Union Agriculture Ministry launches PGS-India, Soil Health Card and FQCS Web Portals

Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Union Agriculture Minister launched 3 web portals viz. Soil Health Card portal, Fertiliser Quality Control System portal and Participatory Guarantee System.

Applications

These portals seek to make the process of fertilisers’ quality checking, organic farming certification and issuance of soil health cards more transparent and accountable.

Soil Health Card Portal

  • Developed for registration of soil samples, recording test results of soil samples and generation of Soil Health Card (SHC) along with Fertilizer Recommendations.
  • It promotes uniform adoptions of codes for e.g. Census Codes for locations.
  • The system has sample tracking feature and will provide alerts to farmers about sample registration and generation of Soil Health Card through SMS and Email.
  • Portal aims to generate and issue Soil Health Cards based on either Soil Test-Crop Response (STCR) formulae developed by ICAR or General Fertilizer Recommendations provided by State Governments.

Fertilizer Quality Control System Portal

  • The FQCS application will lead to automation of most of the manual activities as listed above and help in online tracking the status of the sample.
  • Mobile application has also been provided to enable inspectors to enter the details of the samples in Form J while at the ports itself.
  • The role based access to the system for users and computerized generation of sample code no. have been provided for the purpose of security.

Participatory Guarantee System

  • Participatory Guarantee System is a process of certifying organic products which ensures agriculture production process in accordance with the standards laid down for organic products and that desired quality has been maintained.
  • In order to promote domestic organic market growth and also to enable small and marginal farmer to have easy access to organic certification, a decentralized organic farming certification system called Participatory Guarantee System –India (PGS-India) is implemented by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India
Quick view of Biofertilzers

Fertilizers enhance the growth of plants. Fertilizers typically provide, in varying proportions:

1.Three main macronutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K)

2.Three secondary macronutrients: calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S)

3.Micronutrients: copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), zinc (Zn), boron (B), and of occasional significance there are silicon (Si), cobalt (Co), and vanadium (V) plus rare mineral catalysts.

Test Your Knowledge

What are NPK Fertilizers?

Click to View Answer

NPK fertilizers are three-component fertilizers providing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. NPK rating is a rating system describing the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in a fertilizer.


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