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National Soil and Land Use Policy-

for serving farmers and
safeguarding Agriculture
 National Soil and Land Use Policy – for Serving Farmers and Safeguarding
Agriculture
About the Policy Document:

The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) as per their letter No.
NAAS/VI.70 (ii)/18/87 dated July 10, 2018 constituted the Core Group, for preparing a National
Soil and Land Use Policy at the behest of the Ministry of Agriculture and farmers Welfare, Govt.
of India.

The Core Group had four regional consultation meetings with Agricultural Scientists
from NARS, representatives from line departments and progressive farmers at Bengaluru,
Kolkata, Bhopal and New Delhi. This report is an outcome of these consultations and the
deliberations of this Core Group on this subject.

Out of the geographical area of 329 million hectares, the current level of net sown area in
India is about 140±2 million hectares, which was only 119 million hectares in 1950-51. In view
of the multiple and competing requirements of the land for developmental needs of other sectors
of economic growth, further scope of increasing the area under cultivation in future to meet the
growing needs of food grains and other agricultural commodities is limited and negligible.

In the agricultural sector, the number of operational farm holdings increased from 71
million to 138 million from the period 1970-71 to 2010-11, due to fragmentation of farm lands.
During 2010-11, the share of marginal (<1 ha) and small (1-2 ha) farm holdings to the total
number of holdings was of the order of 85 per cent. The per capita availability of land has
decreased from 0.91 ha in 1951 to 0.19 ha in 2001, and is expected to be only 0.15 ha by 2050.

The population of the country which was 361 million in 1950-51 has reached 1358
million (estimated) in 2018, and is expected to stabilize between 1680 and 1700 million by 2050.

It is estimated that the extent of land degradation of various kinds (erosion, physical,
chemical, fertility depletion, waste lands etc.) is about 36 per cent (120 m ha) of the geographical
area of the country. Combating land degradation and fragmentation of land holdings, protecting
the top soil from erosion, building-up and maintaining soil fertility and adoption of best and
sustainable farm practices in land, crop and water management are the only crucial pathways for
sustainable agriculture, food and nutritional security and evergreen revolution.

A sound National Soil and Land Use Policy and land care practices are basic and fundamental to
enduring and sustainable agriculture.

The proposed National Soil and Land Use Policy framework envisages that the crop, land
and water management are carried out in the best possible scientific manner without any adverse
effects/impacts, so that their inherent use potential is handed over undiminished to the posterity.
The ultimate goal is “Greening India”, of farm lands, grazing lands, pastures and non-arable
urban lands leading to sustainable land use systems and environment security.

To achieve this vision and sustain its goal, recommendations in the areas of policy
measures, structural reforms, operational interventions and regulations are made for initiating
and strengthening appropriate action programmes by all the stakeholders.

M. Velayutham
Chairman

A. K. Singh D. M. Hegde
Member Member

V. Ramamurthy B. S. Dwivedi
Member Member Secretary
 Acknowledgement
The Chairman and members of the Core Group are grateful to the president of the National
Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dr. Panjab Singh for constituting and assigning the task/role
of formulating a “ National Soil and Land Use Policy”, at the behest of the Ministry of
Agriculture and Farmer welfare Govt. of India .

The Core Group benefitted from the contribution and participation by a large number of
scientists of NARS, line departments of the states and the central Governments and progressive
farmers during the regional consultation meetings held at Bengaluru, Kolkota, Bhopal and New
Delhi. We are thankful to all of them for their inputs and active discussion on the above theme
during the consultations.

We thank the Director, NBSS&LUP, Dr. S.K.Singh and Heads of the Regional centre,
Bengaluru and Kolkata and Dr.K.K.Singh, Director, ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural
Engineering, Bhopal for providing us all the facilities for the Core Group meetings held at the
Bengaluru, Kolkata and at Bhopal. Special thanks to Dr. Rajendra Hegde, Head, ICAR-
NBSS&LUP Regional Centre, Bengaluru for providing all the facilities for the Core Group
meetings held during the period of the preparation of draft policy document.

The help provided by the staff of the Secretariat, NAAS, New Delhi is gratefully acknowledged.
 CONTENTS
No. Content Page no.
1.0 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Land and Soil as Natural Resources 2
1.2 Population and Food security 3
1.3 Vision, Rationale and objectives of National Soil and Land Use policy 5
1.3.1. Vision Statement 5
1.3.2. Rationale 5
1.3.3. Objectives 6
2.0 AGRO-ECOSYSTEMS, LAND, SOIL AND WATER RESOURCES 7
2.1 Agro-eco systems 7
2.1.1. Arid Agro-ecosystem 7
2.1.2. Semiarid Agro-ecosystem 7
2.1.3. Sub-humid Agro-ecosystem 7
2.1.4. Humid to Per-humid Agro-ecosystem 7
2.1.5. Coastal and Island Agro-ecosystem 8
2.2. Status of Land Resources 8
2.3 Changes in Land Use Patterns over Time 10
2.4 Land Holdings 12
2.5 Land Degradation 12
2.5.1. Land degradation due to erosion, physical and chemical degradation 12
2.5.2. Soil/Land conservation for arresting water erosion of top soil 15
2.5.3. Land degradation in North Eastern Region 16
2.5.4. Land degradation in Coastal Region 17
2.5.5. Non-forest public degraded lands 17
2.6 Soil Resources 18
2.6.1. Soil health and its maintenance 18
2.6.2. Soil quarrying 20
2.6.3. Crop residue burning and inadequate organic manure inputs 21
2.6.4. Management of salt affected soils 21
2.6.5. Management of acid soils 21
2.6.6. Management of calcareous soils 22
2.7 Water Resources 23
2.7.1. Rain water Resource 24
2.7.2. Surface water sources 25
2.7.3. Ground Water Resources 26
2.7.4. Waste water, its recycling and utilization 27
2.7.5. Rainfed agriculture 27
2.7.6. Irrigated Agriculture 28
2.8 Use of ICTs in soil and land use management 29
2.9 Crops and Cropping Systems 29
2.9.1. Area under different crops 29
2.9.2. Productivity of principal crops 30
2.9.3. Extent of different crops to total cropped area 30
2.9.4. Cropping and Farming systems 31
2.10 Energy input in Agriculture 34
2.11 Augmenting supply of renewable energy resources 35
2.12 Climate change 35
3.0 NATIONAL SOIL AND LAND USE POLICY FRAME WORK 37
Reference 46
 LIST OF TABLES
No. Title Page
1 Present production and projected demand for agricultural commodities by 2050 4
2 Trends in Land use pattern in India (’000 ha) 9
3 Projected land resource and per capita availability 10
4 Changes in different categories of land in India, 1950-2014 (000 ha) 11
5 Decadal changes in Number of operational holdings 12
6 Extent of degraded and wastelands in India 13
7 Economic losses from land degradation and change of land use 15
8 Soil groups of India and their distribution 19
9 Sectoral water requirement in India (BCM) 23
10 Per capita availability of water 24
11 Distribution of area by annual rainfall in India 24
12 Area under different crops (m ha)-temporal change 30
13 Productivity (kg/ha) of principal crops 31
14 Extent (%) of different crops to total cropped area in India (1950-51 to 2014-15) 32

LIST OF FIGURES
No. Title Page
1 Potential soil erosion map of India 14
2 Ground water resource scenario in India 26
National Soil and Land Use Policy- for serving farmers and
safeguarding Agriculture

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Geographically India is the seventh largest country in the world with 328.73 m ha land area.
In 2011, India’s population reached 121 crore, about 17 % of the world population while the net
sown area was about 140 m ha in 2014-15, about 0.12 ha per capita, and just half of the world
average of 0.23 ha (GoI, 2015). This problem of limited availability of land has been
compounded by growth in population, urbanisation and diversion of productive agricultural land
for non-agriculture purposes. During the last two decades, India’s population has increased by
about 18.4 crores, while the total agricultural land has decreased by about 3.2 m ha. According to
the recent Land Use Statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, a total
agricultural land of nearly 3.16 m ha (1.5 lakh ha/ year) was lost to other sectors in the years
between Triennium Ending (TE) 1991-92 and TE 2012-13 (GoI, 2015). On the other hand, area
under non-agricultural uses has increased by over five m ha (21.3 m ha to 26.4 m ha) during the
same period.
With increasing urbanization, industrialization with focus on Make in India and need for
creation of infrastructure such as roads, railways, irrigation, there is no doubt that these
developments will continue to have positive impact on the Indian economy. One of the
consequences is that these initiatives require more land and there is a general fear that it might
encroach upon agricultural land, particularly the fertile lands in both rural and urban areas.
Hence, the conflict between declining availability of agricultural land and population increase, as
well as more requirement of land for industrial and infrastructure development has assumed
conflict of interest among different sectors of national development. However, the issue has
become more complex due to widely varied perceptions about the extent of diversion of
agricultural land and the causes and socio-economic consequences of loss of agricultural land. In
recent times, it is a common perception that large-scale diversion of agricultural land to non-
agricultural uses has occurred and the issue of acquisition of large tracts of fertile lands for such
purposes has become a major socio-economic issue.

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 India has been experiencing rapid urbanization over the last few decades, which accelerated
during the last decade (GoI, 2011). In 1981, the proportion of urban population in the country
was 23.4 %, which marginally increased and reached 25.7 % in 1991 and 27.8 % in 2001 (4.4%
increase). However, between 2001 and 2011, the proportion of urban population increased from
27.8 % to 31.2 % (an increase of 3.4%). In order to give a boost to manufacturing, increase
exports and create employment opportunities, government announced Special Economic Zone
(SEZ) policy in April 2000 and Special Economic Zones Act. 2005 was passed by the Parliament
in 2005. After SEZ Act in 2005, 491 formal approvals have been granted for setting up of SEZs,
out of which 352 have been notified and are at various stages of operations. About 56,067 ha
land has been acquired for formally approved SEZs in the country as on December 31, 2014
(GoI, 2015a) with focus on the manufacturing sector.

1.1. Land and Soil as Natural Resources

Land as a natural resource is scarce, finite, productive and decisive in determining
individual’s economic status, social standing, Nation’s political strength and key to economic
development with social justice. Land is also the focus of conflict between a wide range of land
uses including agriculture, mining, forestry, rural and urban civic facilities, industrial
development and biosphere protection. Competition among users grows more under increasing
population pressure and in countries with a mixed economy. Decision making on land allocation
and use options is therefore a current problem of modern societies.
Ever since independence, India's planners and Policy makers have shown concern for
efficient use of land, water and other natural resources for accelerated as well as sustainable
economic development. The questions of efficiency, equity and environment protection have
been flagged in almost all Five Year Plans. However, notwithstanding these concerns, it is often
reported that the problems of land degradation, land and water pollution and groundwater
depletion have assumed serious proportions in many areas which threaten the sustainability of
agriculture, soil health, livelihood system of the people and quality of the environment.
Soil is one of the resources of Earth, on which the human civilization survives. It is a
resource of common interest, although mainly private owned, and failure to protect it will
undermine sustainability and long term competitiveness of our country in the trade of
agricultural raw materials and finished produces and products. Today it is under increasing threat
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from several anthropogenic activities like intensive agricultural practices, mining, brick making,
industrial activities, infrastructure needs, transport and urban development, tourism etc. These
activities are damaging the capacity of soil to continue to perform in full in its broad variety of
crucial eco-system functions. Moreover, soil degradation has strong impacts on other areas of
common interest to the community, such as food and water safety, human health, climate change,
and biodiversity protection.
1.2 Population and Food security
India has high population pressure on land and other resources to meet its food and
development needs. The natural resource base of land, water and biodiversity is under severe
pressure. Food and nutritional security of India is threatened by two issues viz., severe decline in
the health and productivity of the soil leading to decline in total factor productivity, low nutrient
content in the food, poor health of the crops predisposing them to severe insect-pest and diseases
and ultimately resulting in poor health of human beings and permanent loss of good agricultural
lands to other sectors. Fast declining factor productivity in major cropping systems and rapidly
shrinking resource base pose big challenge to meet the demand of agricultural commodities
requirement projected for 2050 (Table 1).
It has been estimated that to meet the diverse demands of the population by 2050 given in
table 1, land productivity has to be increased 4 times, water productivity by 3 times and labour
productivity by 6 times and all that has to be executed with low carbon emission technology with
the smallest of ecological foot prints (Chand, 2012). The shrinking size of farm holdings in India
is another major constraint. The land being used for agriculture has to cater not only to provide
food and fibre for the human population but also feed and fodder for the 15% of world’s
livestock population present in India. The demand of the industrial sector for non-food items as
raw material is also increasing at a fast pace like biofuels, bio-degradable substitutes for plastics,
guar to name a few.
In India, food production has increased by 400% over the past 65 years, mainly as a result of
improving yield outputs due to HYV seeds, adequate fertilizer supplies, improvement of
irrigation techniques and extension of irrigable areas, in combination with adapted multi-
cropping options and creation of large storage facilities. Per capita food availability has increased
from 395 g/day in 1951 to 510 g/day in 1991 and then decreased to 487 g/day in 2016.

