From The President's Desk

In this issue

From the Presidents Desk

Conservation in brief

Technological interventions for

coastal soil salinity management

Environmental degradation
some thoughts

Consultation meeting on
soil-health assessment

Conservation agriculture-a step

to reduce carbon footprint

Soil & water conservation

foundation of perpetual
food security

Sustainable agriculture and

food security

Integrated watershed
7
management training programme

International Conference
on Natural Resource
Management for Food
Security & Rural Livelihood
(NRMFRC)

Editorial Board

S O I L

population of our
country is expected to
touch 1.4 billion by 2025
and 1.6 billion by 2050
which is around 33%
increase in population of
the country but on the
contrary per capita surface
water availability and per
capita utilizable surface
water will decline by about
30% by 2050 as compared to present availability of surface water. Presently,
about 60% of the cropped area in the country is rainfed whereas the yield
levels are highly prone to variety of risks.
HE

Under this situation, the diversification of land use systems with

Agroforestry is a necessary strategy for providing variety of products for
fulfilling the need of the people, insurance against risks caused by weather
aberrations, controlling erosion hazards and ensuring sustainable production
on a long-term basis. Agroforestry is the area contributes substantially to
meet the projected needs of the population such as an increase by 1.5 times
in fodder, two times in foodgrains and fuel wood and three times in timber
production. Further, to meet the energy requirement from bio-diesel and to
achieve 20% blending in diesel, a three fold increase in production of biodiesel
will be required. There is a need to promote agroforestry systematically to
meet the requirement of commodities such as timber (85%) biofuel (80%)
and fuelwood (49%) and to some extent for fruits (16%), fodder (10%) and
food grains (9%) in the long run. Hence, there is a need of hour is to improve
smallholder production systems and markets by adopting the following
themes:
Enhancing productivity and sustainability of smallholder Agroforestry
systems including food security and nutritional benefits, through better
management of production systems.
Increasing income generation and market integration for smallholders
through utilizations of Agroforestry options.
Strengthening policies and institutions to enhance social assets and secure
and sustain rights to trees and land.
To find out simple ways to provide financial assistance to small and
marginal farmers adopting Agroforestry and to reward them suitably
for protecting our future generations from the extremes of climate and
provide a clean environment.

C O N S E R V AT I O N

S O C I E T Y

O F

I N D I A

SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION

TODAY

Conservation in brief
J.S. BALI

N the context of Indian field realities

where 80 per cent of farming

done by small and marginal farmers)
some of the more important Soil and
Water Conservation Practices are
recommended as:
Bench Terracing or Land Levelling
of all sloping cultivated land. Build up
soil fertility after fresh Bench Terracing/Land Levelling
by Green Manuring . (Government may band up and
down the slope cultivation of hill lands, and must
subsidize Bench Terracing/Land Levelling for all
farmers, especially those with less than 4 ha of land
holding).
Adopt Conservation Agronomy Practices, especially
Green Manuring and mixed use of farm yard manures
and fertilisers, along with other usual practices.
Horticulture /Afforestation/Grassland Development
of Village Common Lands, by the Panchayats. Choose
the species in consultation with the local villagers so
that the planted vegetation may be of use for them
(especially to meet fodder and fuel wood needs). This
would be a challenging task.
Too many cattle and other livestock and consequent
uncontrolled grazing, need to be managed. (A
hitherto neglected task).
Arrange a Farm Inputs and Agricultural Advisory

Source for each of the 6 lakh villages of India. (Follow

the tried successful models).
Arrange for Irrigation. (A farmer without water is a
barber without his razer, says the well-known
Agricultural Scientist, D. R. Bhumbla ). Build lakhs of
Ponds, micro, small and medium sizes, dug-outs or
on natural sites. Seal the bottom and the sides to
retain water. Provide controlled outlets. Adopt
intensive conservation practices in the pond
catchment).
Adopt Water Management Practices in Command
Areas.
Improve forest condition ( let us see at least 60 per
cent canopy cover) on the 70 million hectares of land
with the Government Forest Departmentsat
present it much less, and planted up with species
which the nearby villagers desire)
Farming in India has become profitless, says the
world-famous agricultural scientist, Prof. M.S.
Swaminathan. Farming is a private enterprise. Who
will adopt the above practices when the whole farming
venture is profitless (with some exceptions).
800 million people out of Indias 1210 million, live in
the villages and depend directly or indirectly on
agriculture for livelihood. What proportion of budget
goes to the uplift of the villages? Vastly less than the
proportional area or population!

