Maharashtra farmers reluctant to share Aadhar, mobile data for soil health scheme

Even when the Modi Government is aggressively focusing on linking Aadhaar with various centrally sponsored schemes, farmers in Maharashtra are reluctant to share their Aadhar and mobile numbers with the authorities during the implementation of Soil Health Card (SHC) under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture.

Farmers have made series of representation to the state government with a plea that sharing of Aadhaar and mobile numbers should not be mandatory under SHC but the condition needs to be relaxed so that more and more farmers can avail benefit.

State government has cited that it may impact the achievement of its target of collection of 23.47 lakh samples of soil during 2017-18 and 2018-19. The government highlighted the issue during its meeting with the union minister of agriculture and farmers welfare Radha Mohan Singh held on Saturday in Mumbai.

State agriculture department officer told DNA,'' There are about 137 lakh land holders. The sampling would be done in grid of 2.5 hectare in irrigated area and 10 hectare in rainfed area. A total of 23.47 lakh hectare of soil samples would be tested in two years. The objective of SHC is to create awareness amongst farmers about balanced use of fertilizer to maintain soil health. However, farmers have cited procedural issues sharing Aadhaar and mobile numbers. In case of a joint family while the Aadhar card holder and the one who is actually does farming may be different so he may not get benefit under the SHC.'' He informed that the state government has appealed Singh to look into aspect and find out a workable solution.

The officer said the state government has also appealed to the Centre to release grand under single head instead of its release according to the category of farmers including general, schedule caste and schedule tribe. This will help remove difficulties in spending the grant amount.

Ajit Nawale, state general secretary Kisan Sabha questioned the soil testing exercise and its report prepared by government identified laboratories. ''Farmers are questioning the authenticity of such reports and therefore are not keen to share Aadhaar and mobile numbers. There has been very little awareness about SHC in the villages as the government machinery falls short of convincing the farmers that how there will be more returns by reducing cost of fertilizers and how integrated nutrient management can enhance productivity,'' he noted.

Vilas Babar, a farmer from the drought hit Marathwada region argued that farmers are currently passing through a crisis and the government's intervention is necessary to provide minimum support price for various agriculture produce and removal of constraints in the availability of funds. ''Farmers suspect credibility of soil testing reports and they do not want to share Aadhaar and mobile numbers. The government authorities should take farmers into confidence and share soil testing details in a transparent manner,'' he opined.

Why SHC?

Under SHC scheme, the government aims to create awareness among farmers about the need for balanced use of fertilizer to maintain soil health
The state has set the target of collecting 23.47 lakh soil samples during 2017-18 and 2018-19