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 India’s population which is 130 million at present, which is expected to stabilize between
1680 and 1700 million by 2050. Currently, India is self-reliant in almost all the major
agricultural commodities except oilseeds. The agricultural sector is also the net earner of foreign
exchange. By 2050, India needs to step up production of all agricultural commodities by around
30% in food grains and to more than 300% in oilseeds. This increase will be necessitated to meet
the needs of increased population and rising living standards. To achieve this higher demand of
agricultural commodities, the most suitable strategy seems to be achieved by improvement in
productivity, increase in area sown more than once by increasing cropping intensity, preserving
potential prime agricultural lands and adoption of best soil and land care management practices.
It has been estimated that with present level of productivity, country needs 51 and 57.3 m ha of
land for rice in the year 2030 and 2050 and the corrosponding area of wheat is projected to be 41
and 50 million hectare. The total area requirement for food grain production in the target year of
2030 and 2050 is estimated to be 151 and 175.6 m ha as per the current scenerio of production.
However, by growing of suitable crops in “potential areas” identified for crops and cropping
systems based on land evaluation and matching crop and soil suitability and by adoption of best
management practices, the country may requires 89 and 103 m ha land area to produce targeted
foodgrains for the years 2030 and 2050 respectively. (Mandal et. al., 2001; Naidu et. al., 2017
and Ramamurthy et al, 2018)

Table 1. Present production and projected demand for agricultural commodities by 2050
Commodity Present area (m ha) Present production (m t) Projected demand
(2016-17) (2016-17) (m t) (2050)
Cereals 98.6 252.7 358.7
Pulses 29.5 22.9 46.3
Food grains 128.1 275.7 405.0
Oilseeds 26.2 32.1 102.1
Sugarcane 4.4 306.7 660.0
Cotton* 10.8 33.1 117
Vegetables 10.3 178.2 342.2
Fruits 6.4 93.0 305.3
Milk -- 163.7 401.4
Meat -- 7.4 13.8
Eggs (billion) -- 87.0 183.9
Fish -- 11.4 22.4
* Seed cotton production

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1.3 Vision, Rationale and objectives of National Soil and Land Use policy
1.3.1 Vision Statement: The vision of the National Soil and Land Use Policy (NSLUP) is to
ensure food and nutritional security, water security and livelihood security through the adoption
of best soil, land, water and crop management practices to achieve the developmental targets and
long term use of these resources on a sustainable basis so as to handover the quality of these
resources undiminished/improved to the prosterity.
1.3.2. Rationale: The Government of India constituted Commission for Agricultural Costs and
Prices (1965), National Commission on Agriculture (1976), National Commission on Cattle
(2002) and National Commission on Farmers (2007) to provide meaningful real income levels to
farmers, essential agricultural commodities at reasonable prices to the consumers and to suggest
ways and means to improve productivity of all sub-sectors of agriculture with inclusive growth
of farmers and all regions. In view of the above commission’s recommendations, Government of
India has formulated a policy framework in the related sectors such as (i) National Water
Policy,1987; (ii) National Land Use Policy Outlines, 1988; (iii) National Forest Policy, 1988;
(iv) National Livestock Policy Perspective,1996; (v) National Agricultural Policy, 2000; (vi)
National Population Policy, 2000; (vii) National Policy for Farmers, 2007; (viii) National Food
Security Act, 2013; (ix) National Land Reforms Policy, 2013; (x) National Land Utilization
Policy, 2013 (xi) National Nutrition Strategy, 2014, (xii) National Agroforestry Policy, 2014
and accordingly have initiated several mission-mode programmes and special programmes to
achieve the stated objectives.
It is urgent and necessary to formulate a “National Soil and Land Use Policy” for the
following reasons.
a) To arrest soil and land degradation towards land degradation neutrality
b) For rational allocation of land based on its potentials for different uses
c) For ensuring a viable farm holding size and
d) For ensuring food, nutritional, water and livelihood security
The proposed National Soil and Land Use Policy frame work envisages use of different
kinds of lands and soils in different agro-ecosystems based on their potential uses for different
purposes like agriculture, inland fisheries, urbanization, infrastructure, ecosystem services,

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tourism etc. in accordance with the objectives of the Policy in harmony with provisions and
implementation of the existing related policies and laws.
1.3.3. Objectives: The objective of the National Soil and Land Use policy is to ensure optimal
utilization of the limited land resources in India for achieving sustainable development,
addressing social, economic and environmental considerations and to provide framework for
states to formulate their respective land utilization policies incorporating state-specific concerns
and priorities to achieve both short-term and long-term objectives. Keeping the above in view,
the objectives of soil and land use policy cover the following aspects:
• To protect and conserve of natural resources, environment and cultural heritage areas.
• Promote sustainable soil and land use management through improvement of soil health,
reclamation of problematic soils and their best utilization.
• To introduce zoning system in order to make demarcation of land and water bodies
according to rational criteria for use and management.
• To delineate special agricultural zone/prime agricultural lands/specific commodity zones
at state/ region/district level, which should not be diverted to non-agricultural purposes.
• To develop sustainable soil management guidelines to realize the productivity potential
of soils put to various types of land uses.
• To prevent soil and water pollution in order to ensure environment friendly land
utilization.
• To conserve national forest resources, reduce river erosion and sea erosion in the coastal
areas.
• To prevent cutting trees and levelling of hills particularly in hill and mountain ecosystem
areas so as to protect fragile environment.
• To propose appropriate legislation for effective implementation of NSLUP
recommendations, create awareness of all concerned to the need of conservation and
adverse consequences of soil degradation and needs for conservation and control
speculative trading of land by the land grabbers.
• To create and improve the capability of national institutions to achieve these aims
through awareness, capacity building and large scale on-farm demonstration programmes
on improved management of natural resources.

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2.0 AGRO-ECOSYSTEMS, LAND, SOIL AND WATER RESOURCES
2.1 Agro-eco systems
The use of land for agriculture and its potential productivity is determined by the agro-
ecosystem and its constituent soils and their properties. For ecosystem-based land, soil and water
resources and their management for agriculture development, five distinct agro ecosystems
which differ from one another in terms of their production potential, are delineated in the country
namely (i) Arid agro-ecosystem, (ii) Semi-arid agro-ecosystem, (iii) Sub-humid agro-ecosystem,
(iv) Humid-per humid agro-ecosystem and (v) Coastal and island agro-ecosystem.

2.1.1 Arid agro-ecosystem: The hot and cold arid eco-regions occupy an area of about 62 m ha.
This ecosystem represents environmental conditions of limited rainfall (10-50 cm) which is less
than Potential evapo-tranpiration (PET) almost throughout the year. These soils are commonly
referred to as desert soils. The soils are low in organic carbon content, low in nutrient status with
generally high pH and calcium carbonate content. The major production constraints are low
precipitation and high PET along with adverse physical and chemical properties of the soil and
high vulnerability for soil erosion by wind.

2.1.2 Semiarid agro-ecosystem: This ecosystem where rainfed agriculture is practiced covers
about 90 m ha. Nearly 67 m ha of rainfed area receives mean annual precipitation in the range of
500-1000 mm. The Length of Growing Period (LGP) ranges from 90 to150 days. This ecosystem
is further divided into dry semi-arid with rainfall from 500 to 750 mm with LGP 90 to 120 days
and moist semi-arid system with rainfall from 750 to 1000 mm with LGP between 120 to 150
days. Both red and black soils are the two major soil groups occurring in this agro-ecosystem.

2.1.3 Sub-humid agro-ecosystem: The mean annual rainfall in this ecosystem ranges from
1000-1600 mm and LGP ranges from 150 to 240 days. This ecosystem is further divided into dry
sub-humid agroecosystem with rainfall from 1000 to 1200 mm with LGP 150 to 180 days and
moist sub-humid system with rainfall from 1200-1600 mm with LGP between 180 to 240 days.
Alluvial, Tarai, medium deep black, red and yellow soils are dominant in this agro-eco system.

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2.1.4 Humid to Per-humid Agro-ecosystem: This ecosystem rainfall exceeds PET for most part
of the year varying from 1600 to above 2000 mm and LGP ranging from 240 to 330 days.
Because of the high rainfall and runoff potential, the catchment areas need to be protected for
better control of soil erosion in the downstream. The major soils occurring in the region are
brown forest, podzolic soils, loamy to clayey alluvial, red and yellow soils.

2.1.5 Coastal and Island agro-ecosystem: This represents maritime climatic environment
covering the vast coastlines in the peninsula with presence of hilly terrain along the coast. The
LGP varies from 120 to above 330 days. This ecosystem is very vulnerable for coastal storms,
tidal inundation and development of coastal saline soils. However, by prudent policy
interventions and regulations, the vast untapped potential of this land mass can provide economic
wellbeing for the inhabitants through marine and coastal aquaculture, shelterbelts, mangroves,
agro-forestry, integrated farming systems and ecotourism. Alluvium derived soils of the coastal
and deltaic plains in eastern coast and red and lateritic soils occur in the west coast.

2.2. Status of Land Resources

The present land use pattern in the country shows that forestry and agriculture are the two
major land uses and they occupy 71.8 m ha (21.8 %) and 140 m ha (42.6 %) in the country
respectively. Due to the population pressure, which has grown from 36.1 crores in 1951 to 121
crores in 2011, the area under agriculture has increased from 119 m ha in 1950-51 to about 140
m ha in 2014-15 (Table 2). During the same period, the area under forests has increased from
40.5 m ha to 71.8 m ha and area under non-agricultural uses from 9.4 m ha to 26.9 m ha. On the
other hand, the area under barren and uncultivable lands, land under miscellaneous tree crops and
groves, cultivable wastelands and fallow lands other than current fallows has shown a significant
decrease from 1950 onwards. This shows clearly that during this period most of the barren, waste
and fallow lands were either converted into agricultural lands or other uses or brought under
forestry. However, the scope for bringing any additional area under agriculture is very minimal
and limited.