Technological interventions for coastal soil salinity management

SANJAY ARORA

OASTAL saline soils occur along

the 6100 km long coastline of
India. Salinity problems in coastal
areas occurred during the process of
their formation under marine
influences and subsequent periodical
inundation with tidal water, and in
case of low lands having proximity to
the sea, due to high watertable with high concentration
of salts in it. The coastal soils exhibit a great deal of diversity
in terms of climate, physiography and physical
characteristics as well as in terms of rich stock of flora and
fauna. These soils comprise deltas, lacustrine fringes,
lagoons, coastal marshes and narrow coastal plains or
terraces along the creeks. About 3.1 million hectares of
coastal soils are widely distributed in the coastal belt of
West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry, Tamil

Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and

Andamans and Nicobar Islands. The coastal soils may be
either saline or acid sulphate in nature. The saline soils
are dominant with NaCl and Na2SO4 with abundance of
soluble cations in the order of Na>Mg>Ca>K and Chloride
as the predominant anion. The major problems
encountered in these areas are:
These lands are subjected to the influence of tidal
waves and periodical inundation by tidal water;
Shallow water table enriched with salt contributes
to increase in soil salinity during winter and summer
months;
Heavy rainfall resulting in excess water during Kharif
season;
Poor surface and subsurface drainage conditions;
Lack of good quality irrigation water and acute salinity
during Rabi season;
Contd. on page 8...

SCSI NEWS JANUARY-MARCH 2014

SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION

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Environmental degradation some thoughts

HE state of environment and problems of degradation

of the earths natural resources are matter of concern
to all human being and more particularly to persons
associated with natural resource management (NRM). The
future of mankind will depend on whether and to what
extent we can conserve the Earth as our habitat.
Environment degradation of the global level has non
assumed proportion that threatens the foundation of
human life and development. Environmental degradation
leave human footprint not only on habitat but also
landscape ecosystem on which survival of mankind depend
on food, fodder, fibre etc. Here ecosystem should be
considered as resource base for any planning.
An ecosystem is a
complex and dynamic
in nature comprising
biotic and abiotic
component. In spatial
term, ecosystem may
be classified as
ecoregions, ecotopes,
catchment areas or
landscape. However, large scale human intervention in
the environment is now threatening the organism we call
earth. The influence of the man can be seen most
profoundly in spatial and temporal pattern of land use.
Over the course of the time, agricultural development,
ecosystems with conditions favourable to cultivation have
been approximated for agricultural use. Since most of the
ecosystem were once forest, their soils are fertile enough
to produce crops without rapid degradation. Even today
people pushing upward and started cultivation on marginal
land (under forest). During the course of development and/
or to feed the burgeoning population, humans started using
external energy (inputs) for maximum harvest from
shrinking resources base causing wide-spread ecological
hazards for atmosphere (greenhouse gases, ozone
depletion etc.), physical, chemical and biological
degradation of soils, water pollution and biological
diversity. Global ecological threat have made it abundantly
clear that the environment crisis is not an isolated
phenomenon, but that affect all areas and levels of society.

