Union Minister for Tourism, Culture &DoNER, Govt of India, G. Kishan Reddy inaugurating the State Soil Testing Laboratory at Directorate of Soil & Water Conservation, Kohima on 24th September 2021 stated that the Government of India has been the forefront for ensuring that soil quality is effectively managed to make agriculture more productive and sustainable. Soil management is one of the most important intervention under the national mission for sustainable agriculture therefore, establishment of a soil testing lab will help and boost the rural farmers and agri sector by enabling systematic correction of the soil samples and analysis by generating timely test results.
He stated that, with the breathtaking landscapes, peaks, rivers and valleys, the North Eastern states have wealthy tourist destinations. NE states are the land of opportunity, the land of investment, employment generation, tourism and medicinal plants etc, and Nagaland being the home of naga chilli, kiwi, cardamom, pineapple, bamboo shoot, etc achieving to export the products to UK for the first time this year, has boosted the farmers to market the products more not only in other states but export it to other countries as well, he said.
Reddy said that he was from a rural background and understand that, the importance of technological intervention in agri and horti product yields a major difference in quality and quantity. He also expressed contentment over the quality of the lab equipment with more comfortable instrument to analyse both micro and macro nutrients and further enlightened that this lab will benefit the farmers, students research, scholars and the Agri fraternity.
Reddy concluded that, the Prime Minister is regularly discussing on the importance of NE states and with this special focus, the Government of India has allocated Rs. 6000 crore to the NE states on farmer scheme this year.
Director, Soil and Water Conservation, K. Zhekheto Awomi while giving the technical report of the project ‘Establishment of State Soil Testing Laboratory Building & Equipment at Kohima, Nagaland’ said that the project was funded by North Eastern Council (NEC), Ministry of DONER, Government of India and the date of approval was on 29th June 2017 and the actual commencement of project was undertaken on 29th March 2018. He added that the cost of the Project was Rs. 371.70 lakh with NEC share (90%) Rs. 334.53 lakh and the State share (10%) Rs.37.17 lakh.
The Director also said that the aim and objectives of the project was to access the nutrient and fertilizer status and requirement of the soil, to create awareness about the importance of maintaining soil health for sustainable production of agricultural commodities, to issue soil health card as per requirement after appropriate testing and analysis of soil sample and Soil Health Management through creating awareness on balanced use of fertilizers.
He also added that the Soil and Water Conservation department Nagaland possesses sufficient trained personnel to man the state soil testing laboratory and also to impart training to the farmers in different aspects of soil testing and soil management techniques who have training on Soil & Water Conservation and Watershed Management at ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun and Conservation Assistants trained in, “Laboratory Methods of Soil Analysis for Land Resource Inventory”, ICAR-NBSSLUP, Jorhat, Assam. The Director said that the soil samples are collected from the fields from all the respective districts and that the laboratory can test more than 1 (one) lakh samples per year for 13 (thirteen) parameters such as primary and secondary macro nutrients, micronutrients and other soil parameters.
Minister, Planning & Co-ordination Land Revenue, Parliamentary Affair, Neiba Kronu in his speech described the Union Minister, Tourism, Culture and DoNER, G. Kishan Reddy as efficient and a practical person having the background of engineering and agriculture and a social worker. He said that Nagaland is a land of rich bio-diversity and also a hot spot of bio-diversity in the world as its soil is very rich, that can grow any crop and considered to be the youngest soil in the world. He also described that the soil of the state to be very fertile due to the forest and having moderate rainfall of 2000mm to 2500mm in a year.
While congratulating the Soil Department for achieving to establish the Soil Testing Laboratory, he said the department requires infrastructures in all the districts of the state so as to reach out to all the blocks and added that though the soil of the state is fertile, soil testing have become very important for agriculture in the state to check its acidity etc and that soil testing laboratories in the districts has become necessity therefore he called upon the Union Minister for assistance as the resources of the department were very narrow.
(Maongtemjen IA & Siizo IA Kohima)