This limited land area of our country, which is equal to only 2.4 % of the world’s
geographical area, supports approximately 17 % of the world’s human population and 15 % of
the world’s livestock population. The population of our country has already crossed one billion
8
mark (1.21 billion as per 2011 census) and is still growing at the rate of about two %. This
exponential growth of our population (0.361 billion in 1951 to 1.21 billion in 2011) and
dependence of about 60 % of the population for their livelihood on agriculture and allied
activities exerts tremendous pressure on the limited land resources of the country.

Table 2. Trends in land use pattern in India (’000 ha)

Year 1950- 1960- 1970- 1980- 1990- 2000- 2010- 2014-
Land unit 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011 2015
Geographical Area 328726 328726 328726 328726 328726 328726 328726 328726
Forests 40482 54052 63830 67460 67702 69843 71593 71794
(12.3) (21.8)
Not Available for Cultivation
Area ,under Non- 9357 14840 16478 19596 21220 23752 26400 26883
agricultural, uses (2.8) (8.2)
Barren and unculturable 38160 35911 28128 19958 19509 17483 17175 16996
Land (11.6) (5.1)
Total 47517 50751 44606 39554 40728 41235 43575 43880
Other Uncultivated Land Excluding Fallow Land
Permanent Pastures &other 6675 13966 13261 11989 11406 10528 10305 10258
Grazing Lands (2.0) (3.1)
Land under Misc. Tree 19828 4459 4367 3578 3813 3442 3200 3104
Crops & Groves (not incl. (6.0) (0.09)
In Net Area Sown)
Culturable Waste Land 22943 19212 17500 16744 15000 13520 12647 12469
(7.0) (3.8)
Total 49446 37637 35128 32311 30219 27489 26152 25832
Fallow Lands
Fallow Lands Other than 17445 11180 8728 9720 9663 10513 10323 11092
Current Fallows (5.3) (3.4)
Current Fallows 10679 11639 10598 14826 13840 15343 14277 15091
(3.2) (4.6)
Total 28124 22819 19326 24546 23504 25856 24600 26182
Agricultural Lands
Net Area Sown 118746 133199 140863 140288 142870 141336 141563 140130
(36.1) (42.6)
Total Cropped Area 131893 152772 165791 172630 185742 185340 197683 198360
(40.1) (60.3)
Area Sown More than once 13147 19573 24928 32342 42872 44005 56120 58230
(4.0) (17.7)
Net irrigated area 20853 24661 31103 38720 48023 55205 63659 68100
(17.6)$ (48.6)$
Gross irrigated area 22563 27980 38195 49775 63204 76187 88933 95772
(17.1)# (48.3)
Cropping Intensity (%) 111.1 114.7 117.7 123.1 130 131.1 139.6 141.6

9
Source: Directorate of Economics and statistics, GOI; Figures in parenthesis are % to TGA; $ % in relation to NSA
for Net irrigated area and #% in relation to total cropped area for gross irrigated area.

The increasing human and animal population has reduced the per capita availability of land
over the decades. The per capita availability of land has declined from 0.91 ha in 1951 to 0.32
hectare in 2001 and is projected to slide down to 0.23 ha in 2025 and less than 0.19 ha in 2050
(Table 3). As far as agricultural land is concerned the per capita availability of land has declined
from 0.48 ha in 1951 to 0.16 ha in 1991 and it is likely to decline further to 0.11 ha in 2025 and
less than 0.09 ha in 2050. This decline in per capita land availability in the country is mostly on
account of rising population and resultant fragmentation of farm holdings.

Table 3. Projected land resource and per capita availability

Land resource Total maximum Per capita availability (ha)

(M.ha) by 2050 1951 2001 2025* 2050*
Total land area 328.73 0.91 0.32 0.23 0.19
Net sown area 150.00 0.48 - 0.11 0.09
Gross cropped area 250.00 0.37 0.19 0.18 0.14
Net irrigated area 87.00 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.05
Gross irrigated area 100.00 0.06 0.08 0.07 0.06
Forest area 75.5 0.11 0.07 0.05 0.04
Total green area 120.0 0.19 0.12 0.08 0.07
Total area that can produce 270.0 0.75 0.26 0.19 0.15
biomass
Source: State of Agriculture, 2009, NAAS Publication; *2025 and 2050 are projected

2.3. Changes in Land Use Patterns over Time

Significant changes in land use pattern have taken place during seven decades, mainly
because of human needs and bio-physical factors. The area under forests and non-agricultural
uses increased by 56 and 34.8%, respectively between 1950-51 and 2014-15 and forests account
for nearly 21.8 % of the total geographical area. The proportion of area under barren and un-
cultivable wasteland, lands under miscellaneous trees, groves etc, cultivable wasteland and
permanent fallow lands decreased significantly (44.5%) overtime (Table 4). The net area sown
increased from 119 m ha in 1950-51 (36.1 %) to 140 m ha (42.6 %) in 2014-15. This was largely
due to extension of cultivation in marginal lands including culturable waste lands and lands

10
under miscellaneous trees, groves etc. During the past several years, nearly 10 m ha of land have
been kept permanently fallow.

During the past six decades, cropping intensity increased from 111 in 1950-51 to 141.6 in
2014-15, mainly due to rise in the gross irrigated area from 22.6 m ha in 1950-51 to 95.8 m ha in
2013-14 coupled with adoption of HYV technology. But the areas under non-agricultural uses
are continuously rising. Although the available data do not reveal how much of prime
agricultural land has been taken away for non-agriculture purposes, it is often reported that
unplanned urbanization around town and cities often lead to conversion of prime agricultural
lands for non-agricultural purposes. However, in several states including Andhra Pradesh,
Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, there has been a
marginal decline in the net area sown. In the states of Gujarat and Odisha, even forest area is
reported to have declined (Sharma, 2015).

Table 4. Changes in different categories of land in India, 1950-2014 (000 ha)

Year 1950-1951 2014-2015 Change (%) 2014-

15 over 1950-51
Area not available for cultivation 47517 43880 -8.3
Permanent pastures &other grazing lands 6675 10258 53.7
Area under misc. tree crops & groves) 19828 3104 -538.8
Culturable waste land 22943 12469 -84.0
Fallow lands other than current fallows 17445 11092 -57.3
Current fallows 10679 15091 41.3
Net area sown 118746 140130 18.0
Total cropped area 131893 198360 50.4
Area sown more than once 13147 58230 343.0
Net irrigated area 20853 68100 226
Gross irrigated area 22563 95772 324
Cropping intensity (%) 111.1 141.6 27.4

Over the last 65 years, area not available for cultivation declined at the rate of about
8.3%, area under miscellaneous tree, crops and groves by 538.8%, culturable waste lands by
84%, fallow lands other than current fallows by 57.3%, current fallows by 41.3% and arable land
by 4.3% (Table 4). The data show that between 1950-51 and 2014-15, the net sown area
increased by 18 % (i.e. from 118.75 m ha to 140.1 m ha) which represents an annual average
11
increase about 0.27 %. In case of total arable land, the land area declined from about 189.6 m ha
in 1950-51 to about 181.9 m ha in 2014-15, a decline of about 4.3 %. However, total cropped
area in the country witnessed an increasing trend during this period. For example, total cropped
area increased from 131.9 m ha in 1950-51 to 198.4 m ha in 2014-15. The rate of increase in
total cropped area was higher (15.8%) during the 1950-70s compared with other periods mainly
due to increase in area under irrigation. The net irrigated area increased by 26% from 1960 to
1970 period and 24% from 1970 to 1990. The gross irrigated area increased from about 22.6 m
ha in 1950-51 to 95.8 m ha in 2014-15. The enhanced coverage of irrigation has led to increase
in cropping intensity by 27.4 % from 111.1 % in 1950-51 to 141.6 % in 2014-15.
2.4 Land Holdings

Land holding number increased by 48% in five decades from 71 m in 1970-71 to 138 m
in 2010-11 (Table 5). Among different land holding sizes, highest number of holdings increased
is in marginal category by 61 % followed by small (46%) and semi-medium (23%). Contrary to
this, 64% of land holding number decreased in large farmer category and 26% in medium
category farmers between 1970-71 and 2010-11. Due to increase in population and
fragmentation of land holdings, number of total land holdings increased.

Table 5. Decadal changes in number of operational holdings

Category Number of Operational Holdings( In millions)
1970-71 1980-81 1990-91 2000-01 2010-11
Marginal (<1 ha) 36.20 50.12 63.39 75.41 92.36
Small (1-2 ha) 13.43 16.07 20.09 22.70 24.71
Semi medium (2-4 ha) 10.68 12.46 13.92 14.02 13.84
Medium (4-10 ha) 7.93 8.07 7.58 6.58 5.86
Large (>10 ha) 2.77 2.17 1.65 1.23 1.00
All size 71.01 88.88 106.64 119.93 137.76
Source: Agricultural Census 2010-11, Dept. Of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, GOI

2.5 Land Degradation

2.5.1. Land degradation due to erosion, physical and chemical degradation: Land
degradation is defined as “a process which lowers current and/ potential capability of the
12
land/soils to produce (quantitatively and/or qualitatively) goods and/or provision of services”.
The degradation of our land resources is taking place at an alarming rate and not all the
cultivated lands at present are in prime productivity. The latest estimate of the degraded and
wasteland areas of India indicates 36.6% (120 m ha) of the total geographical area of the country.
Water erosion is the main problem causing loss of top soil and/or terrain deformation in about
73.3 m ha (representing 25%) of the total geographical area of the country. Wind erosion is
dominant in the western region, covering 12.4 m ha (representing 3.8%) of the total area. It
causes loss of top soil in 1.9%, terrain deformation in 1.2% and over blowing and shifting of
sand dune in 0.5% of the affected area. Water logging and/or areas affected by submergence or
flooding cover about 0.88 m ha. The extent of land/soil degradation status in India is given in
Table 6.

Table 6. Extent of degraded and wastelands in India

Land area Open forest area (< 40 %

Degradation type
( m ha) canopy) (m ha)
Water erosion ( > 10 tonnes/ ha/year) 73.27 9.30
Wind erosion( Aeolian) 12.40 -
Subtotal 85.67 9.30
Chemical degradation
Exclusively salt affected soils 5.44 -
Salt affected and water eroded soils 1.20 0.10
Exclusively acidic soils ( pH<5.5) 5.09 -
Acidic (pH<5.5) and water eroded soils 5.72 7.13
Sub total 17.45 7.23
Physical degradation
Mining and industrial waste 0.19
Water logging (permanent sea water inundation) 0.88
Sub total 1.07
Total 104.19 16.53
Grand total ( Arable land and open forest) 120.72
Source: Degraded and Wastelands of India – Status and Spatial Distribution (2010). ICAR & NAAS.

Soil degradation in all its nefarious forms has serious repercussions on crop and biomass
productivity. Soil loss tolerance limits (SLTLs) (permissible soil loss) serves as a tool to gauge
the potential erosion risk in a given area with regard to long term sustainability (Mandal and
13
Sharda, 2011). Their analysis has indicated that soil loss tolerance or T-value varies from 2.5 to
12.5 t/ha/y depending upon soil quality governing soil resistibility to erosion and depth at a
particular location. About 57% area in the country has permissible soil loss of less than 10.0
t/ha/yr, which needs to be treated with appropriate conservation measures. Highest priority needs
to be accorded to about 7.5% area where the T-value is only 2.5 t/ha/yr due to soil quality
constraints. Case study evidences in different watersheds revealed that soil productivity can be
maintained at sustainable levels by bringing the erosion rate within tolerance limit.
The gross erosion of the country is estimated as 5.11 ± 0.4 billion t/yr, out of which 34.1
± 12% of the total eroded soil is deposited in the reservoirs, 22.9 ± 29% is discharged outside the
country (mainly to oceans), and the remaining 43.0 ± 41% is displaced within the river basins.
The river basins of northern India contribute about 81% of the total sediment yield from
landmass while the share of southern river basins is 19% (Sharada and Ojasvi, 2016).

