Farmers Need Support for Shifting Chemical Fertilizers to Organic Manures, Biofertilizers
ETV Bharat
2024.12.18
The farmers expressed concerns as they have to face low produce issues during the initial years after shifting from chemical fertilizers to organic manures and biofertilizers. They sought the government’s support for the transforming phase.
Raising the concerning points, farmer Amarpal Singh of Uttar Pradesh told ETV Bharat, “Using organic manures and bio-fertilizers needs more manpower, labour and animal husbandry for getting bio-fertilizers which often seemed costly for small landholders and rented farmers.”
"Farmers have been using chemical fertilisers for a long time to get more yields. If we switch to organic manures at that condition we will get low produce in the initial years which will put a financial loss on us so we need government support to cope up with this situation," Singh said.
The defective practices of injudicious or excessive use of chemical fertilizers put an impact on soil which decreases organic carbon in soil. To address the issue, the government is implementing the Soil Health and Fertility Scheme to issue Soil Health Cards to farmers. SHC gives the details of organic carbon content in the soil and advisories are given to the farmers on Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) for judicious use of chemical fertilizers including secondary and micro-nutrients along with organic manures & bio-fertilizers, for improving soil organic carbon and health, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare informed.
The farmers expressed concerns as they have to face low produce issues during the initial years after shifting from chemical fertilizers to organic manures and biofertilizers. They sought the government’s support for the transforming phase.
Raising the concerning points, farmer Amarpal Singh of Uttar Pradesh told ETV Bharat, “Using organic manures and bio-fertilizers needs more manpower, labour and animal husbandry for getting bio-fertilizers which often seemed costly for small landholders and rented farmers.”
"Farmers have been using chemical fertilisers for a long time to get more yields. If we switch to organic manures at that condition we will get low produce in the initial years which will put a financial loss on us so we need government support to cope up with this situation," Singh said.
The defective practices of injudicious or excessive use of chemical fertilizers put an impact on soil which decreases organic carbon in soil. To address the issue, the government is implementing the Soil Health and Fertility Scheme to issue Soil Health Cards to farmers. SHC gives the details of organic carbon content in the soil and advisories are given to the farmers on Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) for judicious use of chemical fertilizers including secondary and micro-nutrients along with organic manures & bio-fertilizers, for improving soil organic carbon and health, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare informed.
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