Conserving Soil and Reverting Land Degradation Through Conservation Practices with Special Emphasis on Natural Resource Conservation

Abstract

Degradation of the land ecosystem is a major problem in India due to biotic and abiotic interferences. About 121 M ha land has been degraded and largely falls under rainfed regions. It has negative impacts on agricultural production and economy and the natural environment. In India, the per capita availability of both land and water is declining exponentially due to increasing population pressures. The arable land has dwindled from 0.48 ha in 1950 to 0.15 ha in 2000 and is likely to further reduce to 0.08 ha by 2020. The water availability declined from 1816 m³ in 2001 to 1511 m³ in 2011 against the world’s average of 7400 m³ and Asian countries’ average of 3240 m³. These issues and challenges need to be addressed by the adoption of smart, site-specific soil and water conservation practices. The field studies conducted in the semiarid agroecological region showed that the implementation of various conservation practices increased crop yield and biomass production, reduced runoff and soil loss, increased groundwater recharge, and improved socioeconomic conditions of the farmers. Therefore, the conservation practices tested in the semiarid region of India can be extended to other agroecological regions of the world for better management of degraded lands for reducing runoff and soil erosion for sustaining and stabilizing productivity of the food, fodder, and fuel.