Fig.1. Potential soil erosion map of India (Source: Sharda and Ojasvi, 2016)

14
 The annual economic loss due to degraded land and change in land use in India was
valued at Rs 3.17 lakh crores ($46.90 billion) in 2014-15, which was 2.5% of the country’s gross
domestic product (GDP) in 2014-15 (Ministry of environment and climate change).

The government needs to speed up reclamation as the cost of land degradation will
outstrip the cost of reclamation in 2030, according to the 2018 study done by The Energy and
Resource Institute (TERI). It is a serious concern, since India aims to be land degradation-neutral
in 2030, where any increases in land degradation are balanced by equivalent gains in land
reclamation. The cost of land degradation by land type, including agriculture, rangelands and
forests is almost 82% and the loss incurred due to land changed from a more to a less productive
use is 18% as give in Table 7 by TERI.

Table 7. Economic losses from land degradation and change of land use

Category Annual Economic Costs Of Loss (As % of

Degradation (Rs crore) GDP)
Agricultural loss 72331.9 0.58
Loss due to degradation of rangelands 12024.5 0.10
Loss due to forest degradation 175857.4 1.41
Total due to land degradation 260213.8 2.08
Loss due to land use/cover change 57525.2 0.46
Total cost of land degradation and
317739 2.54
land use change
Source: The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI); Note: Costs are according to 2014-15 prices

Losses in the agriculture sector caused by land degradation due to water erosion, wind
erosion, salinity and loss of vegetation are pegged at Rs 72,000 crore ($10.68 billion). Production
losses due to erosion of soil through water are found to be the highest in the agriculture sector.

2.5.2. Soil/Land conservation for arresting water erosion of top soil: Several programmes on
soil conservation were initiated by both central and state governments in the past such as:
1. Treating catchments of river valley projects
2. Integrated watershed management in catchments of flood prone rivers
3. Control of shifting cultivation
4. Reclamation and development of ravine areas

15
 5. Survey categorization and development of culturable wastelands
6. Drought-prone areas programme
7. Desert development programme
8. Rural landless employment guarantee programme
9. National watershed development programme in rainfed areas (NWDPRA)
10. Soil, water and tree conservation in the Himalayas (Soil watch)
11. Social forestry
Strengthening of the intervention measures for the programmes under the item numbers 4, 5
and 8 are most needed.
Studies at the ICAR-Indian Institute for Soil and Water Conservation Research, Dehradun
has shown that by treating 25 % of the catchment area with appropriate soil and water
conservation measures, the sediment production rate can be brought down by 50%. Hence the
need for people centered watershed development programmes to be taken up on priority in the
most vulnerable areas as demarcated in the proness to soil erosion maps of different states
brought out by the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS&LUP) and
Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (IISWC).
2.5.3. Land degradation in the north eastern region: The major threats are observed in the
destruction of tropical rainforest, dying of wetlands, shrinkage of biodiversity cover, soil erosion
and air and water pollution. Though geomorphological erosion on the surface of the earth has
been continuously taking place since time immemorial, the soil erosion that is taking place today
is an abnormal and undesirable process caused by human activities and neglect of land care.
Problem of soil erosion and land degradation in the northeast India is widely visible both in the
valleys and in the hills. After the great earth quake that occurred in the region in 1958, the
frequency and intensity of siltation and floods have taken a new dimension due to the
disturbance and imbalance caused to the river courses and surrounding land mass. There is a
vertical and a horizontal increase in river beds and increasing frequency and intensity of floods is
the perennial problems of plains of the East and North east. Soil erosion, silt deposition and
rising of the river beds level have also been accelerated due to the changes taking place in the
hills. Increase in population growth and its ever rising demand for basic necessities for survival
as well as for other comforts of life necessitated expansion of jhum lands in the hills. Besides

16
settled agriculture in the valleys, industrial growth, road construction, mining, urbanization etc,
added to the problem. The decreasing jhum cycles, landslides and the hill features have started to
take a new and unaesthetic and ecologically unfriendly look.

2.5.4. Land degradation in coastal region: Geomorphic processes of erosion, sediment

transport, deposition and sea level changes continuously modify the shoreline. It is also
vulnerable to various natural hazards such as cyclones, storms, tsunamis which impact the
coast. Coastal habitats, especially wetlands, coral reefs, mangroves, salt marshes, and sea
grasses, are rapidly being cleared for urban, industrial, and recreational growth as well as for
aquaculture ponds. Wetlands are responsible for maintaining reproductive fisheries not only by
way of catch but as feeding, spawning and nursery grounds as well. About 90 % of the world’s
marine fish catch (measured by weight) is produced in these wetland areas. Thus, degradation of
coastal habitats can have long-term consequences for fish populations. Apart from this, they also
serve as buffer for the mainland against ocean storms and protect the coast from erosion.

2.5.5. Non-forest public degraded lands: These are not lawfully defined as forests or which
have not been legally included in government records. These are registered by different names in
the revenue records. Ownership of these lands is vested with the government, such as revenue
department, public works department, Railways, etc. These lands may be under the control of the
village Panchayat and are meant for common use; no individual can occupy them for private use
through encroachment. But, huge area is under this category and needs to be greened.

A National level “Greening India” movement will fit in with new land use policy of
converting barren, degraded and non-arable waste lands with planting of herbs, shrubs and trees
as required. In this endeavor work force under the MNREGA can be profitably and usefully
deployed. The land areas adjacent to vast network of roads and railway lines need to be
demarcated and made inclusive under the “Greening of India” programme with PPP mode.
Besides there is great scope for involving the rural youth, land less labour.

To give impetus to the “Greening India” Movement, a stream of “National Green Corps
(NGC)” by involving students of schools and colleges may be created, similar to NCC/NSS. The
students may be incentivized for their participation in this movement.

17
2.6. Soil Resources

India can be called as a land of Mosaic because of the large variety of soils that the land
surface. A girdle of high mountains, snow fields, glaciers and thick forests in the north, seas
washing lengthy coasts in the Peninsula, a variety of geological formations, diversified climate,
topography and relief have given rise to varied physiographic features. In the country,
temperature varies from arctic cold to equatorial hot; rainfall from barely a few centimeters in
the arid parts, to per-humid with world’s maximum rainfall of several hundred centimeters per
annum in some other parts. These conditions provide for a landscape of high plateaus, stumpy
relic hills, rolling uplands, shallow open valleys, fertile plains, swampy low lands and dreary
barren deserts. Such varied natural environments have resulted in a great variety of soils in India
compared to any other country in the world (Bhattacharayya et.al., 2013). The major soil groups
of India so far recognized are shown in Table 8.

2.6.1. Soil health and its maintenance: Soil health, being a composite index of physical,
chemical and biological processes is constantly declining and is often cited as one of the reasons
for stagnating or declining crop yields and low input use efficiency. The degradation of soil
physical, chemical and biological health along with inadequate and imbalanced nutrient use and
neglect of use organic manures is the cause of multi-nutrient deficiencies in many areas over
time. Our soils have very low organic matter content. Therefore, without regular application of
organic manures and recycling of crop residues, we cannot hope to maintain good soil health to
sustain productivity and ensure high responses to NPK fertilizers. With rapid urbanization, the
bulky organic wastes are increasing and their disposal and profitable use in agriculture in rural
areas is hampered because of transportability and cost constraints. The green manuring practice
is seldom followed. This coupled with poor field water management is the major cause of low
crop productivity and reduced nutrient and water use efficiency. As such, it poses a great threat
to the soil’s inherent capacity to sustain productivity for posterity. Maintaining soil health, thus,
is indispensable for sustaining the agricultural productivity at the desired level.

18
Table 8. Soil groups of India and their distribution

S No. Soil Group Area (‘000 **Distribution in the States

ha)
1 Red loamy 21,327 Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,
Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana
2 Red sandy 33,059 Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, West
Bengal
3 Laterite 13,007 Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha,
Maharashtra, Goa, Assam, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar
Islands, Gujarat
4 Red and yellow 40, 365 Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar
5 Shallow black 3,153 Maharashtra
6 Medium black 43,038 Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,
Karnataka, Rajasthan
7 Deep black 11,206 Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya
Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan
8 Mixed red and 16,225 Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra
black Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar
9 Coastal alluvium 5,440 Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,
Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar Islands
10 Coastal sands 453 Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Puducherry
11 Deltaic alluvium 8,704 Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal
12 Alluvial khadar 35, 672 Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, West Bengal,Andhra Pradesh,
(recent) bhangar Telangana, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala,
(old) Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi
13 Alluvial (highly 1,361 Uttar Pradesh, Bihar
calcareous)
14 Calcareous 4,508 Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan
sierozemic
15 Grey brown 10,157 Gujarat, Rajasthan
16 Desert-Regosolic 15,442 Rajasthan, Goa, Haryana
17 Tarai 2,892 Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar Islands
18 Brown Hill 8,124 Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala,
Punjab, West Bengal
19 Sub montane 7,969 Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh
(Podzolic)
20 Mountain 5,979 Jammu & Kashmir
meadow
21 Saline and alkali 1,738 Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,
Gujarat, Rajasthan
22 Peaty and saline 227 Kerala, West Bengal
peaty
23 Skeletal 7,915 Madhya Pradesh
24 Glaciers and 2,933 Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir
eternal snow
* Adopted from Soils of India by Roy Choudhuri and Govinda Rajan, 1971 and Studies on Soils of India by
Govinda Rajan and Gopala Rao, 1978.

Soils of about 59, 36 and 5% area are low, medium, high in available N, respectively.
Similarly, soils of about 49, 45 and 6 % area are low, medium and high in available P,
19
respectively; and soils of around 9, 39 and 52% area are low, medium and high in available K,
respectively (Chaudhari et al., 2015). Not only the inherent soil fertility is poor and the nutrient
input is low but also there is growing evidence of increasing deficiency of phosphorous,
potassium and sulphur, aggravated by the disproportionate/imbalanced application of higher
doses of N in relation to P and K (Tewatia et al., 2017). The N based fertilizers constitute a
major fraction, nearly 70 %, of the total fertilizer material used. There is a growing evidence of
increasing responses to S for oilseeds, pulses and legumes and high-yielding cereals. Sulphur and
micronutrient status of Indian soils is going down with each passing year. The current gap
between annual drain of nutrients from the soil and inputs from external sources is 10 m t, which
is likely to grow further. This is one of the major causes of soil chemical degradation resulting in
poor soil fertility and soil health. Hence, site-specific sustainable soil nutrient management by
following soil test based fertilizer use is necessary for realizing targeted yield
(Ramamoorthy,1968).
Our soils are under stress and fatigue. To upgrade the quality and health of our soils, a
centralized apex organization mandated with collaborative research for technology generation to
address the “Soil health problems” affecting factor productivity and crop productivity in different
agro-ecological sub-regions of the country is needed.
2.6.2. Soil and sand quarrying: Beside land degradation due to erosion, physical and chemical
degradation, in recent years soil quarrying activities like brick industry and sand from river beds
for building construction causes serious damage to agricultural land and river courses. This man
made activity causes soil erosion, generates solid wastes, waterlogging and water management
problems. All these factors contribute in degradation of the land. Brick industry uses top fertile
soil, which is most important for crop production. Most of the brick kilns areas soils are mined
up to 3 m. One of the estimates indicate that every year nearly 45, 000 ha land is being diverted
for brick making and with increased urbanization, and infrastructural development, area required
for brick kilns may increase to 90, 000 ha.

