extensively reviewed the program and
proposed its strengthening to increase the analysis capacity
from 1,20,000 samples per year to 4,00,000 samples per
year.
Constraints Shortage of qualified manpower hampers the functioning of
the labs. Short term hiring and out sourcing is one of the
ways to carry out work. Such persons would need intensive
training before undertaking the task.
Monitoring Functioning of the Soil testing labs is monitored by the
Director of Agri & Food Production. Soil testing Lab at
Bhubaneswar has been declared as a Nodal Lab that will
undertake monitoring of quality in soil testing program.
Number of Soil Health During last 10 years, 10 lakh soil samples have been tested
Cards issued
and soil health cards have been provided to farmers based
on these reports.
Preparation of soil • The data on last 10 years sample analysis are being
fertility map
compiled and soil fertility map would be prepared shortly.
• A map indicating status of secondary and micronutrients
is also expected to be completed by the end of 2011.
Involvement of State The Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT)
Agricultural University provide scientific and technical support to the program. It
(s)
remains effectively involved in the program.
Action Plan
Issue soil health cards • Already 10 lakh cards have been provided, based on last
10 years of soil test data.
• Soil testing kits have been provided to all blocks for
analyzing 200 samples per block. Based on such analysis,
during last 3 years i.e. 2007-08 to 2009-10, 96,207 soil