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Soil Degradation in India: Challenges and Potential Solutions

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Title Soil Degradation in India: Challenges and Potential Solutions
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Creator Ranjan Bhattacharyya
Birendra Nath Ghosh
Prasanta Kumar Mishra
Biswapati Mandal
Cherukumalli Srinivasa Rao
Dibyendu Sarkar
, Krishnendu Das
Kokkuvayil Sankaranarayanan Anil
, Manickam Lalitha
, Kuntal Mouli Hati
Alan Joseph Franzluebbers
 
Subject land degradation; soil erosion; conservation agriculture; agroforestry; nutrient management; sustainable crop intensification
 
Description Not Available
Soil degradation in India is estimated to be occurring on 147 million hectares
(Mha) of land, including 94 Mha from water erosion, 16 Mha from acidification, 14 Mha
from flooding, 9 Mha from wind erosion, 6 Mha from salinity, and 7 Mha from a
combination of factors. This is extremely serious because India supports 18% of theworld’s human population and 15% of the world’s livestock population, but has only 2.4%
of the world’s land area. Despite its low proportional land area, India ranks second
worldwide in farm output. Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries account for 17% of the gross
domestic product and employs about 50% of the total workforce of the country. Causes of
soil degradation are both natural and human-induced. Natural causes include earthquakes,
tsunamis, droughts, avalanches, landslides, volcanic eruptions, floods, tornadoes, and wildfires.
Human-induced soil degradation results from land clearing and deforestation, inappropriate
agricultural practices, improper management of industrial effluents and wastes, over-grazing,
careless management of forests, surface mining, urban sprawl, and commercial/industrial
development. Inappropriate agricultural practices include excessive tillage and use of
heavy machinery, excessive and unbalanced use of inorganic fertilizers, poor irrigation and
water management techniques, pesticide overuse, inadequate crop residue and/or organic
carbon inputs, and poor crop cycle planning. Some underlying social causes of soil
degradation in India are land shortage, decline in per capita land availability, econompressure on land, land tenancy, poverty, and population increase. In this review of land
degradation in India, we summarize (1) the main causes of soil degradation in different
agro-climatic regions; (2) research results documenting both soil degradation and soil
health improvement in various agricultural systems; and (3) potential solutions to improvesoil health in different regions using a variety of conservation agricultural approaches.
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Date 2020-05-22T10:13:55Z
2020-05-22T10:13:55Z
2015-02-27
 
Type Research Paper
 
Identifier Not Available
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http://krishi.icar.gov.in/jspui/handle/123456789/36143
 
Language English
 
Relation Not Available;
 
Publisher Not Available