Similarly, sand is in high demand in the construction sector. By 2020, 1.4 billion tonnes
of sand will be required in India. Illegal and unscientific sand mining is turning out to be one of
the biggest ecological disasters in modern India. Exponential demand for sand has created
several environmental problems as riverbed sand supply is not meeting the demand. In the last

20
two decades’ surface soils from tank beds, agricultural lands and village common lands have
been excavated and washed to produce artificial sand all around major cities and towns. Sand
mining affects agriculture, water infiltration and also leads to environmental problems. These
activities have affected local economy drastically, leading to conflicts among rural people and
sand mining operators and administrators.

2.6.3. Crop residue burning and inadequate organic manure inputs: According to the
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (2009), ~500 m t of crop residues are generated every
year and ~125 m t are burnt. Crop residue generation is greatest in Uttar Pradesh (60 m t)
followed by Punjab (51 m t) and Maharashtra (46 m t). Among different crops, cereals generate
352 m t of residues followed by fibre crops (66 m t), oilseeds (29 m t), pulses (13 m t) and
sugarcane (12 m t). Rice (34%) and wheat (22%) are the dominant cereals contributing to crop
residue generation (NAAS, 2012). Burning of crop residues for cooking, heating or simply
disposal is a pervasive problem in India and contributes to soil organic matter (SOM) loss.

2.6.4. Management of salt affected soils: The development of salinity and alkalinity in the
soils are mainly due to the introduction of surface irrigation by canal command and associated
mismanagement of the system. Topographical situations, poor drainage, use of brackish
irrigation waters and surface/subsurface ingress of sea water in the coastal belt are also other
causative factors. Salt affected soils occupy around 6.74 m ha (ICAR, 2010). Major
concentration is in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Research work carried out at the Central
Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Karnal and its large scale adoption through
government. supported programmes have ameliorated large areas of salt affected soils of north
Indian states. These techniques involve soil application of gypsum /pyrites, conjoint use of
surface and ground water of both good quality and brackish water, and suitable choice of crops
during the reclamation and post-reclamation periods.
2.6.5. Management of acid soils: The acid soils are formed due to intense weathering,
influenced by heavy precipitation (above 1500mm rainfall) and hot and humid climate. They
occupy about 30% of the cultivated area of the India. The adverse physical properties met with in
acid soils can be managed by appropriate tillage practices and straw mulching on seed lines in
row crops. The most common constraints due to chemical properties in these soils are (i) low pH,
(ii)low CEC, (iii) nutrient imbalance, (iv) low level of base saturation percentage, (v) high Al, Fe
21
and Mn saturation percentage leading to toxicity, (vi) high P fixing capacity and (vii) clay
fraction consisting of rather surface-inactive minerals.
The soil acidity and the associated nutrient availability problems to crops can be
reclaimed by use of lime as an integral part of liming activity in the crop production process,
using limestone, stromatolitic limestone and dolomite. The north-eastern states have considerable
deposits of limestone.
Several industrial wastes such as steel mills slag, blast furnace slag, lime sludge from
paper mills, pressmud from sugar mills using carbonate process, cement kiln waste and
precipitated CaCO3 from fertilizer factories need to be promoted as amendments for correcting
soil acidity. The problem of phosphate fixation and low P fertilizer use efficiency in these soils
can be managed by direct use of low grade rock phosphate, use of partially acidulated rock
phosphate, mixed use of water soluble P and citrate insoluble P in rock phosphate and combined
use of physical mixture of triple super phosphate (TSP) and rock phosphate.
The application of modest dose of limestone and its subsidized promotion is a must
component in the integrated nutrient management system (INMS) of acid soils. The practice of
liming of acid soils is negligible in contrast to the vastness of the area. Incentives for transport
and application of lime in the management of acid soils need to be provided for correction of soil
acidity and increasing the productivity of these lands.

2.6.6. Management of calcareous soils: Calcareous soils occur not only in arid and semi-arid
but also in humid and perhumid climatic regions of India. Calcareous soils are predominant in
the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh., Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Excess lime in calcareous soils is the main
constraint for the efficient management of soil fertility and crop growth. The availability of
nutrients is limited, posing a serious threat to successful crop production. Low solubility of
nutrients and high degree of nutrient fixation may cause nutritional disorders including lime
induced iron chlorosis of crops in these soils. Therefore, farmers tend to add extra amount of
fertilizers which may result in an imbalanced nutrition. Thus, balanced nutrition is essential for
sustaining fertility and productivity of calcareous soils and must form part of special attention in
the adoption of package of practices under the National “Soil Health Mission”.

22
 It is crucial to recognize that soil health revolution is basic and fundamental to ever green
revolution. Hence, the crop production package of farm practices must dovetail adoption of site-
specific sustainable soil management practices as advocated by the global Soil partnership
guidelines of the FAO.

2.7. Water Resources

India has the very formidable and challenging task of feeding 17.5 % of the world’s
human population from a meagre 4 % of the global water resources available for its use. In
addition to the second largest human population, the country has to also provide feed and fodder
to 15% of the world’s livestock population from the same quantum of land and water resources.
Water is required by different sectors like agriculture, industry, power, domestic purpose
etc. Among the different sectors, irrigation requires maximum amount, it ranges 78% in 2010
and expected to use around 68 % of water for irrigation in 2050 (Table 9).
Table 9. Sectoral water requirement in India (BCM)
Sectroal use Year 2010 Year 2025 Year 2050
Low High % Low High % Low High %
Irrigation 543 557 78 561 611 72 628 847 68
Domestic 42 43 6 55 62 7 90 111 9
Industry 37 37 5 67 67 8 81 81 7
Power 18 19 3 31 33 4 63 70 6
Inland navigation 7 7 1 10 10 1 15 15 1
Environment ecology 5 5 0 10 10 1 20 20 2
Evaporation loss 42 42 1 50 50 6 76 76 7
Total 694 710 100 784 843 100 973 1180 100
Source: NCIWRD (1999); BCM=Billion cubic meter
Water is a finite resource the availability of which is declining with each passing day. If
the international yardstick of 1700 cu. m per capita availability per annum of water is taken as a
criterion, then the whole country became “Water Stressed” in the year 2007 with per capita water
availability declining to 1656 cu. m from 5200 cu. m in 1951 (Table 10). The reported per capita
availability of water was 1544 cu m in 2011. It is estimated that the per capita availability of
water is likely to reach a level of around 1100 cu. m in 2050 but in reality we may reach this
threshold much earlier considering the wasteful ways of water usage at homes and farms. It may
be noted that per capita availability of <1000 cu. m indicates “Water Scarcity”. If the per capita

23
availability is scrutinized basin-wise, a significant number of basins in the country were either in
the “water scarcity zone” or worse even in 2010.
Table 10. Per capita availability of water

Year Population Per capita availability (m3/year) Remarks

1951 361 5178
1955 395 4732
1991 846 2210
2001 1027 1820
2011 1211 1544 water stressed#
2015 1326* 1441$ water stressed#
2021 1345a 1421$ water stressed#
2031 1463 a 1306$ water stressed#
2041 1560 a 1225$ water stressed#
2051 1628 a 1174$ water stressed#
Source: Government of India, 2009 (NCIWRD Report, 1999). *projected from 2011 census aPopulation figures for 2021 to 2051 are taken from
projected population by Planning Commission. $The per capita availability from 2015 onwards has been calculated from 2017 WRA estimate

2.7.1. Rain water Resource: The normal annual rainfall precipitation in the country is estimated
to be 400 million hectare-metres (Mha-m) of water received in just 100 hours of rainfall in a
year. Out of this, 115 Mha-m enters surface flows, 215 Mha-m enters the ground, and 70 Mha-m
is lost to evaporation. Only 25 Mha-m is finally used through surface irrigation which constitutes
a mere 6 % of the total water available through rain and from flows from outside the country (20
Mha-m). Out of the 215 Mha-m infiltrating into the soil, only 13 Mha-m is utilized for
groundwater irrigation and other uses. This again constitutes a mere 6 % of the annual
precipitation infiltrating into the soil, indicating the substantial potential for rainwater harvesting.

Table 11. Distribution of area by annual rainfall in India

Rainfall classification Rainfall (mm) Approx. area (%)

Low/Dry <750 30.0
Medium 750 to 1150 42.0
High 1150 to 2000 20.0
Very high/Assured >2000 8.0
Total 100
Source: IMD, Pune

One of the reasons for the poor utilization of rainwater in India is the high concentration
of rainfall over a few months and its uneven distribution. About 74 % of the rainfall is received

24
during the south-west monsoon period of June to September. As a result, the soil saturates, and
much of the water flows away if no structures are made to check this flow.

The uneven distribution also creates a situation of long dry periods when cropping is
difficult if water is not retained or made available in some other way. Only 8 % of the country
receives very high/assured rainfall of above 2000 mm, and another 20 % receives high rainfall of
1150 to 2000 mm (Table 9). The rest of the country, that is, 72 %, is in the low, dry, or medium
rainfall range of less than 1150 mm, with 30 % area particularly dry at below 750 mm. Thus, in
vast areas, groundwater usage is must for crop production and for sustainable use of ground
water adequate rainwater recharge is pre-requisite.

2.7.2. Surface water sources: India has developed one of the largest irrigation infrastructures in
the world which today stands at more than 68 m ha of net irrigated area (48% of Net sown area
(NSA)). It is second only to China. It is no doubt that irrigation development played a very
crucial role in ensuring food security to the huge population. However, the productivity of the
irrigated production system (occupying 48% NSA area) at around 3 t/ha is considerably lower
than the existing potential. A study completed in late 2011 revealed that the gap between the
irrigation potential created and utilized in these projects is substantial and growing (Singh,
2014). It is not only the demand – supply mismatch in the major and medium irrigation projects
but also the fact that the gap between the irrigation potential created and utilized has been
widening continuously and today it stands at more than 25 m ha. Top most priority should be
given to bridge this gap considering the fact that the Government of India invests a huge amount
on this sector. Major reasons are low water discharge, insufficient water distribution mechanism,
unequal water distribution across farmers located at different points, loss of water during
distribution, incorrect recording of irrigated area and diversion of cultivable land to other
purposes within the command area. The conclusions of a study carried out on 28 major/medium
irrigation projects in the country have indicated that the overall water use efficiency was 38%
with the conveyance efficiency pegged at 69% and on farm application efficiency at 52% (Singh,
2014). The overall efficiency of surface irrigation systems (around 38 %) implies that at least 60
% of the water supplied is being lost at various stages in the system.

25
2.7.3. Ground Water Resources: Development of ground water resources which was a low key
affair in the earlier stages, is now contributing to more than 60% of the irrigation demand and
playing a critical role in ensuring food security in the country. However, it’s over exploitation
has now become a very serious cause of concern and the potential of judicious exploitation of
ground water resources is now confined only to some states in the eastern part of the country.
Out of the 6607 assessed blocks, 4530 are safe while the rest are in the semi-critical (697),
critical (217) and a large number of over exploited (1071) blocks. By 2025, an estimated 60% of
India's groundwater blocks will be in a critical/semi critical/ over-exploited conditions (Fig 2).
Almost 54% of the groundwater blocks in Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan,
and Tamil Nadu are likely to fall in these categories if the present rate of decline trend continues.
In view of the seriousness of the problem, the Government is, therefore, putting a lot of emphasis
on artificial recharge of ground water.

