Soil Health Card Unveiled
Uttam Nayak,Odishabarta
Koraput, Oct 7:Farmers have been trained at the Koraput District Panchayat Sadhan Kendra by the Odisha Livelihoods Mission and the international organization Ikrisat. In a joint effort by the Koraput District OLM and Ikrisat, farmers in 15 villages in six gram panchayats of Semiliguda have been undergoing training for three years on farming practices, soil testing and model building. Last year, soil samples were collected from those areas and 15 types of tests were sent to Hyderabad to test what was the problem with the soil or what crops would be produced in that soil. In the coming days, a bio-input cluster will be set up in the 15 villages under the supervision of Ikrisat, with the completion of various vegetable cultivation works in Rajput, the completion of the Ragi processing unit in Rajput and soil testing for various types of farming activities in each gram panchayat in the district. Bedbhushan, executive officer of the municipal council, joined as the chief guest today and unveiled the soil health card. Among others, Ikrishat senior scientist Gajanan, Abhiraj Dutt, senior consultant Subrata, KBK scientist Manas Ranjan Nayak, FES Pradeep Mishra and district level staff of OLM were present on the occasion. Scientists have suggested that if soil testing is done, farming will be less costly and income will be doubled.
