<span style="color: #222222;">Fifth year of the launch of Soil Health Card being observed across the country to create awareness about the benefits of the scheme. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme on 19th February, 2015 at Suratgarh in Rajasthan. The scheme aims at issuing soil health cards to farmers every two years so as to provide a basis to address nutritional deficiencies in soil. The scheme ensures additional income to farmers by an increase in yields and it also promotes sustainable farming.</span><span style="color: #333333;"><br />'' </span><span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' Launching the scheme, Mr Modi said, the farmers should know the health status of the soil. He said, if soil will not be healthy, farm production will not increase.  The scheme has been introduced to assist State Governments to issue Soil Health Cards to all farmers in the country. It provides information to farmers on the nutrient status of their soil along with recommendations on the appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and its fertility.<br />'' <br />'' National Soil Health Card scheme, which has completed its fifth year today, has ushered in a new awareness about the importance of a green economy, says Dr P Balasubramanian, Head of the Department of Soil Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Trichy. He said that the wide-spread use of these cards has helped in popularizing the optimal use of fertilizers. Talking to AIR, Dr Balasubramanian said that the health card was an excellent way of protecting the health of Mother Earth by accurately measuring the quality of soil and ensuring the use of proper fertilizers. He said that there is no doubt at all that the card system ensures accurate measuring of the character and constituents of the soil, and increases awareness about eco-friendly agriculture.<br />''              </span><span style="color: #333333;"><br />'' </span><span style="color: #222222;">Dr Balasubramanian pointed out that the soil card has also served to increase the quality of life of farmers by increasing the productivity of their farms. He reiterated that the health of the soil definitely translates into the wealth of the farmer. </span><br />''  <br />