Now Soil Testing at Farmers' DoorstepHome

Indian soils suffer from widespread multi-nutrient deficiencies. The soil testing service is not adequate to cater to the needs of large number of farm holdings.

Farmers often apply fertilizers without any scientific recommendation. This increases the cost of production, lower farm profits and leads to soil health deterioration. Hence ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-IARI) has developed a digital tool, Named Pusa Soil Test and Fertilizer Recommendation Meter (or Pusa STFR Meter).

Pusa STFR Meter consists of a meter, a mini shaker, a reagent-kit (for 50 soil samples) and other important accessories needed for soil testing.

Utility of Pusa STFR Meter-
It determines six soil parameters i.e., soil reaction (pH), salt content (EC), organic carbon, available P, available K and Available Zn.
It is a programmable digital system that analyses soil parameters quantitatively. Thus, its accuracy is much superior to other soil test kits which give qualitative results based on visual colour comparison.
Additionally, it also shows crop-specific fertilizer recommendations.
It is highly useful for the areas where soil testing facility is not available.
With just two days training, Pusa STFR Meter can be used for soil testing by the farmers themselves.
It is portable and can be operated both by battery as well as by electricity.
It can be connected with laptop. Computer to generate soil health card.

Source: http://www.iari.res.in/