Fig 2. Ground water resource scenario in India

India has the highest ground water abstraction. In fact, India is abstracting more water
than USA and China put together. The overall ground water development in the country is 62 %
only but the variability within the states is very high. In states like Delhi, Haryana, Punjab,

26
Rajasthan etc, the ground water development is more than 100%. But in states of eastern India
and North east, the ground water development is at a low level. Considering this fact, GoI has
rightly decided to focus on Eastern India under the programme aptly titled “Bringing Green
Revolution to Eastern India” (BGREI).

2.7.4. Waste water, its recycling and utilization: With the projected scenarios of water
availability compounded by global warming, increasing urbanization (circa 55% of India’s
estimated 1.6 billion would be urban by 2050) and industrialization, huge volumes of waste
waters will be generated. These waste waters would be of varying qualities depending upon the
source, contamination level and quality of treatment before discharge. In India, the problems
associated with wastewater reuse arise from its lack of treatment. On the whole, only 60% of
industrial water and 26% of domestic water is treated in India. Waste waters are being used
indiscriminately, particularly in peri-urban agriculture. Considering the size and vast population
of the country and various sectoral demands, India is a growing market for “waste water
treatment” and its reuse. It includes both sewage treatment and effluent treatment. Currently, 75
% of the rural population and 85 % of the urban population have access to public water supply.
However, municipal agencies in many Indian towns and cities are unable to increase their water
supply capacities to match population growth, especially in the urban areas. The challenge, thus,
is to avoid threatening of our substantial wastewater dependent livelihoods on one hand and on
the other hand protect degradation of our valuable natural resources by strict enforcement of
regulatory measures for safe disposal of solid and liquid wastes by public-private investment
support for low-cost, low-tech, user-friendly methods.

2.7.5. Rainfed agriculture: India has a very sizeable area under rainfed agriculture (nearly 75 m
ha) which caters largely to pulses, oilseeds, nutra cereals, cotton and even rice (~45%) but their
productivity of them is very low (~1 t/ha). The average annual rainfall in India is 117 cm which
is higher than the global average of 110 cm but there is a wide spatial and temporal variation in
its distribution and intensity. The ratio of the minimum, average and maximum is of the order of
1:10:100 with the maximum being around 11000 mm in Cherrapunji (Meghalaya) to 100 mm in
the Thar Desert. The number of rainy days can vary from 4 days to over 300 days a year and the
intensity can vary anywhere from <1 cm/hr up to 15 cm/hr. It has also been estimated that almost

27
80 % of the rain occurs in only 100 hrs in a year. Soil and nutrients loss due to run off is of the
order of 5.34 billion tonnes and 6 million tonnes, respectively, resulting in production losses in
excess of Rs. 115 billion (Singh, 2014).
A comprehensive assessment of district level water harvesting potential had revealed that
the potential to realize the rainfed agriculture lies in the harvest of small part of available surplus
runoff and reutilize it for supplemental irrigation at critical crop growth stages. The study
identified about 28.5 m ha of potential rainfed area covering large number of districts in central
and eastern India that can generate sufficient runoff (114 BCM) for harvesting and reutilization.
It is possible to raise the rainfed crop production by a total of 28-36 m t from an area of 20-25 m
ha during normal monsoon years which accounts for about 12% increase over the present
productiion level. With adoption of improved technologies, the benefits could be still higher.
Extensive area coverage rather than intensive irrigation, needs to be followed in regions with
higher than 750 mm/annum rainfall, since there is larger possibility of alleviating the in-season
drought spells and ensuring a second crop with limited water application. This component may
be made an integral part of the ongoing and new development schemes in the identified rural
districts.

2.7.6. Irrigated Agriculture: At present, irrigation consumes about 84 % of total available

water. The irrigated area in India was just 22.6 m ha in 1950-51(Patel and Rajput, 2015). With
efforts directed toward national food security, irrigation expansion was given due focus and the
ultimate irrigation potential of India has been estimated at 140 m ha. Currently the irrigated area
in india is around 60 percent. According to Samra and Sharma (2009), India met its irrigation &
medium sources (58.5 m ha), minor sources (81.5 m ha) and inter-basin river water transfer (35
m ha). The minor sources comprised 64.1 m ha as ground water and the rest as surface water.
Canal irrigation had an important place in agriculture until the 1970s but by the late 1990s,
groundwater irrigation became the top source of irrigation in India (Sekhri, 2011). Since 1960,
there has been 500 percent increase in groundwater irrigated area (World Bank, 2010). With
irrigation predicted to remain the dominant user of water, “per drop more crop” is an imperative.
The efficiency of water use must improve to expand area under irrigation while also conserving
water. In India, there has been an increase in dependence on groundwater over the last five
decades.
28
 One of the main responses to these emerging challenges is to focus on improving water
productivity (output per unit of water used/applied for irrigation by crop) in agriculture, as even
small improvements could have large implications for local and national water budgets and
allocation policies. Sharma et.al. (2018) observed that at the present level of water stress existing
in the country there is need to re-calibrate the cropping patterns in line with their irrigation water
productivity, and not remain obsessed with only their land productivity. Else, country will be
moving towards unsustainable agriculture from water availability point of view, raising risks for
the farmers, and promoting extreme inequity in the use of scarce water resources.

2.8 Use of ICTs in soil and land use management: The stupendous progress in information
technology coupled with the rapid advancements made in Digital GPS, Geographical
Information Systems (GIS), simulation tools, sensors, precision farming and remote sensing have
opened up new vistas for land and water resources development and management. These tools
should be an integral system of scientific management of irrigation networks, water distribution,
soil health, crop planning and related operational activities as they will enable the system
managers to take correct and timely decisions. Decision Support Systems (DSS) for real time
monitoring and decision making with inputs from remote sensing and ground truth based inputs
can contribute significantly in efficient use of inputs and adopt precision farming techniques
through ICT enabled village knowledge centre as piloted and demonstrated in the M. S.
Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) model.

2.9. Crops and Cropping Systems

2.9.1. Area under different crops: Significant land use changes have been observed in the last
seven decades (Table 12). Rice area increased by 43% from 30.8 m ha in 1950-51 to 43.9 m ha
in 2016-17. Similarly, area under wheat increased from 9.75 m. ha in 1950-51 to 30.78 m.ha in
2016-17 (216%) and maize from 3.16 to 9.63 m ha (205%), whereas, area under sorghum
decreased from 15.6 to 5.6 m ha (36 %), pearl millet from 9 to 7.4 m ha (82 %) and coarse
cereals from 37.7 to 25 m ha (66 %). Whereas, area under pulses increased by 54% from 19 m ha
in 1950-51 to 29.4 m. ha in 2016-17 and pigeon pea is the major contributor for area increase
(144%). Area under total food grain production increased from 97.3 to 129.2 m ha (33%) only.
Area under oilseed crops increased by 144% from 10.73 m ha in 1950-51 to 26.2 m ha in 2016-

29
17 and major contributor is soybean (283%) and rapeseed and mustard (193%). Though, area
under groundnut increased substantially (85%) up to 1990-91, later area has been decreased and
net area increased from1950 to 2016 by only 19%. Commercial crops like cotton area increased
from 5.9 to 10.8 m ha by 84% and sugarcane from 1.7 to 4.4 m ha by 159%. Shift in cropping
area over last seven decades indicate that land use was influenced by market prices and food
habits.
Table 12. Area under different crops (m ha)-temporal change
Crops 1950-51 1970-71 1990-91 2000-01 2010-11 2016-17
Year
Rice 30.81 37.59 42.69 44.71 42.86 43.99
Wheat 9.75 18.24 24.17 25.73 29.07 30.78
Sorghum 15.57 17.37 14.36 9.86 7.38 5.62
Maize 3.16 5.67 5.90 6.61 8.55 9.63
Pearl millet 9.02 12.91 10.48 9.83 9.61 7.45
Other coarse cereals 9.92 10.0 5.58 3.96 2.80 2.31
Total cereals 78.23 101.78 103.18 100.7 100.27 99.78
Chick pea 7.57 7.84 7.52 6.42 9.19 9.62
Pigeon pea 2.18 2.66 3.59 3.63 4.37 5.33
Total Pulses 19.09 22.54 24.66 20.35 26.40 29.44
Total food grains 97.32 124.32 127.84 121.05 126.67 129.22
Oilseeds 10.73 16.64 24.15 22.77 27.22 26.17
Groundnut 4.49 7.33 8.31 6.56 5.86 5.33
Rapeseed and mustard 2.07 3.32 5.78 4.48 6.90 6.07
Soybean - 0.03 2.56 6.42 9.60 11.5
Cotton 5.88 7.61 7.44 8.53 11.24 10.82
Sugarcane 1.71 2.62 3.69 4.32 4.88 4.43
Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, GOI
2.9.2. Productivity of principal crops: Total food grains productivity increased by 256 %,
whereas wheat productivity by 339%, rice productivity by 200%, sorghum productivity by 114%
and maize productivity by 214% in 2016-17 as compared to 1951-60 (Table 13). In the same
period, pulse productivity improved 54% and oilseeds by 138%. Among the pulses and oilseed
crops, mustard registered higher productivity improvement of 233%.

2.9.3. Extent of different crops to total cropped area: Contribution of rice area to the total
cropped area remains constant from 1950-51 to 2014-15 and it was around 22 to 23%. Whereas,
contribution of wheat area increased from 7.6 to 16.2% during the same period. However, area
contribution to total cropped area by sorghum and pearl millet reduced significantly.
30
Contribution of cereals to total cropped area reduced by 10% between 1950-51 and 2014-15.
Similar trend was observed in total pulses and food grains too. However, increased area
contribution of oilseeds, sugarcane, condiments and spices, fruits, vegetables and fiber crops to
total cropped area was observed (Table 14).

Table 13. Productivity (kg/ha) of principal crops

Commodity 1951-60 1971-80 1991-2000 2001-2010 2016-2017

Food grains 606 892 1525 1731 2159
Wheat 728 1375 2496 2727 3200
Rice 830 1156 1852 2053 2494
Sorghum 446 597 831 837 954
Maize 759 1056 1636 2007 2413
Pulses 475 482 591 603 734
Pigeon pea 743 703 687 691 913
Chick pea 575 635 773 816 974
Oilseeds 485 543 832 936 1153
Groundnut 742 800 990 1084 1398
Mustard 391 511 881 953 1304
Soybean - 771 1001 1006 1219
Cotton 95 145 237 325 512
Sugar cane 33736 50670 68123 66305 69001

2.9.4. Cropping and farming systems: The present cropping system is the cumulative result of
past and present decisions by individual farmers, communities, government, and trade agencies.
Farmers decide their cropping systems broadly in relation to a set of traditionally accepted
rotations. The rotation is ordinarily adopted in relation to individual fields. These decisions are
generally governed by various factors including production prospects, expected profit, resource
base, household needs, experience, tradition, social and political compulsions etc.

If one examines the past trends in cropping systems, it will be quite clear that expansion
in area has occurred in favour of those of crops which have either shown a higher growth rate of
production due to technological development or whose relative prices with competing crops have
moved in their favour or high growth rates in yields were combined with high prices resulting in

31
sharp increases in their total profitability. Pricing policy can alter the relative profitability of
competing crops and hence induce change in cropping systems adopted by the farmers.

