BhoomiSeva, AIOCD ink pact to promote soil tests

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BhoomiSeva, an organisation dedicated to promoting sustainable agricultural practices and improving soil health, has said it has entered into a partnership with AIOCD Pharma Ltd to leverage the latter’s network across the nation to introduce BhoomiSeva Kendra (multi-brand store) and Bhu-Vision soil testing device to promote soil tests. This will help thereby improve soil and human health in the coming days.

A media statement said the partnership aims to appoint 45 super stockists and 533 district stockists in 15 States covering 94 per cent of the country in the first phase.

Quoting Melind Deshpande, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BhoomiSeva HCF Tech Services Pvt Ltd and distributor for Bhu-Vision (Krishi-RASTAA), said: “This collaboration will create a monumental shift in the way we address soil health and through it human health. Since human health is closely interlinked to soil health, we believe this initiative will set the stage for a healthier and more sustainable future for our nation.”

Cutting health expenses

Jagganath (Appa) Shinde, Chairman of AIOCD, said healthier soil will reduce expenditures and other health-related spending. “We at AIOCD support the ‘Healthy Soil Healthy People’ movement, despite knowing the fact that in the long term our revenues will be impacted.”

Vaijnath Jagusthe, Director of AIOCD, said: “We will be enabling 12.50 lakh farmers to increase their crop yield by 20-30 per cent. This is the first small step taken by AIOCD towards nation building – an example of collective personal social responsibility.”

In rural areas, the programme will facilitate the establishment of government-authorised soil testing centres within medical shops, adopting the ‘shop in shop’ multi-brand store model of BhoomiSeva, the statement said.

In urban areas, medical shops will play a crucial role in promoting soil testing among their clients and encouraging them to participate in the personal social responsibility programme by sponsoring soil tests, it said.

AIOCD is an organisation representing over 12.50 lakh medical shops across India, the statement said.