SOIL AND WATER MANAGEMENT IN SALT AFFECTED LAND WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PAKHRAULI PILOT PROJECT

Abstract

A significant part of the total salt affected soils in India lies in the Indo-Gangetic Alluvial plains. The area is about 2.8 x 106 million hectares. Due to lack of long continued rainfall in this region, the salts re-leased from the soils and exposed rock by chemical decom-position and by physical weathering are not transported far to the ocean. As a result it creates salt problem limiting the crop growth. This is also accelerated by local leaching conditions and high evaporation rates of the and and semi-arid regions• To cope up with the ever-growing food problem it is highly essential to make these soils productive. Reclamation of these areas is of paramount importance but involves many technical, economical, legal as well as social constraints. To study the various field problems concerned with reclamation strategies and to evolve their solution and also to demonstrate the result to the farmers for the sake of their education, a soil and water management pilot project sponsored by Central Government of India has been executed at Pakhrauli on an area of 120 hectares having the water supply from Purwa Branch Canal of Sarda Sahayak Project• The methodology including drainage, amendments and cropping patterns adopted in this area has been critically examined in this study and overall performance of the project including its (iv) social impact has been evaluated. It is expected that this will provide a significant guide line for future strategies in this region.