A Baseline Study on Soil Health and Fertility

Soil building practices such as crop rotations, inter-cropping, symbiotic associations, cover crops, organic fertilizers and minimum tillage are central to organic practices. Currently most of the organic farmers face the major challenges on the soil fertility, pest control issues, crop viability, seed supplies and soil tillage problems. There is a lack of good understanding of the soil nutrient condition so farmers cultivate only based on their own experience of applying organic fertilizer. Unlike the conventional chemical fertilizer, the behavior of organic fertilizers is of slow release characteristic. Therefore, a good understanding of the soil health condition is a must to improve crop performance and enhance the yield.