Nagpur: Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday called on Vidarbha farmers to prioritise soil testing in their fields, saying higher organic carbon could double or triple crop yields, as he addressed a Biochar Generation Seminar organised by Agrovision Foundation in Nagpur.He drew on his own farm experiments to highlight the importance of organic carbon. “Five years ago, I was getting 40 tonnes of sugarcane per acre. When I tested the soil, the organic carbon was at 0.30. Another farmer was getting 105 tonnes of sugarcane per acre, with the soil’s organic carbon at 0.80,” Gadkari said, adding he had since raised his own yield to 88 tonnes per acre and tur yield to 15 quintals per acre.“Just as we do our health check-up, get the check-up of your soil done. Find out which element is lacking and try to increase it at least cost,” Gadkari said. “Just as a human being needs oxygen, organic carbon is equally important for the soil. Without using biochar to increase organic carbon in the soil, a farmer’s output cannot increase,” Gadkari added.Gadkari announced a target of producing 1 lakh tonnes of organic fertiliser, called Bhoosurakhsa, made from press mud and spent wash from his sugar factory blended with cultures from Indian Oil laboratory in Faridabad. He currently produces 25,000 tonnes and has also purchased fertiliser from Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s bio-CNG project and Reliance’s Mouda plant when no other buyers stepped forward.
