No staff, four out of five labs for testing soil non-functional

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Jalandhar, February 14

Several new agricultural policies and projects can be announced in the future, but the existing ones are often neglected. Soil testing labs in the state are perfect example of such government apathy.

Sample testing target never met

For a lab to be functional, 10,000 samples should be tested in a year. Because of lack of staff, the target is never met. Senior official, Agriculture Department

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Some labs are just buildings as no tests are done there. There is no proper staff to carry out soil tests in these ‘so-called’ labs. In Jalandhar, there are five labs, but just one is operational.

The soil testing labs are at Bhogpur, Nurmehal, Phillaur, Jalandhar city and Nakodar. Out of these five labs, tests are performed at Bhogpur lab. These tests include pH, electrical conductivity and organic carbon determination in soil.

In Phillaur and Nakodar, there is just one lab assistant each. Also, equipment is there at the labs, but in the absence of staff, it is gathering dust.

The district Agriculture Department also has an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) for the analysis of micronutrients in soil such as zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu) and iron (Fe), but there is no expert to operate it.

In Kapurthala district, there are two labs. One in Nadala and other in Phagwara. The one in Phagwara is working, while the lab in Nadala is non-functional.

A senior official from the Agriculture Department said labs were need of the hour to check the soil health. He further said an Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) was required for analysis apart from lab assistant and lab attendant at a lab.

The Director, Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Gurvinder Singh, said the existing labs would start functioning. “We will get around 200 new ADOs and ensure that they get deputed at these labs. We are trying to revive these soil testing labs,” he said.