soil conservation
Soil conservation includes all such measures which protect the soil from erosion and restore its fertility. These measures are of two types-(a) small measures to check soil erosion at local or even individual level, and (b) large measures at government level involving larger area and heavy investment.
(a) Small Measures-These include afforestation, regularised land strip cultivation or contour farming or terrace farming in hilly areas, use of stubble mulch system, increasing cohesiveness of the soils through artificial manures and fertilisers, gully plugging, restricting over grazing and shifting cultivation, erecting shelter belts and wind breaks to check wind velocity and wind erosion in arid and semi-arid areas, Fixing of sand dunes by planting trees and grasses, practicing alternate cultivation technique, popularising dry farming and adopting scientific crop rotation system.
(b) Large Measures-these include large projects and schemes undertaken by state and central government to check soil erosion and facilitate extensive reclamation. Following are some of the schemes worthy of mention here:
(i) Reclamation of Ravines and Badlands-
Massive large scale schemes are necessary for soil reclamation in ravines and badlands of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Several such schemes involving plugging of gully mouths, construction of bunds across the gullies, leveling of surface, a forestation, and restriction on over grazing are under implementation in these states. In Madhya Pradesh the World Bank has given an assistance of Rs. 300 million to reclaim about 1 lakh ha of ravine land.
(ii) Control of Floods-In India the problem of soil erosion is very much linked with the problem of floods and waterlogging. This is due to seasonal and heavy downpour of rainfall. If arrangement could be made for the storage and diversion of additional rain-water not only it would be an effective measure to control the floods but to utilise this water in
(a) Small Measures-These include afforestation, regularised land strip cultivation or contour farming or terrace farming in hilly areas, use of stubble mulch system, increasing cohesiveness of the soils through artificial manures and fertilisers, gully plugging, restricting over grazing and shifting cultivation, erecting shelter belts and wind breaks to check wind velocity and wind erosion in arid and semi-arid areas, Fixing of sand dunes by planting trees and grasses, practicing alternate cultivation technique, popularising dry farming and adopting scientific crop rotation system.
(b) Large Measures-these include large projects and schemes undertaken by state and central government to check soil erosion and facilitate extensive reclamation. Following are some of the schemes worthy of mention here:
(i) Reclamation of Ravines and Badlands-
Massive large scale schemes are necessary for soil reclamation in ravines and badlands of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Several such schemes involving plugging of gully mouths, construction of bunds across the gullies, leveling of surface, a forestation, and restriction on over grazing are under implementation in these states. In Madhya Pradesh the World Bank has given an assistance of Rs. 300 million to reclaim about 1 lakh ha of ravine land.
(ii) Control of Floods-In India the problem of soil erosion is very much linked with the problem of floods and waterlogging. This is due to seasonal and heavy downpour of rainfall. If arrangement could be made for the storage and diversion of additional rain-water not only it would be an effective measure to control the floods but to utilise this water in