Table 14. Extent (%) of different crops to total cropped area in India (1950-51 to 2014-15)

Crop 1950-51 1970-71 1990-91 2014-2015

Rice 23.5 22.5 23.0 22.3
Wheat 7.6 11.0 12.9 16.2
Sorghum 11.8 10.2 7.6 3.1
Pearl millet 7.4 8.1 5.8 4.0
Maize 2.5 3.5 3.2 4.4
Total cereals 61.1 61.4 55.5 51.3
Chickpea 5.9 4.7 4.0 3.9
Pigeon pea 1.7 1.6 1.9 1.7
Total Pulses 15.6 13.9 13.4 10.9
Total food grains 76.7 75.3 68.9 62.3
Groundnut 3.3 4.6 4.5 2.6
Rapeseed & mustard 0.8 0.9 2.8 2.7
Soybean - 0.02 1.4 5.8
Total oilseeds 8.3 8.9 13.5 14.3
Sugarcane 1.3 1.6 2.1 2.8
Condiments & spices 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.7
Total fruits 0.6 0.9 1.4 3.1
Total vegetables 1.2 1.3 2.2 4.7
Cotton 4.3 4.7 4.1 6.4
Total fibres 5.1 5.5 4.7 6.8
Tobacco 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2
Other crops 5.6 5.1 5.7 6.9
Total cropped area (m ha) 131.9 165.8 185.7 198.4

A socially desirable and appropriate cropping system should try to bridge the gap
between demand and supply and help attain self-sufficiency in essential agricultural commodities
in the long run, ensuring maximization of farm incomes. There could be divergence between
actual cropping system and the socially desirable cropping system. But since farmers readily
respond to the opportunities provided to them through various price and non price signals, it
should be possible to minimize this divergence between individual decisions and production
targets for both domestic and export requirements through appropriate land use planning based
production and marketing system including e-NAAM, procurement interventions and
improvements in marketing sector by strengthening storage structures and connectivity.

32
 The approach for realizing high productivity of crops demands, matching of the
crop requirements with climatic and soil-site features. Based on this principal, Mandal et.al.
(2001) used climate quality index (CQI), and soil quality index (SQI) and derived land quality
index (LQI) for the areas grown under sorghum in India. Ramamurthy et.al. (2018) have devised
and demonstrated a methodology by using national level data base for Agro-Ecological regions,
physiography, soil-site factors, crop requirements and the relative yield index and spread index
as inputs for demarcating ‘efficient crop zones’ and potentially suitable areas for different crops,
with an illustration for sunflower. Restricting the crops, cropping sequences and the application
of related production technologies (soil conservation measures, balanced fertilization and best
available irrigation management) to the respective potential area/zone (Ramamurthy et. al.,
2018) is one of the best land evaluation approaches for sustainable Agriculture. This approach
and strategy will promote land use planning based cropping systems, improve the soil quality,
raise the productivity and profitability and arrest the land degradation. To aid this approach, land
resource inventory database of 1: 10000 scale is most important for identifying potential crop
specific areas at village/ cluster of villages and also soil and water conservation plans for
ensuring successful execution of watershed development programmes. Selecting crops and the
production technologies in the potential area domains also ensures enhanced water and nutrient
use efficiency and has the potentiality to link with market demands of the farm produce.

Integrated Farming System (IFS) modules/typologies dovetailing the proven efficient

cropping systems in the form of a National grid covering all the AESRs of India needs to be
initiated. These models will be operationalized both at the research stations and as on-farm
demonstrations in a consortium mode by the all the research and extension units of NARES
within a given AESR. These models will create the awareness and promote bridging the yield
gaps, appropriate crop-livestock integration and increasing the share of export of agricultural and
animal husbandry products. This will also showcase the harnessing of supplementary and
complementary relationships among different farm enterprises to achieve greater productivity,
profitability and sustainability. The monitoring of these bench mark sites with suitable indicators
will provide an evaluation of system productivity, profitability and soil health over time. The
results of these demonstrations and farmer’s feedback will fine tune further research efforts and
promote large scale replication of these models by the farmers.
33
2.10. Energy input in Agriculture

The global climate change and shift in food consumption towards high-value
commodities are putting immense pressure on the Indian agriculture to produce more and
efficiently for improving food and nutritional security while reducing the environmental
footprints. In view of this, there are increasing trends towards commercialization and
diversification of agriculture by integration of livestock, horticulture, fisheries and poultry
sectors. These developments have significant implications for energy-use in agriculture due to
increased demand for modern inputs and farm mechanization. Modern inputs and mechanization
require more commercial energy and this holds true for the management of perishable
commodities also. This implies a significant change in energy-use pattern in the Indian
agriculture. This coupled with rising requirement of commercial energy in the non-agricultural
sectors is escalating the demand for more energy. With rising trend in oil prices countries are
looking for alternative sources of energy and energy-efficient technologies.

The structure of energy consumption in the Indian agriculture has changed substantially,
with a significant shift from animal and human labour towards tractor for different farming
operations and electricity and diesel for irrigation. Quantitative assessment has indicated that in
1970-71, agricultural workers and draught animals contributed considerably to the total energy-
use in agriculture (15 % and 45 %, respectively), while electricity and fossil energy together
provided 40 % energy. In a span of three and a half decades, the share of these energy inputs in
agriculture has undergone a drastic change, the contribution of electricity and fossil energy
together has gone up to 86 % and that of agricultural workers and draught animals has come
down to 6 % and 8 %, respectively.

The cost of production and the share of energy costs vary widely by crops and regions.
The productivity of crops depends upon the energy inputs consumed during various farm
operations. The sources of energy that go into the production of crops include material inputs
such as seeds, fertilizers, manures, pesticides and mechanical energy along with human and
bullock labour hours used in the crop production process. Considerable variations in the form
and extent of energy use and its efficiency exist in the production of major crops.

34
 Estimate show that the all India average farm power availability at present is 1.35Kw/ha.
At this average power availability level the food grain productivity corresponds to 1.7t/ha.
However, under double cropping conditions, on an average the farm power requirement is
estimated as 2.5 Kw/ha.

Clusters of smart Bio-villages have to adopt integrated management of land , water and
energy. In these clusters, already available energy efficient farm equipments and practices should
be promoted through custom hiring and service centres facilities, so as to reduce cost of
cultivation per unit area and increase profitability.

Stand alone power units and power distribution systems using solar, wind, biomass,
biogas and producer gas with incentives and bank loans to entrepreneurs to set up these units in
intensive agricultural areas and special agricultural zones for agro-processing and rural domestic
consumption. This will reduce the dependence on energy supply from uncertain non renewable
and costly fossil fuel based sources. We should encourage to energizes all the irrigation pump
sets with solar PV water pumping system.

2.11. Augmenting supply of renewable energy resources

It is estimated that 642 m t of crop residues are generated per year in the country, of
which about 102 m t is burnt causing environmental pollution problem. R & D efforts need to be
strengthen for development of low cost pyrolysis kilns for generation bio-char, high carbon
product for land application to improve the land and soil quality.

Linking of the Mission on providing toilet facilities in rural areas with bio-gas
programme would generate additional power estimated at 8750MkWh.

As per National Bio-fuels policy, the 2G technology for conversion of surplus ligno-
cellulosic biomass to ethanol has high potential in the country.

2.12. Climate change

The impact of climate change on agriculture could result in problems with food security
and may threaten the livelihood activities upon which much of the population depends. Climate

35
change can affect crop yields (both positively and negatively), as well as the types of crops that
can be grown in certain areas, by impacting on timely culturable activities, use of agricultural
inputs such as water for irrigation, amounts of solar radiation that affect plant growth, as well as
the prevalence of pests.

Climate change will also have an economic impact on agriculture, including changes in
farm profitability, prices, supply, demand, trade and regional comparative risks and advantages.
The magnitude and geographical distribution of such climate induced changes may affect our
ability to expand the food production area as required to feed the burgeoning population
projected for 2050.

The extent of inter- and intra-annual variability in climate happens to be large, and the
crops respond differentially to these changes. Understanding of this differential behavior can aid
in working out the impact of climate change. The vast genetic diversity in crops provides a
platform to identify suitable thermal and drought tolerant cultivars for sustained productivity in
the changed climate. Refinement of suitable agronomic management practices can be a potential
solution to optimize agricultural production in the changed climate. To have an overall
assessment of soil health by the climate change, the possible alterations in soil physical, chemical
and biological characters need to be looked into by including land use and land cover change
driving forces. Intensive cultivation in our country has already started showing signs of yield
stagnation in some parts of north-west India, raising the alarm of sustaining the yields by
adoption of suitable agronomic management options. This concern has now to be viewed along
with the climate change and its variability. Increased frequency of droughts and floods in this
region, as a result of climate change scenarios, caution us to identify suitable management
options to face the situation. This needs continuous assessment of the magnitude of the impact of
climate change and the benefits of adoption of adaptation/mitigation measures evolved and
recommended by the NICRA programme studies carried out by the ICAR for the different
districts of the country. Socio-economic aspects of climate change are relatively weak, and future
scenarios are to be modeled for various agro-ecological regions for subsequently linking with
other relational layers to work out the impact.

36
 Agriculture is the Nation's life line and the primary industry. It supports 50% of the
population of the country for its livelihood opportunities. Every year the Ministry of Agriculture
and Farmers Welfare prepares advance agricultural plans, in consultation with the states during
pre-kharif and pre-rabi seasons on various field programmes and targets of production. However,
the country is differentially endowed with the distribution of the natural resources spatially in
different agro-climatic regions, in particular in relation to rainfall, cropping seasons and soils.
Hence, the planning and monitoring of the disaggregated agricultural production programmes
has to be centrally organised in a consultative and participatory mode, with the convergence of
both top down and bottom up processes of programmes for planning and execution. In a multi-
party federalized system of Governance, as in India, the sum total of the impact and benefits of
the efforts and financial allocation for the agriculture sector will be more than additive, if
Agriculture is brought in the concurrent list of the constitution, rather than being a State subject
as of now.
Problems of farmers' distress in different areas due to different causes, mostly natural,
cannot be left to be tackled by the affected areas (states) alone. Moreover, the country is moving
towards e- NAAM and a single Indian national common agricultural market and Indian Trade
Agency (ITO) in the lines of European Common Market (ECM) and WTO. This change will
result also in maximising the comparative advantages of the growth and contribution of different
regions to the National Food and Nutritional security.

3.0. NATIONAL SOIL AND LAND USE POLICY FRAME WORK

Vision Statement: The vision of the National Soil and Land Use Policy is to ensure food and
nutritional security, water security and livelihood security through the adoption of best soil, land,
water and crop management practices to achieve the developmental targets and long term use of
these resources on a sustainable basis so as to handover the quality of these resources
undiminished/improved to the prosperity.
The proposed National Soil and Land Use Policy framework envisages that the science
and technology- led development of the natural resources of the nation viz., soil, land, water,
agro-biodiversity be managed in the best possible scientific manner without any adverse
effects/impacts, so that their inherent use potential is handed over undiminished to the posterity.
37
The frame work also reinforces the "Principles and Guidelines for Action" enunciated in the
revised "World Soil Charter" adopted by the FAO in June, 2015.

The ultimate goal is “Greening India”, of farm lands, grazing lands, pastures and non-
arable urban lands leading to sustainable land use systems and environmental security.

The framework also envisages promotion of advocacy, stewardship, safeguarding and

adoption of optimal land use allocation, matching its potential and intended purpose based on
informed opinion derived from SWOT analysis of each kind of landscape, land and its soil.

Thus, the National Soil and Land Use Policy framework calls for an enabling
environment, logistic support and incentives to the farming community to profitably engage
themselves with “Integrated land use systems” as co-operatively organized and professionally
guided agri-business enterprises and estate clusters of "Smart Bio-villages” for realizing the scale
of power, for a sustainable and enduring agriculture of today and tomorrow. These efforts by all
the stakeholders will ensure food, nutrition, water and environment security of the nation for all
times.

To achieve this vision and sustain its goal, the following recommendations in the areas of
policy measures, structural reforms, operational interventions and regulations are made for
initiating and strengthening appropriate action programmes by all the stakeholders.

