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PROPOSAL FOR RECLAMATION OF SALINE, ALKALINE AND WATERLOGGED SOILS

INTRODUCTION

The land is inelastic commodity and the only alternative left to meet ever-increasing demand of food grains for ever increasing population is to enhance the productivity of the cultivated land and also to bring potential degraded lands under plough. The salt affected soils including alkali soils under such category which have the potential to augment food grain production and to increase the farm income after reclamation.

According to the National Commission on Agriculture, an area of 70.00 lakh ha. in the country suffers from alkalinity and salinity to such an extent that it renders crop production either impossible or uneconomical .The ‘salt affected soil’ is a general term, which includes soil having excess of soluble salts or exchangeable sodium or both to an extent that their presence can adversely affect growth or completely inhibit production of most crops.

The problem of alkalinity has been aggravated with the development of irrigation sources especially with the construction of irrigation projects without having adequate drainage systems and unscientific irrigation management. Application of excess irrigation water than required by the crop has resulted in increasing level of alkalinity/salinity in irrigated lands in our country. It is apprehended that indiscriminate use of canal water is one of the main cause for further spreading of alkalinity.

In Karnataka, 100.75 lakh hectare area is under cultivation. Out of this about 23.62 lakh hectares (23%) is under irrigation. Out of this irrigated area about 2.42 lakh hectares has been affected by salinity, alkalinity and waterlogged conditions and has rendered these lands under-productive or unproductive. In Karnataka waterlogged condition is the main problem in major command areas which inturn results in salinity, alkalinity. Depending upon the severity of these problems, the productivity in affected area is reduced by 25-75 percent. Such problematic soils are increasing due to poor water management practices resulting in deterioration of soil structure, texture, aerability and accumulation of salts clubbed with increase in water table.

In addition, about 1.47 lakh hectare land is affected by the problem of acidity.

Sl. No.	Soils	Area in Ha.
1.	Saline	94600
2.	Alkaline	83960
3.	Waterlogged	63070
	Total	241630

The accumulated salt in the root zone makes soil unsuitable for crops. These salts can be removed through sub soil drainage by surplus irrigation and drain water. The salts and minerals get dissolved in water, which carries them towards drainage system network of perforated corrugated pipes in the form of lateral and collectors installed at the depth approximately 1 to 1.2 meter and ultimately flushed to the nala/open drain.

IRS-1C LISS-III & PAN merged FCC (Salt affected soil)

Typical picture of saline and alkaline affected soils

EFFORTS OF THE STATE

Apart from Command Area Development Authority (CADA), the Watershed Development Department is also implementing the programme of reclamation of problematic soils in the State since 2002-03. About 4057 hectares of land has been treated upto the end of 2006-07 by the department. The programme has been taken up under macro mode management of agriculture scheme of GOI. With the meager allocation of about Rs.100 lakhs annually for the scheme under MMM, it is highly impossible to take up treatment of about 2.42 lakh hectares of affected land in the State. Presently, the sub surface tiled drainage system of reclamation is being followed with the unit cost of Rs. 15000 per hectare. The details of progress achieved during X Plan period in the State is here under.

Sl.No.	Year	Phy (Ha)	Fin (Rs)
1.	2002-03	819.79	142.94
2.	2003-04	923.00	111.71
3.	2004-05	593.21	71.20
4.	2005-06	609.00	73.15
5.	2006-07	1112.00	133.33
	Total	4057 .00	532.33

IMPACTS OF LAND RECLAMATION

Previous projects of sub surface drainage system revealed substantial percentage of growth in crop yields by 25% to 75%. Eg. : Soyabeans- 29%, Peas- 62%, Sugarcane- 42%, Wheat- 76% and Beans- 57%.

The major problem faced in this programme is the maintenance and inspection of the work after few years of compleion. Since drains are laid underground, they have to be maintained by regular cleaning of inspection chambers.

The GOI has recently approved a pilot project for reclamation of saline, alkaline and waterlogged soils through Subsurface Drainage System with the project outlay of Rs. 500 lakhs. The project aims at treating 944 hectares of problematic soils in Ugar Badruk village of Belgaum district of the State.

THE PROPOSAL

It is proposed to reclaim about 75000 hectares of problematic soils in 28 districts of the State during 11^th Five Year Plan period. The total outlay required would be Rs. 300 crores. The details of the district wise / year wise area to be treated and the outlay required are given below.

