Economic Evaluation of Soil And Water Conservation Technologies

Abstract

Soil and water are the two basic resources of life. The quality and quantity of these resources has a great bearing on nation’s wealth and welfare. The agricultural production in India recorded significant increase due mainly to what is called Green Revolution technology. But, it has by passed the larger tracts of rainfed regions. As a result, the inter-regional and inter-class disparities have widened. This, when considered together with the food and fibre requirements of the country’s growing population and the issues of globalization and sustainability, makes it imperative to increase the productivity of rainfed lands. The rainfed lands are subject to varying degrees of erosion. About 175 m.ha. of land in the country was subject to various forms of erosion out of which 69 m.ha. is experiencing critical degree of erosion. Such large extent of erosion, if not contained, will lead to productivity losses necessating higher costs to produce the same level of output over time and agricultural production cannot be sustainable.