EXTENT OF ADOPTION OF RECOMMENDED FERTILIZER MANAGEMENT UNDER SOIL HEALTH CARD SCHEME IN BALDIRAI BLOCK OF SULTANPUR DISTRICT

Injudicious and haphazard use of chemical fertilizer in agriculture is a matter of concern in recent times. To avoid deterioration of soil in long run and visualizing the importance of balance nutrient in crop production. The soil health card (SHC) provides soil health data to get appropriate guidance to the farmers for the efficient use of fertilizer to cultivate crops based on soil health analysis. The SHC is a simple document, which contains useful data on soil based on chemical analysis of the soil to describe soil health in terms of its nutrient availability and its physical and chemical properties. The soil health card is made available online also for the farmers. To understand the feelings of the farmers against this system, there is an urgent need to study the degree of positive or negative disposition associated with farmer towards the usefulness and application of soil health card. Thus the present study on farmers' perception regarding soil health card was undertaken. The study was conducted in Sultanpur district with 120 soil health card holders. The findings revealed that majority of the farmers were having knowledge and understanding about the utility of soil health card. The findings further reveals that maximum number of soil health card holders were having favorable attitude towards soil health card followed by less favorable and most favorable attitude towards soil health card. Among constraints, received soil health card after crop harvest was the major constraint faced by majority of the respondents.