Sl.No.	District	Total area affected ( Ha.)	2007-08		2008-09		2009-10
Sl.No.	District	Total area affected ( Ha.)	Area (Ha)	Fin. (lakh Rs)	Area (Ha)	Fin. (lakh Rs)	Area (Ha)	Fin. (lakh Rs)
1	Bangalore	4920	305	122.13	305	122.13	305	122.13
2	Ramanagara	1550	96	38.48	96	38.48	96	38.48
3	Kolar	2704	168	67.12	168	67.12	168	67.12
4	Chikkaballapur	2460	153	61.07	153	61.07	153	61.07
5	Chitradurga	13750	853	341.33	853	341.33	853	341.33
6	Davanagere	14705	913	365.04	913	365.04	913	365.04
7	Tumkur	7486	465	185.83	465	185.83	465	185.83
8	Madhugiri	7485	465	185.81	465	185.81	465	185.81
9	Shimoga	2187	136	54.29	136	54.29	136	54.29
10	Mysore	8693	539	215.80	539	215.80	539	215.80
11	Mandya	6132	381	152.22	381	152.22	381	152.22
12	Hassan	8575	532	212.87	532	212.87	532	212.87
13	Chickmagalur	4244	263	105.35	263	105.35	263	105.35
14	Udupi	1550	96	38.48	96	38.48	96	38.48
15	DakshinaKannada	6044	375	150.04	375	150.04	375	150.04
16	Chamarajanagar	3150	195	78.20	195	78.20	195	78.20
17	Belgaum	9476	588	235.23	588	235.23	588	235.23
18	Bijapur	6240	387	154.90	387	154.90	387	154.90
19	Bagalakote	20474	1271	508.25	1271	508.25	1271	508.25
20	Gadag	7540	468	187.17	468	187.17	468	187.17
21	Haveri	1540	96	38.23	96	38.23	96	38.23
22	Dharwad	6354	394	157.73	394	157.73	394	157.73
23	Uttara Kannada	11765	730	292.06	730	292.06	730	292.06
24	Gulbarga	12526	777	310.95	777	310.95	777	310.95
25	Raichur	25149	1561	624.30	1561	624.30	1561	624.30
26	Koppal	11785	731	292.55	731	292.55	731	292.55
27	Bellary	24718	1534	613.60	1534	613.60	1534	613.60
28	Bidar	8558	531	212.45	531	212.45	531	212.45
	Total	241760	15004	6001.49	15004	6001.49	15004	6001.49

District wise and year wise programme (contd.)

Sl.No.	District	20010-11		2011-12		Total
Sl.No.	District	Area (Ha)	Fin. (lakh Rs)	Area (Ha)	Fin. (lakh Rs)	Area (Ha)	Fin. (lakh Rs)
1	Bangalore	305	122.13	305	122.13	1526.7	610.67
2	Ramanagara	96	38.48	96	38.48	481.0	192.39
3	Kolar	168	67.12	168	67.12	839.1	335.62
4	Chikkaballapur	153	61.07	153	61.07	763.3	305.34
5	Chitradurga	853	341.33	853	341.33	4266.7	1706.66
6	Davanagere	913	365.04	913	365.04	4563.0	1825.20
7	Tumkur	465	185.83	465	185.83	2322.9	929.17
8	Madhugiri	465	185.81	465	185.81	2322.6	929.04
9	Shimoga	136	54.29	136	54.29	678.6	271.45
10	Mysore	539	215.80	539	215.80	2697.5	1078.98
11	Mandya	381	152.22	381	152.22	1902.8	761.11
12	Hassan	532	212.87	532	212.87	2660.8	1064.34
13	Chickmagalur	263	105.35	263	105.35	1316.9	526.77
14	Udupi	96	38.48	96	38.48	481.0	192.39
15	DakshinaKannada	375	150.04	375	150.04	1875.5	750.19
16	Chamarajanagar	195	78.20	195	78.20	977.5	390.98
17	Belgaum	588	235.23	588	235.23	2940.4	1176.17
18	Bijapur	387	154.90	387	154.90	1936.3	774.51
19	Bagalakote	1271	508.25	1271	508.25	6353.1	2541.25
20	Gadag	468	187.17	468	187.17	2339.7	935.87
21	Haveri	96	38.23	96	38.23	477.9	191.15
22	Dharwad	394	157.73	394	157.73	1971.7	788.66
23	Uttara Kannada	730	292.06	730	292.06	3650.7	1460.28
24	Gulbarga	777	310.95	777	310.95	3886.8	1554.74
25	Raichur	1561	624.30	1561	624.30	7803.8	3121.51
26	Koppal	731	292.55	731	292.55	3656.9	1462.76
27	Bellary	1534	613.60	1534	613.60	7670.0	3068.02
28	Bidar	531	212.45	531	212.45	2655.6	1062.23
	Total	15004	6001.49	15004	6001.49	75018.6	30007.45

UNIT COST

As the perforated clay pipes that are being used for sub surface drainage are easily breakable and are short lived in nature, it is proposed to take up lining of perforated PVC pipes with the increased unit cost of Rs.40000 per hectare.

