In December 2024, Deep Griha Academy, positioned within the coronary heart of Deulgaon Gada, Morgaon Highway, Daund Taluka, Pune, held a novel occasion. Farmers from neighbouring areas visited the college to get their soil examined. The scientists performing the check have been college students of courses seven and eight.   

“Soil well being is the spine of sustainable agriculture, and aiding our college students with the data to enhance it is step one in direction of bettering our farming practices,” says Ashlesha Onawale, director of Deep Griha Society that runs the Academy.

In 2007, the college determined to introduce the agriculture vertical into its curriculum. The concept was to make sure that the subsequent technology understands the important function agriculture performs not simply within the financial system, but additionally in sustaining their native communities.

“At our academy, college students are launched to agriculture from a younger age. The college teaches youngsters the entire cycle of farming, from sowing seeds to harvesting, whereas emphasising natural farming strategies,” says Swapna Sonkambale, the natural agriculture instructor on the institute.

Soil well being for a greater tomorrow

“Soil is the inspiration of all agriculture, and instructing college students about its significance has turn into central to the college’s agricultural training,” Swapna shares. She, together with Angela Aram, the programme and company engagement coordinator, and Ashlesha, the director of the academy, have been central in initiating the soil testing undertaking for courses seven and eight.

The initiative started with a watch on the wants of the native farming neighborhood. 

“In lots of rural areas, farmers usually wrestle to entry correct soil well being information. With out the appropriate info, they danger losing cash on fertilisers that their soil could not want, or lacking out on important vitamins that would enhance their crop yield,” explains Swapna. 

To discover a strategy to tackle this, the Academy bought into discussions with Proximal Soilsens — an organization that produces soil testing kits and helps farmers perceive their crops higher. Quickly they acquired soil testing kits, permitting college students to learn to check native soil and supply farmers with genuine information to make knowledgeable choices. 

The kits have been sourced with the assist of Tushar Hande from the Enterprise Division and Dr Rajul Patkar, the corporate’s co-founder.

“We noticed the soil testing equipment as a beneficial alternative for our college students to counterpoint their understanding of soil well being. After testing our soil, we gave college students the possibility to use their data in a real-world context,” Angela says. 

“One of many principal objectives of this initiative was to show our college students the significance of soil well being, and in addition help them to assist the farmers in our neighborhood by offering fast and actionable soil studies,” Swapna provides.

The undertaking was launched as a pilot with 15 college students from class 7, who have been chosen to learn to use the soil testing kits.

“Over the course of a 12 months, the scholars have been taught the basics of soil well being, together with the important thing vitamins within the soil, like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, natural carbon, pH, and electrical conductivity,” Swapna informs. In addition they learnt how these vitamins work together with each other, and the way their ranges have an effect on crop manufacturing.

Sensible studying

As soon as the scholars have been aware of the idea behind soil well being, the actual studying started. “We taught the youngsters how you can take soil samples and use the kits to check for these important vitamins,” she says. “First, they learnt how a lot soil and liquid have been required for every check, after which they used the Soilsens equipment to measure ranges of nitrogen, phosphorus, and different parts.”

The equipment works via an easy course of that permits college students to achieve each theoretical and hands-on expertise. 

“First, college students combine soil with particular chemical compounds in a vial to extract the required vitamins. For example, if testing nitrogen, they’d take 3 ml of the nitrogen reagent and blend it with 1 gram of soil, shaking the vial and permitting it to accept about quarter-hour. As soon as the soil and chemical compounds are well-mixed, the subsequent step is to check the pattern. Utilizing the Nutrisens machine, which connects to a smartphone, college students place a number of drops of the answer onto the machine’s sensor. The info is then immediately retrieved and displayed on the related telephone,” says the instructor, who’s heading the soil testing initiative.

“Seeing the youngsters perform the method with such confidence is really rewarding,” she provides. “The youngsters are usually not solely studying about soil well being but additionally creating essential life abilities similar to teamwork, problem-solving, and confidence.” 

After testing all the required parts, similar to nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, the outcomes are saved and an in depth report is generated in real-time by way of the Soilsens agriwise app. 

Usually, the whole course of, from mixing to producing the report, takes round 30-35 minutes, which is a big enchancment over conventional strategies that may take months. 

Aiding native farmers

On 17 December 2024, Deep Griha Academy carried out a large-scale pilot undertaking with 15 farmers from surrounding villages. This occasion introduced collectively the scholars, who are actually in school 8, and native farmers for the primary time. 

“The farmers arrived from seven totally different villages, together with Yavat, Supa, Kedgaon, Kasurdi, Deulgaon Gada, and Boripardhi. Some farmers even introduced a number of soil samples from totally different plots of land,” Swapna says. “After they arrived, the scholars took cost, performing the soil assessments and offering farmers with actionable studies,” she provides.

The rapid suggestions was overwhelmingly constructive. “Farmers have been excited to see our college students take cost of the testing course of,” says the proud instructor. “They appreciated not solely the velocity of the studies but additionally the precious insights into their soil well being that helped them cut back pointless fertiliser use and get monetary savings.”

For instance, if a farmer’s soil had adequate ranges of nitrogen or potassium, the scholars suggested them to not add extra fertiliser. Equally, if a farmer’s soil confirmed a deficiency in natural carbon, they have been inspired to make use of natural manure or implement practices like combined cropping to enhance the soil’s well being.

“It was a enjoyable expertise, from studying about soil well being to executing the assessments and interacting with farmers. Instructing them concerning the significance of natural alternate options felt extremely rewarding,” Ashwini Shinge, a scholar who participated within the soil testing occasion.

Santosh Sharma, one other 14-year-old scholar, admits that he initially didn’t perceive the significance of soil testing. 

“I used to assume that soil testing was one thing farmers ought to do themselves, however as soon as I began studying about soil well being, I turned excited,” Santosh Sharma, one other scholar says.

“I learnt concerning the totally different vitamins required for wholesome soil, and I needed to assist farmers by giving them correct studies. The initiative has made me realise how a lot I can contribute to serving to farmers get monetary savings and enhance their crops,” he provides.

Divya Sharma, a 13-year-old scholar is comfortable that the brand new ability permits her to assist farmers in her locality.  “In our locality, farmers usually must journey lengthy distances to get their soil examined. However now, they’ll do it proper right here in school, saving each money and time,” she says, including, “I’ve learnt to advise farmers on bettering soil well being, similar to recommending crops like peas and beans if nitrogen ranges are low, permitting them to develop crops with out the want for added fertilisers.”

“This has been an eye-opener for a lot of farmers in our space,” Swapna says. “They now see the worth in soil testing and are already beginning to use natural manure extra regularly.”

Wanting forward, the college plans to develop the initiative. “We need to embrace extra college students on this undertaking, significantly from class 7 and eight,” the instructor says. 

The academy goals to conduct between 35 to 40 soil assessments within the coming months, extending the attain of the undertaking and persevering with to teach each college students and farmers. 

“We consider that college students from larger courses ought to be actively concerned within the initiative, as their deeper understanding of the technical elements permits them to interact meaningfully with the method and assist native farmers make knowledgeable choices,” concludes Ashlesha.

Edited by Arunava Banerjee; All footage courtesy Angela Aram