scholarly journals Farmer-Focused Tools to Improve Soil Health Monitoring on Smallholder Farms in the Morogoro Region of Tanzania

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-63
Author(s):  
Anna L. Testen ◽  
Delphina P. Mamiro ◽  
Jackson Nahson ◽  
Nyambilila A. Amuri ◽  
Steven W. Culman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Soil Testing ◽  
Soil Test ◽  
Health Card ◽  
Project Completion ◽  
Local Soil ◽  
Test Kit ◽  
Management Recommendations

A participatory approach was used to improve smallholder tomato farmers’ understanding of and access to soil health monitoring in the Morogoro Region of Tanzania. Baseline soil characteristics were gathered from 50 tomato fields in the region, local soil knowledge was elicited from farmers and used to develop a soil health card to qualitatively assess soil health, and farmers (n = 32) were trained on the use of a low-cost soil test kit to quantitatively assess soil health. Farmers most often described local indicators of soil health in terms of soil texture and tilth, soil color, soil water relations, and soil fertility. Following use of the soil test kit, farmers indicated increased awareness of soil testing services (Wilcoxon signed rank Z = –3.0, P = 0.001), more agreed they had access to soil testing services (Z = –2.7, P = 0.004), and more agreed that soil management recommendations were easy to understand (Z = –3.4, P < 0.0001) compared with pre-exposure results. Farmers continued to use the soil health test kit and soil health card based on a follow-up survey administered 1 year after project completion. Participatory soil health monitoring projects can improve farmers’ ability to monitor and manage soil health, potentially impacting sustained soil and plant health.

scholarly journals A Study on Knowledge and Utilization of Soil Health Card by Small and Marginal Farmers in Nalanda District of Bihar

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 28-40
Author(s):  
Kumar Saurabh ◽  
Syed H. Mazhar ◽  
Dipak Kumar Bose
Keyword(s):  
Sampling Method ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Soil Samples ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Soil Test ◽  
Fertilizer Use ◽  
Health Card ◽  
Awareness Campaigns ◽  
Knowledge Levels ◽  
The Impact

Soil health and fertility is the basis for sustainable profitability of the farmers.Hence, there is a need for balanced use of fertilizers, keeping this government of India introduced Soil Health Card Scheme across India. On 5th December 2015 the ministry of agriculture introduced the soil health card (SHC) scheme.Some farmers complained that the soil test values are not representative of their fields and they also complained that the field staff are not collected soil samples in their presence.In this background an attempt was made to study the impact on socio-economic conditions of the small and marginal farmers.Total of 120 respondents was selected in Ekangarsarai block, Nalanda district, Bihar by purposive sampling method. The data was collected from them and analyzed using MS-excel.Given the short duration of the scheme, knowledge levels are good. At the same time participation of farmers in meetings, exposure visits are not high. Awareness campaigns need to be organized on content of SHCs, use of recommended practices, reduction in fertilizer use and costs and increase in profitability.

Plant Spike: A Low-Cost, Low-Power Beacon for Smart City Soil Health Monitoring

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 9080-9090
Author(s):  
Caroline Yu ◽  
Kevin Kam ◽  
Yuliang Xu ◽  
Zhihao Cui ◽  
Daniel Steingart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Soil Health

scholarly journals Factors determining the soil health card adoption behaviour among farmers in Andhra Pradesh

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayalakshmi Mitnala
Keyword(s):  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Andhra Pradesh ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Soil Testing ◽  
Current Status ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Health Card ◽  
Testing Laboratories

The soil health card (SHC) is used to assess the current status of soil health and when usedover time, helps to determine changes in soil health that are affected by land management. ASHC displays soil health indicators and associated descriptive terms. The SHC carries cropwiserecommendations of nutrients / fertilizers required for farms, making it possible forfarmers to improve productivity by using appropriate inputs. The Central Government isproviding assistance to State Governments for setting up soil testing laboratories for issuingsuch SHCs to farmers. State Governments have adopted innovative practices like involvementof agricultural students, NGOs and private sector in soil testing, determining average soilhealth of villages, etc., to issue SHCs. Though quite a few states including Tamil Nadu,Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana are successfully distributing such cards, the Centreplans to make it a pan India effort. According to a data, till November 15th 2017, over 9.72 croresoil health cards have been issued to farmers to make them aware about nutrient deficienciesin their fields.

scholarly journals Soil parameter detection of soil test kit-treated soil samples through image processing with crop and fertilizer recommendation

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
John Joshua Federis Montañez
Keyword(s):  
Image Processing ◽  
Technology Acceptance ◽  
Soil Ph ◽  
Soil Testing ◽  
Soil Parameters ◽  
Soil Test ◽  
Time Saving ◽  
Prototype Development ◽  
Test Kit ◽  
Fertilizer Recommendations

