Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal today inaugurated 40 new soil testing laboratories set up at the block level in the state through video conferencing. The soil testing labs have been set up under State Government’s ‘Har Khet Swasth Khet’. In the first phase, soil testing of 25 lakh acres of land will be done this year through these laboratories. Haryana Agriculture Minister, Sh. J.P Dalal and Chairman, Marketing Board, Sh. Nayanpal Rawat were also present on the occasion.Union Minister of State Sh. Krishan Pal Gujjar, State Ministers, MPs and MLAs joined the programme through video conferencing.The Chief Minister said that the State Government is leaving no stone unturned to realize Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi's vision of doubling the income of farmers. For this, soil testing laboratories have been set up in the state so that the farmers can be made aware about which crop should be sown based on the soil health, he added.The Chief Minister said that in the next three years, the soil testing of the entire 75 lakh acres of agricultural land in Haryana will be done.
Chief Minister urges farmers to adopt organic farming
Manohar Lal said that Haryana has made a significant contribution to National food grains Pool. During the Green Revolution period, the farmers of Haryana fulfilled the shortage of food grains in the country by producing the grains in abundance. He said that today paying attention to the quantity as well as quality of food grains production has become the need of the hour. Calling upon the farmers to move towards organic and natural farming, the Chief Minister said that by doing so, farmers would play an important role in the prevention of diseases due to food products.
Earn While You Learn
The Chief Minister directed the officers of the Agriculture Department to make a comprehensive plan to ensure participation of senior secondary schools and college students in the work of soil testing so that the students can earn along with their studies. He said that students engaged in this work will be given an honorarium of Rs 40 per sample.It was informed during the programme that last year 115 science teachers and Assistant Professors of schools and colleges have been imparted soil testing training at CSSRI Karnal and HAU Hisar. 50 small soil laboratories have already been established in Government Senior Secondary Schools and 65 more such laboratories are being set up in schools and colleges.
Farmers to get facility of soil testing near to their house: Dalal
Speaking during the programme, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister of the State, Sh. J.P Dalal said that Haryana government has planned to lay a network of soil testing laboratories in the state. Under this, 40 new laboratories have been inaugurated today. Now farmers will get the facility of getting the soil of their fields tested near their homes, he added.Till now the facility of analysis of micro elements was not there in all laboratories but now this facility will be available in every laboratory and the work of soil testing of 75 lakh acres of land of the state would be done in three years and under this soil health check cards would be provided, said Sh. Sh. J.P Dalal.
Labs to be NABL Certified
During the programme, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department, Dr. Sumita Mishra, informed that in this financial year, two soil testing laboratories located at Panchkula and Karnal have been proposed to get accreditation from National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL). Haryana will be the first state in India to have NABL accreditation of land testing laboratories.On this occasion, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment and Climate Change Department, Smt. Dheera Khandelwal, Deputy Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Smt. Ashima Brar, Director General, Agriculture, Sh. Hardeep Singh, Managing Director, HAFED, Sh. Vinay Singh and other senior officers of Agriculture Department were present.