The Indian situation is not very safe owing to

large scale degradation of land (nearly 120 million hectare
of TGA). Over the past 50 to 60 years, the focus of
agricultural development and research has mainly been
on maximizing the yield to feed the growing population of
the country.
Although we are proud of green revolution for being
self-sufficient on food front but it is no more sustainable
owing to multifaceted problems (sickness) in soil
environment as this sector also has a major influence on
terrestrial ecosystem services, such as water and carbon
sequestration.
Further the drop in farm induces and using cost of
agricultural inputs has made farming increasingly
unsupportable. For quite some time, it has been observed
that numerous challenges are linked with agricultural
sector because of food and energy crises coupled with
climate change and degradation of natural resources. The
lives of small farmers, fishers and the landless are now
characterised by a complete lack of security owning to
failed harvests, illness and/or accidents as land use planning
is often not sufficiently developed to take into account the
floods, earthquakes, storms, anthropogenic hazards.
For proposing ecological planning (environmental
system) it is necessary to take holistic view by
understanding interaction among physical settings,
political and administrative structures; economy, market;
demographic and social structure, value and norms. To
achieve the goal are has to go in participatory mode
became process of dialogue (in proposed system) are
characterised by built-in conflict because different
interests, perceptions and conflicting claims will all clash
with one another. Efforts at dialogue must include the
establishment of mechanisms to ensure that enough
attention is given to the grass-root level otherwise planned
programme will not see light for it success. These are very
crucial in watershed planning. As social system and cultural
values and norms are of special importance in conserving
ecosystem. Further along with depletion of natural
resources, loss of cultural identity must also been seen as
part of widespread process of impoverishment that is
affecting many people.

Consultation meeting on soil-health assessment

A national level consultation meeting was also held on Soil-health Assessment at Bhopal on 26 February 2014. The meeting
envisaged identifying minimum data set for assessment of soil quality, proposing methodology for estimating soil quality
indices, establishing threshold levels for soil quality, which would serve as tools in developing strategies for soil-health
management and identify management sensitive indicators in relation to input use efficiency and food security.
Dr A.K. Sikka (DDG, NRM) stressed on partnerships, policy, institutional support and location-specific technologies to reach
to the teeming millions of the country. He also called for finding the best ways and means for reconciliation of past data to
give a unified picture from the institute and streamlining and fine-tuning sampling plan and analysis for soil mapping.
Courtsey: www.icar.org.in

SCSI NEWS JANUARY-MARCH 2014

SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION

TODAY

Conservation agriculture-a step to reduce carbon footprint

DARPAN CHHABRA

Agriculture (CA) is based on three

principles that enhance natural biological processes,
allowing farmers to better conserve soil and water
resources while reducing labour and fuel costs as given
below:
Minimize mechanical soil disturbance from ploughing
or harrowing to maintain soil fertility, prevent soil
erosion and the loss of soil-stored moisture.
Retain an adequate amount of stubble and straw,
and sow seed directly through the permanent ground
cover using specialized zero-till or direct seeding
machines to open a narrow slot or trench in otherwise
unprepared soil.
Diversify annual crop rotations (or intercropping) to
soil fertility and control pests and diseases. (Winter
2013: PARTNERS in research for development: the
DRYLAND agriculture REVOLUTION).

Carbon footprint tally chart:

Conservation Agriculture from the perception of

Reducing Carbon Footprint

Urea
250 kg/ha
(Conventional)

~450 kgCO2e/ha

CA defines the technological solutions to cope up with

decreasing agricultural productivity by practicing time and
money saving agricultural productivity enhancement tools.
From the perspective of reducing carbon footprint these
tools also invite carbon slashing during tillage, using
chemical fertilizers and blazing crop fields.

FPJ (CA)

~0

ONSERVATION

Why to practice CA?

CA is an important tool to minimize carbon footprint.
Features of CA acting to reduce carbon footprint:
Process

Feature

Seed sowing by no
tilling method
Fertilizers

Use direct seed drillers.

E.g., Happy Seeder
Application of Fermented
Plant Juices (FPJ)s

Seed varieties

Using improved varieties

of seeds

Seed sowing pattern

Mixed cropping

Tilling

No tillage

Seed Drilling
methods

Type of fuel
consumed &
area
Diesel: 8 liters@
per hectare
3 liters @ & per
hectare,
respectively
Diesel: 8 liters@
per hectare

Shred stalks
and field
cultivation
by tractor
(Conventional)
Happy seeder
(CA)

Carbon
emissions/ha
of farm land
~20.8 & ~13.0
KgCO2e/ha
~33.8
KgCO2e/ha
~20.8
KgCO2e/ha

