Saving Soil, Securing Farms: Soil Health Cards, Natural Farming, and Digital Soil Ecosystem
Soil testing, natural farming clusters, digital soil mapping and AI-based advisory—towards soil security and climate-resilient agriculture
- The Soil Health Card Scheme is positioned to support balanced nutrient application through soil testing and advisory services.
- The National Mission on Natural Farming is positioned to strengthen soil health and climate resilience through scientifically informed natural farming scaled across clusters, supported by trained intermediaries and natural farming input support structures.
- Khet Bachao Abhiyan is positioned as a June 1–30, 2026 outreach and demonstration campaign led through the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare to promote soil test-based nutrient management and demonstrations of alternatives.
- SLUSI is described as combining satellite imagery with field observations to generate high-resolution soil profile maps, while digital agriculture integration links soil information with farmer and crop datasets for advisories.
What happened: scaling soil health tools and digital soil assessment
The Government of India presents soil health as a strategic lever for farm productivity, food security and rural livelihoods, while connecting soil organic carbon efforts with climate action. The Government of India reports large-scale soil testing via Soil Health Cards, expansion of scientifically informed natural farming through cluster scaling, and a digital soil ecosystem that integrates soil resource mapping with farmer and crop data for advisory services. The Government of India reports over 25.89 crore Soil Health Cards generated and Natural Farming expansion to 18,786 clusters covering 8.80 lakh hectares.
Background and earlier position: soil health as a long-standing sustainability concern
Soil health policy should be evaluated as a combined productivity and climate-resilience strategy: scientific nutrient management and natural farming practices can improve farm outcomes, while digital soil mapping and AI-based advisory address information asymmetry in decision-making.
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