Mobile soil test vehicle to analyse 14,300 samples annually: Tiruvarur Collector

TIRUCHY: With the launch of mobile soil test units on Saturday, the Tiruvarur District Collector V Mohananchandran assured this would reach farmers in their villages and set a target of analysing 14,300 samples a year.

Flagging off the mobile soil testing vehicles along with MLA Poondi K Kalaivanan, the district collector Mohanachandran said, the mobile soil test vehicle which is fully equipped would visit the farmers at their respective villages and undertake the lab assessment of the soil.

"A target of 14,300 tests per year has been fixed and the farmers would be informed well in advance about the vehicle's arrival to their locality through the agriculture extension centres. We have planned three camps every week, thus at least 12 camps in a month would be conducted”, the collector said.

The collector also informed that a mobile soil test lab would analyse several parameters, including soil organic carbon content, and macro and micronutrients, in the particular soil and distribute soil health cards to each farmer.

"Through the health card, the farmers would get recommendations of fertilisers based on the soil of the particular location and a fee of Rs 30 would be collected from the farmers," said the collector.

"The scheme has been introduced to reach each individual farmer who undertakes cultivation and give them prompt suggestions based on the soil health to achieve good yield," the collector added.