The Dangers of Land Degradation

Soil is one of the most important natural resources of man. Soils are essential for man for growing crops, fodder and limber. Once the fertile portion of the earth's surface is lost, it is very difficult to replace it. In India, the destruction of the top-soil has already reached an alarming proportion.

Land degradation problems have resulted in increasing depletion of the productivity of the basic land stock through nutrient deficiencies. In addition to the direct loss of crop producing capacity, soil erosion increases the destructiveness of floods and decreases the storage capacity of water in reservoirs.

It is therefore essential that the soils should not be allowed to wash or blow-away more rapidly than they can be regenerated, their fertility should not be exhausted and their physical structure should remain suited to continued production of desired plant materials.

Protection of land from further degradation, adoption of various conservation measures, including reclamation and scientific management of available land stock is very important for a country like India to achieve higher productivity of food, fodder, fuel and industrial raw materials on a substantial basis.

Besides, demand for land for providing social priorities such as shelter, roads, industrial activities is increasing at a very fast rate with the rise in population and very often good agricultural and forest lands are being diverted to such use.

It is, therefore, necessary to keep soil in place and in a state favourable to its highest productive capacity.

Soil Erosion

The process of destruction of soil and the removal of the destroyed soil material constitute soil erosion. According to Dr. Bennett "the vastly accelerated process of soil removal brought about by the human interference, with the normal disequilibrium between soil building and soil removal is designated as soil erosion".

Types of Soil-Erosion

Erosion of soil by water is quite significant and