Soil Conservation Issues in India

Abstract

Despite years of study and substantial investment in remediation and prevention, soil erosion continues to be a major environmental problem with regard to land use in India and elsewhere around the world. Furthermore, changing climate and/or weather patterns are exacerbating the problem. Our objective was to review past and current soil conservation programmes in India to better understand how production-, environmental-, social-, economic-and policy-related issues have affected soil and water conservation and the incentives needed to address the most critical problems. We found that to achieve success in soil and water conservation policies, institutions and operations must be co-ordinated using a holistic approach. Watershed programmes have been shown to be one of the most effective strategies for bringing socio-economic change to different parts of India. Within both dryland and rainfed areas, watershed management has quietly revolutionized agriculture by aligning various sectors through technological soil and water conservation interventions and land-use diversification. Significant results associated with various watershed-scale soil and water conservation programmes and interventions that were effective for reducing land degradation and improving productivity in different parts of the country are discussed.

Spatial Modeling of Soil Erosion Risk and Its Implication for Conservation Planning: the Case of the Gobele Watershed, East Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia

“…On the contrary, Wang et al [92] found improvement in the state of erosion risk in the Danjiangkou reservoir area, China, where the eroded areas have declined from 32.1% in 2004 to 25.43% in the 2010 study period. Moreover, Jiang et al [16] reported that the eroded area has Therefore, since there is geospatial variation in soil erosion risk distribution across the watershed area, identification of priority area is the key factor for planning and implementing appropriate SWC [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]51,90,142]. Accordingly, we prioritized areas with a higher and increasing soil loss rate as SWC priority areas (Table 6).…”

Time‐Continuous Phosphorus Flows in the Indian Agri‐Food Sector: Long‐Term Drivers and Management Options

“…Assuming that conservation agriculture is practiced on less than 1% of the total cropland area in India (e.g., Bhattacharyya et al. ).…”

“…To implement this option, policy measures are required to address cost‐related factors and provide incentives for residue recycling, given that currently residue burning is increasing attributable to the use of combined harvesters (grain and straw simultaneously), limited labor force, and lacking economic incentives (Bhattacharyya et al. ).…”

“…This would correspond to another 10% of mineral P imports in period D assuming an average P concentration of 0.1% in crop residues (MacDonald et al 2011). To implement this option, policy measures are required to address cost-related factors and provide incentives for residue recycling, given that currently residue burning is increasing attributable to the use of combined harvesters (grain and straw simultaneously), limited labor force, and lacking economic incentives (Bhattacharyya et al 2016). P embedded in agricultural processing wastes (F18) equals 6% of imported mineral P (F2).…”

“…e Assuming that 31% of inhabitants have access to improved sanitation, and 30% of collected wastewater is recycled. f Assuming that conservation agriculture is practiced on less than 1% of the total cropland area in India (e.g., Bhattacharyya et al 2016). kt = kilotonnes; P = phosphorus; na = not available.…”