Unit cost of sub surface drainage system for land reclamation

Sl.No	SSR Code	Description of work	Qty	Rate (Rs)	Unit	Amt
1	1.1C	Survey, leveling & preparation of contour maps @ 8.38 m grids	1 ha	155	1 ha	155
2		Field visit, Soil Test, Projectization	1ha	200	1 ha	200
3		Trainings	1 ha	100	1 ha	100
4	11.1	Excavation for main drain	40.162	42	Cum	1686.80
5	11.1	For Lateral drains	91.125	42	Cmt	3827.25
6		Laying 4”PVC Pipe	85	110	Rmt	9350
7		Laying 2”PVC perforated Pipe	225	85	Rmt	19125
8	11.4	Laying 2m,15 cm dia PCC Concrete pipe for outlet	1	330	M	330
9		Providing & fixing T joints of 5& 10 cm and join main & laterals	6	60	No	360
10	11.6	Construction.of Stone masonry protection wall	1	550	No	550
11	11.7	Construction of Drop Chamber using size stones	1 Cha	1650	No	1650
12		Construction of inspection chambers in brick masonry at every lateral joints	5	525	No	2625
		TOTAL				39959.05
		Rounded				40000.00

METHOD OF IMPLEMENTATION

a) Technology models involved

Horizontal Subsurface Drainage System for reclamation of Saline, Alkaline and Waterlogged soils will be constructed. This involves laying of perforated PVC pipes horizontally in the subsurface. The project will be implemented through the technical persons having sufficient experience in the field.

b) Ownership of lands

Private lands belonging to individuals will be considered for the project.

c) Training

Both the Departmental staff and the beneficiaries will be imparted training on the guidelines and technical issues in implementation of the project.

d) Monitoring and Evaluation

Necessary steps will be taken to identify the benchmarks for quantifying the deliverable output/desired results for various parameters viz. fertility status, moisture status, productivity/biomass yield, employment generation etc., at pre project and post project periods.

FUNDING PATTERN

Sl.No.	Particular	GOI Share (Rs. Lakhs)	GOK Share (Rs. Lakhs)	Total (Rs. Lakhs)
1.	Reclamation of saline, alkaline and waterlogged soils by subsurface drainage system	27000.00	3000.00	30000.00

JUSTFICATION

The protection and improvement of soil health is one of the ‘PANCHASUTRA’s adopted in formulating the Karnataka Agriculture Policy 2006, which envisages the importance of reclamation of problematic soils in the State. Because of the poor land management practices especially in the command areas, the land has become barren which adversely affect the crop production.

Improving the health of the degraded lands and bringing them under cultivation is one of the alternatives available for improving the agriculture production in the country to feed the ever growing population. Hence there is an urgent need to reclaim problematic soils of the State to harvest the potential of the available land resources.

IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE
The above mentioned programme will be implemented in a phased manner over a period of five years. The same is laso included in the District Plan prepared for XI Five Year Plan. The Panchayt Raj Institutions were also involved in identifying the problematic soils.

COST BENEFITS

Sl. No	Crop	Present		Expected
Sl. No	Crop	Yield (Q/Ha)	Income (Rs.)	Yield (Q/Ha)	Income (Rs.)
1.	Paddy	15-20	10500-14000	35-40	24500-28000
2.	Sugarcane	35-40t/ha	38500-44000	100-150	110000-150000
3.	Groundnut	3.5-4.0	7000-8000	7.5-8.5	15000-17000
4.	Jowar	10-12	10000-12000	15-20	15000-20000

SOCIO ECONOMIC BENEFITS

By reclaiming the problematic soils in a phased manner in different regions in the State will lead to many direct and indirect socio economic benefits for the ultimate benefit of the farming community and agricultural labourers. The brief socio economic benefits can be listed as below:-

· Reclamation of lands affected by salinity, alkalinity and waterlogging and improvement of land productivity.

· Increase in the crop productivity and horticultural production in the reclaimed area.

· Increase in the production of fuel wood and fodder.

· Generation of employment opportunities in the rural area and thereby reducing the rural-urban migration.

ABSTRACT SUMMARY

The State needs Rs.300 crores for treatment of 75000 hectares of saline, alkaline and waterlogged soils over a period of five years during XI Five Year Plan period.