The Department of Farmers' Welfare and Agriculture Development will implement the School Soil Health Programme in PM Shri Schools in the district to create awareness among students and future generations about soil health. Under the programme, students will be given theoretical and practical training on soil testing and will be made aware of the adverse effects of excessive use of chemical fertilizers on soil and human health. A joint meeting of agriculture officials and teachers of PM Shri Schools was held today to implement the School Soil Health Programme. In the meeting held at the Deputy Director's Office for Farmers' Welfare and Agriculture Development in the Collector's Office, agriculture department's nodal officers trained the teachers of PM Shri Schools on the method of collecting soil samples from the fields in the correct manner. Emphasis was laid in the meeting on the fact that if the health of the soil is good, we all will remain healthy. It was stated in the meeting that in the race for higher production, excessive use of chemical fertilizers is being made in agricultural land, whereas their use should only be in balanced quantities. The excessive and indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers is causing the fertility of the soil to decline, groundwater pollution and adverse effects on the food chain. It is time to reduce dependence on chemical fertilizers and become aware of soil health. According to the information provided in the meeting, in the coming days, students of schools will be given theoretical and practical training on soil testing and they will also be taken on field visits to understand soil health at the field level. For this, students of class 8th, 9th and 11th will be selected from each school. The selected students will be officially enrolled and soil samples will be collected through them.