Fertilizers
CA encourages FPJs rather than chemicals like urea.
Carbon footprint tally chart:
Fertilizer

Amount used/ha Carbon emission/ha

1 liter/ha

Seed varieties
Improved varieties comprises of composite varieties
which require less water thus saving the water
consumption. Pumping hours are reduced thereby
reducing carbon footprint.
Carbon footprint tally chart:
Crop seed type

Fuel consumed for

4 hours pumping
per day @ 3 months
crop season/ha

Carbon
emissions

Indigenous
(Conventional)

~50 liters for 4 hours

pumping per day @
3 months/ha=
~4500 liters
~20 liters for 4 hours
pumping per day @
3 months/ha=
~2250 liters

~14242
kgCO2e/ha

Improved seed
varieties (CA)

~7121
kgCO2e/ha

Seed sowing by no tilling method

Cropping pattern

CA is a no-tillage based technique. It utilizes direct

seed drillers- Happy Seeder practiced in Punjab, rather
than tilling operation which consumes more power in the
operations shred stalks, field cultivation, spring tooth
harrow.

Mixed cropping invites less water pumping hours in

comparison to single cropping. 2 crops grown in single
season has to suffer two times water requirements
in comparison to 1 time water requirement in case of
2 crops grown at single time.

SCSI NEWS JANUARY-MARCH 2014

SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION

TODAY

Carbon footprint tally chart:

Carbon footprint tally chart:

Crop pattern

Pumping hours per

season/ha

Carbon
emissions

Single cropping ~50 liters for 4 hours

~14242
(conventional) pumping per day @ 3
kgCO2e/ha
months/ha=~4500 liters
Mixed cropping ~20 liters for 4 hours
~7121
(CA)
pumping per day @ 3
kgCO2e/ha
months/ha=~2250 liters

Tilling
Straws are not burned in CA as happy seeder directly
drills the seed into the ground. Thus an ample amount of
GHGs emissions is cut off.

Tilling method

Amount of
straw burned
/ha

Carbon
emission
/ha

Tilling done by
burning straw

600 kg

~240 kgCO2e
/ha

No tilling

0 kg

0 kgCO2e/ha

Thus CA features proved that it reduces carbon

footprint.
In 2011, CA was practiced on about 110 million
hectares of farm land worldwide. This includes mixed
farming and seed drilling methods.

Soil & water conservation foundation of perpetual food security

O.P. CHOUDHARY

OIL and

water promote biological

activity in the top productive
zone of land, and make it fit to grow
plants on which human food security
depends. Effectively managing the
rainfall and water flow on the land,
which will prevent soil erosion and
promote and maintain a biologically
alive and active soil medium should
be utmost priority of the concerned authorities in the
country. In India, the soil & water conservation is in
practice for more than six decades. Earlier, the field
practices adopted for soil and water conservation were
afforestation of the sandy Shivalik mountains, and torrent
bed and bank treatment. The practice of watt-bandi (field
bund strengthening) was also promoted. Stream banks
were planted with conservation vegetation like
Arundodonax, lpomea cornea. Lannea grandis and others.
Grassing of newly constructed bunds was promoted with
grasses like Cynodon dactylon, Cynodon plectostachium,
Chloris gayana, Para grass and others. Check dams and
revetments were built in the beds and on the banks of
streams and torrents in their eroding reaches.
The largest conservation effort was, however, made
in the Deccan Plateau, especially in the erstwhile Bombay
Province. Field bunds were built on a large scale to
conserve the scanty rainfall. Spillways, duly designed,
were, however, absent. The result was widespread
breaches in the field bunds. An Enquiry Committee was
asked to investigate and suggest modification in the field
practices. This Enquiry resulted in the start of now wellknown Contour Bunding programme. Well-designed
spillways were also built in the bunds. Field to field drainage
was confined to small areas, which they called selfdefended catchments. Soil erosion research was started
at Sholapur in Maharashtra under Dr. J.K. Basu.
Maharashtra experience was extended to the rest of India,
with modifications, after independence.

Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) was the first in

the country to start, in 1949-50, a multi-disciplinary
Department of Soil Conservation with technical officers of
various disciplines like Engineering, Forestry, Agronomy
and Extension. DVCs Research Station at Deochanda did
valuable research in land use management. This writer
happened to be one of the few first conservationists of
the DVC. Land use planning and reclamation were
systematically attempted. Wastelands were surveyed for
soil resources and reclaimed through bench terraces with
heavy earth moving machines, for rehabilitation of the
farmers, ousted by submergence by the high dams on the
Damodar river and its tributaries like barakar and Konar.
Soil Conservation Research, Demonstration and Training
Centres were started by the Government of India at Dehradun
for Gazetted Officers and at other places like Ootacamund,
Bellary, Kota, Vasad, Chandigarh and Agra, for the Assistant
level staff. These Centres had multi-disciplinary staff like
conservation engineers, soil scientists, agronomists and forest
specialists. These Research Centres later developed into the
present Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and
Training Institute, Dehradun. States were persuaded to utilize
the trained personnel by statting wings or full-fledged
departments of soil and water conservation.
The two most important field practices for
agricultural land of 180 million hectares (140 m ha of annual
sown area plus culturable waste land and fallows) in India
would be land levelling and water development. Land
levelling operation should gather the top soil first,
level the land, and re-spread the saved top soil. Water
development should concentrate upon ground water
first and provide an electric or diesel pump set to each
farmer, so that he has control over the water applied.
Indiscriminate irrigation has created problems of water
logging and salinity on a vast scale. Drainage is a neglected
subject which must receive more attention.
Restructuring of agriculture should be an urgent policy
programme today. Land in each State should be grouped.
SCSI NEWS JANUARY-MARCH 2014

SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION

TODAY

Sustainable agriculture and food security

SHAMSHER SINGH

if physical and economic

access to food is assured,
ecological factors which are directly
linked to pace and process of
agriculture development will
determine
the
long-term
sustainability of food security
systems. Therefore, there is a need
to revitalise agriculture, restore the natural resource base
and provide for sustainable livelihoods. Any development
alternative to ensure long-term food security has to be
linked to sustainable agriculture.
The important forces which directly affect the
problem of food security and sustainable development of
agriculture in the country are:
VEN

Technological changes

role of females in agriculture, and the decreasing cost of

capital inputs relative to labour, the nature of farming are
changing rapidly in many developing countries. Small-scale
family farms, traditionally the backbone of much of
developing-country agriculture, are under threat. The reverse
land leasing practices (land leasing in by large farmers and
leasing out by small farmers) in the labour scares and
prosperous states are the ample evidences for this change.

Policy reforms
It is increasingly believed that climate change is
leading to more frequent and more severe natural disasters
leading to the severe strain on farm income. Natural
calamities not only affect the current year income but
also leave little to invest in subsequent years. Therefore,
the future agricultural policies must focus on finding ways
to keep agriculture productive as climate change continues.

The bio-chemical technology introduced in the midsixties has been the major exogenous technological change
witnessed by Indian agriculture. No doubt, India has
emerged from a food deficit to self-sufficient status.
However, the benefits of the green revolution have come
with high costs. A lot of data and information are now
available that underscores the alarming degree to which
current patterns of production are impoverishing and
destabilising the natural resources and environment and
thereby undermining the prospects of future generations.
However, the gain of technological changes cannot be
ignored. Now the country requires a sweeping technological
change. Technological advances in molecular biology,
energy, and information and communications have the
potential to help achieve food security for poor people and
make natural resource management more sustainable.

Continued unrest

Degradation and depletion of natural resources

Liberalisation increases competition and thereby

competence. It also provide new opportunities needed
for broad-based economic growth and poverty alleviation.
However, to make best use of opportunities and to convert
threat too in to opportunity, require constant watch
supported by right policies and institutions at both national
and regional levels. To see that the benefits of
globalization and liberalisation reaches to the poor section
of society need policy support.

Agriculture resources in several areas have been

severely degraded and depleted. Sign of agro-ecosystem
stress and even of its break down are visible here and
there. Degradation of natural resources is rampant in
many resource-poor areas of developing countries. To be
sustainable, food security solutions must address natural
resource issues effectively.

