Soil Testing
Soil Testing is important to identify the current state of the soil and determine the inputs that will be necessary to grow healthy crops with good yields. Without soil testing, the dosage of agri-inputs will not be optimum. They may either be below the required quantity leading to lower yields and unhealthy plants or higher than required which not only increases the cost of farming but can also be counterproductive and toxic in certain circumstances.
Need for Soil Test Kit
Traditionally soil testing is done by commercial laboratories which determine the different constituents of soil. There are several major issues with the current situation of soil testing, especially in India
-
There is a big time gap between the time a sample is collected and the report generated. This sometimes renders the report useless for farming activities.
-
Currently, most soil testing is done by government and is subsidized but it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of turn around time.
-
Soil chemistry is not constant. If the soil is not tested within 24 hours of extraction the results are less accurate. Since, currently the samples are shipped to centralized labs for testing it rarely happens within 24 hours and the accuracy of the result is suspect
-
Some mobile platforms are capable of doing testing near farms however, the high cost of these systems have limited their adoption
Grassroots Energy Solution
Grassroots Energy has partnered with an NPO to bring a low cost and instantaneous mobile phone based soil testing solution to the market. The kit contains easy to use reagents and uses a simple Android phone as the processing unit to provide quick results.
​
Currently the following tests can be performed. It is planned to increase the parameters which can be tested
-
pH
-
Nitrogen
-
Phosphorous
-
Potassium