What to Do? Always use appropriate fertilizer in right quantity based on soil test. Must use organic manures to maintain the fertility of soil. In order to get maximum benefit of the fertilizers, always apply in root zone instead of broadcasting. Resort to judicious and efficient use of Phosphatic Fertilizers for proper development of roots/shoots and timely maturity of crops, particularly the legumes which fix atmospheric Nitrogen for enrichment of soil. For reclaiming acidic soil, use lime and for saline/usar soil,use gypsum. Farmers desirous of adopting Participatory Organic Guarantee System (PGS - India) Certification system may form a group of at least 5 farmers and get it registered with the nearest Regional Council or Regional Centre of Organic Farming. What Can You Get? S.No Type of Assistance Criteria for Assistance/Maximum Limit Scheme/ Component Assistance for soil improvement 1 Supply of gypsum/pyrite/lime/ dolomite 50% cost of the material + transportation limited to Rs.750/- per hectare. National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP) 2 Plant protection chemicals Insecticides, fungicides, bio-pesticides, bio-agents, micronutrients, bio-fertilisers etc., @ 50% of the cost limited to ` 500/- per hectare. NMOOP 3 Adoption of organic farming Rs. 10,000/- per hectare National Horticulture Mission (NHM)/ Horticulture Mission for North-East and Himalayan States (HMNEH) Sub schemes under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) 4 Vermi-Compost Unit Rs 50,000/- per unit (having dimension of NHM/ 30' x 8' x 2.5' or 600 cft, on prorata basis) HMNEH Sub schemes under MIDH 5 High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) Vermi Bed Rs 8000/- per unit (having dimension of 12' x 4' x 2' or 96 cu ft, on prorata basis) HMNEH Sub schemes under MIDH 6 Promotion of Integrated Nutrient Management Rs 1200 /- per hectare (upto an area of 4 hectares) HMNEH Sub schemes under MIDH 7 Supply of gypsum phosphogypsum / bentonite sulphur in wheat & pulses 50% of the cost limited to Rs. 750/- per hectare National Food Security Mission (NFSM) 8 Micronutrients in wheat, pulses and rice 50% of the cost limited to Rs. 500/- per hectare NFSM 9 Lime/liming materials in rice and pulses 50% of the cost of the material limited to Rs. 1000/ha. NFSM 10 Bio-fertilizers (Rhyzobium /PSB) 50% of the cost limited to Rs. 100/- per ha. NFSM 11 Setting up of new Mobile/Static Soil Testing Laboratories (MSTL/ SSTL) Training 75% Assistance of total project cost to State Govt. for SSTL subject to a maximum limit of Rs. 56 lakhs per SSTL/MSTL. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) 12 Promotion and distribution of micronutrients 50% of cost subject to a limit of ` 500/- per ha.and/ or Rs 1000/- per beneficiary NMSA 13 Setting up of state-of-the-art liquid/carrier based Biofertilizer / Biopesticide units 25% of cost limited to ` 40 lakhs per unit for individuals/private agencies through NABARD capital investment of 200 TPA production capacity NMSA 14 Setting up of mechanized Fruit/ Vegetable market waste/Agro waste compost production unit 33% of cost limited to Rs. 63 lakhs/unit for individuals/private agencies through NABARDas capital investment for 3000 TPA production capacity NMSA 15 Promotion of Organic Inputs on farmer's field (Manure, Vermicompost, Bio-Fertilizers, Herbal extracts etc.) 50% of cost subject to a limit of Rs 5000/- per ha and Rs 10,000/- per beneficiary. Proposed to cover 1 million ha area. Liquid/Solid Waste compost, NMSA 16 Adoption of organic farming through cluster approach under Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification Rs.20,000/- per ha subject to a maximum of Rs. 40,000/- per beneficiary for 3-year term NMSA 17 Support to PGS system for on-line data management and residue analysis Rs.200/- per farmer subject to a maximum of Rs. 5000/- per group/year restricted to Rs.1.00 lakh per Regional Council. Upto 10,000/- per sample for residue testing (Residue analysis to be done in NABL Labs) NMSA 18 Organic Village adoption for manure management and biological nitrogen harvesting Rs.10 lakhs/village for adoption of integrated manure management planting of fertilizer trees on bunds and promotion of legume intercropping through groups/SHGs etc. (Maximum 10 villages per annum/state will be supported) NMSA 19 Demonstration on Organic Farming Rs.20,000/- per demonstration for a group of 50 participants or more NMSA 20 Reclamation of Problem Soil Alkaline / Saline Soil 50% of cost to a limit of Rs 25,000/- per ha. and or Rs.50,000/- per beneficiary. Acidic Soil 50% of cost subject to a limit of Rs. 3000/- per ha. and / or Rs. 6000/- per beneficiaries NMSA Whom to Contact? District Agriculture Officer / District Horticulture Officer / Project Director, ATMA. Source: Department of Agriculture & Cooperation