Impact of fertilizer recommendations based on soil health card on fertilizer consumption, productivity and profitability of farmers

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.