Recommendations

3.1 Prime agricultural lands with high carrying capacity, perennial orchards/plantations,
parks and similar green spaces within urban limits may be demarcated and regulated
against diversion. Only under exceptional circumstances, these lands may be allotted for
non-agricultural purposes provided concerned agencies compensate by treating and
developing fully an equivalent area of degraded/wasteland elsewhere. Further,
incentivizing policies for setting up industries in marginal lands will be helpful to achieve
the above objective.

3.2 Clear demarcation of biosphere reserves, production forests, community lands, urban
green belt and potential agricultural lands/special agricultural zones must be made using
38
 geo-spatial techniques. The land use survey organization should use district or even
taluka level geo-spatial data to suggest most appropriate land use and allocation.
This will help in identifying "potential crop zones/special agricultural zones" and
accordingly plan desired cropping patterns at the state/national level. This will also
facilitate land use planning-based production and market system for sustainable
agriculture.

3.3 Soil management plays an important role in increasing the crop productivity in acid soils
of the country which form about 30% of the cultivated area of the country. Use of soil
amendments need to be incentivized and made available to the farmers in those areas by
suitable logistics, transportation and availability, for ameliorating the soil acidity and
enhancing the crop productivity.

3.4 Enhancing agricultural productivity has been the major land saving strategy. However,
there is still a large exploitable yield gap in most of the crops and greater effort on
bridging this gap with effective transfer of technology on soil-water-crop management
are very critical to achieve the production targets, both at farmers' level and at National
level, in the wake of shrinking land and water resources. This will result in sparing
substantial low productive and marginal areas presently cultivated to other non-
agricultural purposes.

3.5 In view of nearly one-third of the land area being under degraded and wasteland
categories, there is a need for a correct and periodic assessment of the nature, magnitude
and extent of soil and land degradation through rapid inventory using appropriate tools
and techniques with particular reference to cultivated lands for their effective
rehabilitation and updated every three years.

3.6 To enhance feed, fodder production and pasture development, an efficient and integrated
land use management system which includes optimum utilization of degraded and
wastelands and common property resources through proven social forestry, silvi-
pasture/ agri-silvi-pastoral/bio-fuel system need to be encouraged. This demands devising
suitable regulatory measures by the Gram Sabhas, other civic bodies and Country &

39
 Town Planning organizations for the development of these lands and their protection
from encroachment. “Greening India” programme also needs to be extended to land
areas adjacent to vast networks of roads and railway lines. To give impetus to the
“Greening India” Movement, a stream of “National Green Corps (NGC)” by involving
students of schools and colleges may be created, similar to NCC/NSS. The students may
be incentivized for their participation in this movement.

3.7 Establishing modern high output soil testing laboratories, use of ICTs for effective
monitoring, and quality control mechanism will enhance the utility and larger reach of
soil health card programme. A dedicated service cadre for soil testing, balanced
fertilizer use and soil health monitoring may be created in the State Departments of
Agriculture. This would ensure adoption of soil test based recommendations of fertilizers
and soil amendments, production and distribution of specified fertilizers (customized
fertilizers, novel products for fertigation and soil and foliar application) for ensuring
greater nutrient use efficiency as well as to upgrade and maintain soil fertility.

3.8 To enhance the importance and utility of soil health cards, apart from soil chemical and
nutrient status parameters, features of the land such as irrigated/rainfed system, soil
depth, texture, irrigation water quality and stoniness and gravelly nature may also be
included in soil health card and such a composite card may be better designed as “Soil
Health Management Pass Book” for every farmer. This pass book may also contain the
information on Best Management Practices (BMPs) for the recommended crops. The
soil health management pass books data may also be used for preparation of digitized,
geo-referenced soil fertility maps by the National Agricultural Research System (NARS)
for promoting balanced fertilization.

3.9 Since there are a diverse set of soil related constraints affecting crop production in
agriculture in different agro-eco-regions, the Indian Institute of Soil Science may be
renamed as Indian Soil Health Research Institute (ISHRI) and appropriately re-
organized for taking up collaborative research with State Agricultural Universities and
Other Research Agencies for tackling the Soil Health Problems and monitoring Soil
Health in different agro-eco-regions.
40
3.10 Soil health status may be monitored by capturing the emerging changes in soil properties
due to anthropogenic activities and climate change on a time scale (preferably every 3
years) in the bench- mark sites representing different soils, cropping/farming situations
in different agro-ecological regions to predict future changes and take-up corrective
measures for higher productivity and sustainability. The ISHRI may co-ordinate this
activity as one of its mandates. Periodic submission of soil health status report to the
Parliament be made mandatory.

3.11 A ‘National Mission on Soil Carbon Improvement’ should be launched in order to

improve organic carbon status of soils, and for adaptation/mitigation of climate change.
In view of India’s climate pledge (COP 21, Paris, 2015), GHGs emission intensity has to
be reduced by 33-35% of 2005 level by 2030. This demands creation of additional carbon
sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030. Hence, particular emphasis and
drive be given to programmes related to efficient recycling of crop residues and sewage,
conservation agriculture, agro-forestry and community-based composting in rural areas.

3.12 It is necessary to incentivize the adoption of BMPs, which will lead to improvement in
soil quality and reduced land degradation footprint to achieve the target of land
degradation neutrality by 2030. For the larger adoption of these BMPs, farmers must
be incentivized (like land tax remission etc.) for the Ecosystem Services provided by
healthy soil and Greener landscape.

3.13 Voluntary Soil and Land Care groups may be promoted through Social Media and KVKs
to create awareness and local level action programmes by Government and local
institutions for promoting a healthy soil and Greener landscape.

3.14 A National Grid of Region specific Integrated Farming System (FS) Models
(Typologies) may be established at representative research stations by the NARS,
covering all Agro-eco-sub regions of India. Concurrently "Smart Bio-village FS
Models" may also be institutionalized by the National Agricultural Research and
Extension System (NAR & ES) at representative villages in the States as operational
Research and Extension Education (Farmers' Field School) Models.

41
 They will be the epicenters for rapid spread of such "agri-business enterprises
compact", which will spatially connect the rural hinterlands with adjacent towns and
Smart Cities as a growth trajectory continuum, as envisaged in the PURA Model of
development advocated by the Late President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

Such paradigm shift of inclusive and dovetailed Rural and Urban landscape planning will
contain the undue horizontal and vertical growth of towns and cities beyond their
carrying capacity and sustainability limits on one hand and contain the emergence of
"Urban Heat Lands" and rural out-migration to cities on other.

3.15 Organic Farming along the entire value chain may be strengthened and promoted in
poorly-endowed regions like rainfed and hilly tracts, tribal and north-eastern regions with
low productivity and low/negligible usage of agro-chemicals, for chosen crops and
commodities where the country has comparative market advantage.

3.16 Protected Cultivation of high-value crops like vegetables, flowers and selected fruits
need to be promoted with suitable incentives for steady year-round supply. This will help
in efficient use of inputs with high productivity, and releasing some land presently
occupied by these crops for other purposes.

3.17 Peri-urban Agriculture is evolving as a new sector. Scientific policies and practices for
promoting peri-urban agriculture are crucial for environmental safety. Recycling and
reuse of treated sewage and effluent water for irrigation and mechanized composting of
urban wastes as source of plant nutrients may be promoted as integral components of
peri-urban agriculture. In this regard, compliance of pollution and health standard
protocols must be ensured for their utilization. Peri-urban agriculture must also
encompass hydroponics, aquaponics and terrace & vertical farming.

3.18 As the fragile coastal eco-system is affected by cyclonic storms and sea erosion, policy
interventions are required in the form of restricting indiscriminate expansion of coastal
aquaculture. The coastal lands must be protected against sea water ingression by
regulating ground water usage, cyclonic storms and sea erosion by erecting embankments

42
 and creation of bio-shields. Therefore, it is necessary to enforce the provisions of
“Coastal Regulation Zone”.

3.19 In the North Eastern Hill Regions, it is essential to ensure minimal landform/landscape
disturbance to reduce/arrest land degradation. In areas where jhum cultivation is
prevalent, alternate modes of land ownership and integrated models of land use as
evolved and demonstrated by ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region may be
encouraged with suitable incentives for their adoption to ensure livelihood security and
sustainability of the fragile eco-system.

3.20 Special package involving multi-sectoral interventions may be implemented for

minimizing degradation and rejuvenation of ravine, waterlogged, coastal saline,
riverine diara lands and Mining areas.

3.21 The present practice of using soil from cultivated lands for brick making should be
discouraged/ banned. The brick industry must be made responsible for accelerated
rejuvenation of lands degraded by their activities. Simultaneously, suitable incentives be
given for full utilization of fly ash for brick making besides greater emphasis on use of
cement blocks and other viable alternatives in construction sector.

3.22 In view of the fact that India is already in the water stressed category and the current
level of surface water use efficiency is around 38 %, it is necessary to promote through
policy interventions and incentives the efficient use of irrigation water by adoption of
micro-irrigation, improved land configuration, laser land levelling and rational pricing
of water and electricity for ensuring sustainable use of water for agriculture.
Further, these incentives will encourage adoption of fertigation, harvesting of rain water
and excess runoff in farm ponds, artificial recharge of groundwater and capacity building
in land and water management. All these efforts shall lead to enhancing the level of
Composite Water Management Index of a given watershed/basin/state in the backdrop
of stressed and scarce per capita availability scenario.

43
3.23 Creation of Farm Ponds for harvesting rain and potential run-off water may form integral
part of water shed management in the Rainfed Agriculture landscape. Inland water
bodies need to be protected and optimally utilized for aquaculture.

3.24 With increasing emphasis on energy efficiency and labour productivity, gender friendly
small farm mechanization, improving farmer’s skills in use of modern tools and
techniques, developing relevant agri-voltaic systems and use of ICTs by establishing
“ICT enabled Resource Knowledge Centres” in effective transfer of latest technologies
will go a long way in improving overall management of farms, leading to enhanced
profitability and efficient use of natural resources. Since more than 52% of work force
are still in agriculture, they and in particular the rural youth may be trained in the KVKs
and Polytechnics under the Agricultural Skill Council Programmes of the Government.

3.25 Considering the skewed ownership of cultivated lands and fragmentation of holdings, it is
necessary to strengthen implementation of laws relating to land reforms, with particular
reference to tenancy, land pooling, leasing, co-operative farming as Farmers'
Producer Companies and joint stock companies, contract farming and land
acquisition.

3.26 It is proposed that a Land Development Department be created under the Ministry of
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare both at the Centre and States. Existing Department of
Land Resources, presently under the Ministry of Rural Development may be merged with
this new Department.

This Department will be the apex body for all Land Care Policies and Programmes. All
the activities related to land viz., digital land records, conservation, reclamation,
rejuvenation of Fallow lands and their development should be planned, implemented and
monitored by this Department in collaboration with R&D organizations and the State
Governments. The National and State Land Use Boards may be revived and
strengthened with representations from all the concerned stakeholders including farmers.
These boards may be serviced by this Land Development Department at the National and

44
 State levels. Water and Land Management Training Centres may be established at the
State Levels and Union Territories in technical coordination with SAUs and KVKs.

3.27 The contribution of Agricultural GDP to National GDP slided from 53.1% in 1950-51 to
13.7% as of now. Agriculture being the primary industry has 45% share in employment
and 52% of the work force are engaged in Agriculture.

It is time that Agriculture is brought under the Concurrent List for effective
implementation of policies and programmes on soil, water and land use for achieving the
production targets of various agricultural commodities required in future for meeting the
internal demands and enhanced export prospects.

---------

45
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