<span>Standard laboratory soil testing is deemed to be expensive and time-consuming. Utilizing a soil test kit is considered to be a cost-efficient and time-saving way of soil testing. This project study aims to develop a prototype that detects soil parameters (i.e., soil pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) and gives crop and fertilizer recommendations after the soil sample has undergone a soil treatment test kit and its acceptability for possible users. The prototype development primarily used image processing to detect the needed parameters that lead to crop and fertilizer recommendations. In the evaluation of the effectiveness of the prototype, 50 trials were conducted per parameter. All of the said parameters were recorded as highly effective except for nitrogen Low, which is interpreted as effective only. There were 30 possible users invited to assess the acceptability of the prototype. A survey based on the technology acceptance model was administered to the 30 respondents garnering a 4.85 weighted mean interpreted as excellent. The prototype was proven effective and accepted as a device that can detect soil pH and primary macronutrient levels. It gives the appropriate crop and fertilizer recommendations based on the gathered data.</span>

scholarly journals Impact Study of Soil Health Card Scheme, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad – 500030, Telangana State, India. 106 pp.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Amarender Reddy
Keyword(s):  
Soil Health ◽  
Agricultural Extension ◽  
Soil Testing ◽  
Impact Study ◽  
Health Card ◽  
Skilled Manpower ◽  
Telangana State ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Skilled Staff

The report assesses the impact of the Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme in India which was introduced in year 2015. Under this scheme, government machinery has to distribute the SHCs to each farmer. The paper examined the implementation capability of the state and its impact on farmers’ incomes by using nationally represented sample of farmers. In India, out of 120 million farmers, only 56.6 million farmers received the SHCs by the end of 2017. The southern and western states are better in implementing the scheme with skilled manpower and labs with better implementation capabilities. Awareness among the farmers about SHC scheme was high at 66%. The cost of cultivation decreased and profitability increased due to optimal doses of fertilizers with SHC. State capabilities to implement the schemes like skilled staff and soil testing labs at district level needs to be upgraded.

scholarly journals Knowledge and attitude of farmers towards soil health cards in Krishna district

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-400
Author(s):  
P. Srilatha ◽  
Ch. Srilatha Vani
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Nutrient Management ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Soil Testing ◽  
Health Card ◽  
Horticultural Crops ◽  
Interview Method ◽  
Knowledge And Attitude ◽  
Scientific Tool ◽  
Test Result

Soil testing is well recognized as a sound scientific tool to assess inherent power of soil to supply plant nutrients. Soil health card (soil test result) can be used to optimize the use of fertilizer in the integrated nutrient management (INM) system. It is essential to create maximum awareness among farmers about judicious use of chemical fertilizers and use of soil health cards. Ten farmers randomly selected from ten different villages that have availed soil testing technique with the total of 100 farmers. The data collect through personal interview method with the pre-tested schedule designed for the purpose. Majority of respondents had poor knowledge regarding soil testing practices but respondents with 45.00 mean per cent score had maximum knowledge regarding benefits of soil testing. While, maximum knowledge gap was observed in proper technique of sampling for horticultural crops. It was also observed that majority of farmers were in positive attitude (72%) with “Soil testing is necessary for better crop production”. Majority of the farmers (76%) did not agree with the statement that “Soil testing is wastage of time and money”. Half of the (50%) respondents expressed that expenditure of crop production decreases after soil testing. Sixty one (61) per cent adopters said that, “Soil testing is very long process”. Therefore, as per problem faced and suggested by the farmers more scientific and educational trainings and facilities are required to disseminate the technology at large.

scholarly journals Sensor Networks for Structures Health Monitoring: Placement, Implementations, and Challenges—A Review

Vibration ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 551-584
Author(s):  
Samir Mustapha ◽  
Ye Lu ◽  
Ching-Tai Ng ◽  
Pawel Malinowski
Keyword(s):  
Sensor Networks ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Data Transmission ◽  
System Integration ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Data Communication ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
Design And Optimization ◽  
Successful Case

The development of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems and their integration in actual structures has become a necessity as it can provide a robust and low-cost solution for monitoring the structural integrity of and the ability to predict the remaining life of structures. In this review, we aim at focusing on one of the important issues of SHM, the design, and implementation of sensor networks. Location and number of sensors, in any SHM system, are of high importance as they impact the system integration, system performance, and accuracy of assessment, as well as the total cost. Hence we are interested in shedding the light on the sensor networks as an essential component of SHM systems. The review discusses several important parameters including design and optimization of sensor networks, development of academic and commercial solutions, powering of sensors, data communication, data transmission, and analytics. Finally, we presented some successful case studies including the challenges and limitations associated with the sensor networks.

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