Guntur to boost crop yield by 20%

Indiscriminate use of fertilisers and pesticides in Guntur has resulted in unhealthy soil conditions and loss of fertility and killing of the precious micro-nutrients in the district. To monitor the same, the agriculture department has embarked on a programme to collect 32,000 soil samples from all cultivating agriculture lands in the district in a span of one year.

In the three-year programme, more than a lakh soil samples will be collected to determine health condition and to take necessary steps for enriching the soil through integration of green manure seeds and minimising of use of fertilisers.

Director of agriculture V Sridhar informed that the department has collected 32,000 samples and is poised to issue 'Soil Health Cards' to 1.5 lakh farmers by June 2015. “The department has analysed 18,000 samples till date. Based on the laboratory reports, we will take steps for restoration of soil,” Sridhar added.

To reverse the toxicity in the soil, the government is supplying green manure seeds including 8,000 quintals of Daincha seeds and 2,500 quintals of Pilli Pesara and 2,000 quintals of Sunhemp at 50 per cent subsidy to farmers.

“Through this step the department of agriculture believes to change the soil texture for good and boost the yield of crops by 20 per cent,” Sridhar concluded.