Human health
The human health problems such as chronic diseases
not only destroy human lives, but also impoverish millions
of people by raising the cost of health care, and cause
severe shortages of productive workers.

Urbanisation
The problem of food insecurity and malnutrition is
not only confined to rural areas. Future policy actions must
pay increasing attention to growing poverty, food
insecurity, and malnutrition in urban areas. By 2020 about
half of the people will live in urban areas.

The changing priority for farming

With the aging of the farm population, the increasing
6

SCSI NEWS JANUARY-MARCH 2014

Violent conflicts continue to cause human misery and

eat away sufficient amount of development resources.
Achieving sustainable food security for all will not be
possible in the midst of unrest and conflict.

Infrastructure facilities and policy support

With the economic liberalisation business and industry,
and non-government organisations are undertaking many
activities previously performed by the national/state
governments. Government is trying to minimise its role
giving space for the private players. However, government
must retain its capacity to perform the functions that only
they can do, such as ensuring the rule of law and developing
nationwide infrastructure.

Accelerating trade liberalization

Steps to be undertaken
It is often argued that sustainability can produce
better food crops but not better yield but it is forgotten
that sustainable and integrated farming systems give far
better results in the long run when they employ traditional
inputs like intensive labour, mixed cropping, water
harvesting techniques and use of organic manure and
pesticides. Along with increased agricultural production
rapid economic growth is essential for achieving sustainable
food security for all. The challenge is to achieve the growth
in a way that benefits the poor-pro poor economic growth.
The specific policies that will be most appropriate will vary
according to local and national circumstances.

SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION

TODAY

Integrated watershed management

training programme

the immense scope for improving land

productivity for enhancing the agriculture production
in the state through integrated watershed farming
systems approach by implementation of the IWMP project
in the state, the Soil Conservation Society of India organised
one day training programme on Integrated Watershed
Management on 3 rd February, 2014 at Nefdi House,
Guwahati. The state Govt. sponsored 30 Senior Officers
working in different divisions of the Soil Conservation in
the state. The programme was inaugurated by Shri S. Thiek,
Addl. Secretary, Soil Conservation and CEO to SLNA IWMP,
Govt. of Assam. It was emphasised that there is a need
of such training programme under the IWMP project in
the state.
ONSIDERING

The Key note address was delivered by Dr Suraj Bhan,

President of Soil Conservation Society of India. It was
stressed by him that the Land degradation is a major threat
to our food and environment security and the extent of
degradation problems are more pronounced in rainfed
regions. Large potential of rainfed agriculture is untapped
largely due to lack of enabling policy support and
investments. In drought-prone rainfed areas, watershed
management has shown the potential of doubling the
agricultural productivity, increase in water availability, and
restoration of ecological balance in the degraded rainfed
ecosystems by greening these areas and diversification of
cropping farming systems. Impact of various watershed
programmes can be substantially enhanced by developing
new approaches and enabling policies new paradigm
based on learning over last 30 years for people-centric
holistic watershed management involving convergence,
collective action, and consortium approach, capacity
development to address equity, efficiency, environment
and economic concerns is urgently needed. However, this
can be used as entry point activity for improving livelihood
for rural community.
Government of India has launched various centresector, state-sector and foreign aided schemes for

prevention of land
degradation, reclamation
of special problem areas for
ensuring productivity of
the land, preservation of
land resources and
improvement of ecology
and environment. These
schemes are being
implemented
on
watershed basis in rainfed
areas. Soil conservation
measures and reclamation of degraded lands are decided
considering the land capability and land uses. The efforts
made so far resulted in enhancement of agricultural
production and productivity of lands, increase in
employment generation, improving the environment of
the areas and socio-economic upgradation of the people.
Integrated watershed management approach has been
adopted as a key national strategy for sustainable
development of rural areas.
The training was organized at Assam, for Junior/
middle officers of Assam Govt. in Seminar Hall of Nedfi
House, Guwahati from February 4-6, 2014. The training
program was sponsored by NRAA organized by SCSI, Delhi.
The program was conducted as per the approved
training programme on from 4-6th February, 2014 at Nefdi
House, Guwahati. The state Govt. Sponsored 30 Junior/
Middle Officers from different divisions of the Soil
Conservation in the state. In the forenoon on the 1st day
three lectures followed by 2 lectures of the day. The Second
day four lectures were delivered by the resource person
and afternoon three lectures were delivered to the
participants followed by the discussion among the
participants. The third day training programme two
lectures in the forenoon were delivered by the resource
person followed by feedback from the participants and
technical discussion.

SCSI NEWS JANUARY-MARCH 2014

SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION

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...Contd. from page 2

Poor socio-economic conditions of the farming

community limiting introduction of high investment
technologies.
Salt affected soils coming under panchayat lands,
community lands and government owned lands reserved
for specific purposes can be profitably used for the
cultivation of salt tolerant woody biomass species which
would yield value-added materials like timber, fodder,
food, pharmaceuticals which in turn add to the national
economy. Reclamation of such lands for crop production
is posing problems owing to common property rights. For
afforestation of such lands plants like Prosopis juliflora,
Acacia nilotica, Eucalyptus tereticornis and Tamarix
articulata which would yield appreciable amounts of
biomass are ideal.
In addition to biomass production, these tree species
would help in ameliorating soils by improving soil physical,
chemical and biological properties of the soil. Leguminous
tree species like Prosopis juliflora and Acacia nilotica
ameliorate alkali soils at a much faster rate than nonleguminous plants.
Salt affected soils, which pose serious threat to the
economy of the coastal states. While soils with low and
moderate salinity have been put under cultivation, highly
saline black soils by and large remain either barren
or possess some native hardy species. Thus, for the

management
of
moderate to highly
saline soils, agrotechnology for the
cultivation
of
economically
important and salt
tolerant halophyte
has been effective.
Salvadora
persica L. (Meswak),
a
facultative
halophyte which is a
potential source for
seed oil has been identified as a predominant species in
highly saline habitats of coastal and inland black soils. This
species is a medicinal plant of great value and its bark
contains resins and an alkaloid called Salvadoricine. The
seeds are good source of non-edible oil rich in fatty acids
having immense applications in soap and detergent
industry. Some important halophyte species which can be
used in Biosaline agriculture programmes are Salvadora
persica, Salicornia brachiata, Cressa cretica, Aeluropus
lagopoides, Sprorobolus airoides, Eragrostis species.
These species not only thrive well and can use both saline
soils and saline water for economic production and
environmental regreening.
Such soils can also be profitably used for production
of economically important products such as timber, fodder,
fuel, pharmaceuticals. Arable use of these soils is only
possible under careful irrigation management or in the
more humid regions, where salt tolerant crops such as
rice, millet or palms can be grown as well as salt tolerant
forage species and biomass species.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR
FOOD SECURITY & RURAL LIVELIHOOD (NRMFRC)
10-13 February 2015
Venue
National Agricultural Science Centre (NASC) Complex,
Dev Prakash Shastri Marg, Pusa, New Delhi 110 012
Organized by
Soil Conservation Society of India
New Delhi

Editorial Board
Suraj Bhan
V K Bharti
Sanjay Arora
Jagatveer Singh
Advisor, J S Bali

Advisory Board
D N Tiwari
J S Samra
J S Bali
A K Sikka
Suraj Bhan

Published by Secretary General, Soil Conservation Society of India, National Societies Block A/G-4, National Agricultural Science
Centre (NASC) Complex, Dev Prakash Shastri Marg, Pusa, New Delhi 110 012; Tel.: 011-25848244; Telefax: 25848244;
e-mail: soilcsi@gmail.com, bhan_suraj1945@yahoo.com; Website: www.soilcsi.in
Laser typeset by M/s Dot & Design, New Delhi (dotdesign2011@gmail.com) and printed at M/s Chandu Press, Delhi 110 092
(chandupress@gmail.com)
8

SCSI NEWS JANUARY-MARCH 2014