Soil Water Management in India

Abstract

The growing demand for food in India, due to rising population and rapid industrialization, necessitates judicious and sustainable management of soil and water resources. While the increase in agronomic production of irrigated rice-wheat system (RWS) has been impressive since the 1970s, the low water- and fertilizer-use efficiency has caused degradation of soil quality and pollution of surface and ground waters. With increasing competition for soil and water for non-agricultural uses (e.g., urbanization, industrial use), the strategy is to increase production per unit input of scarce resources through agricultural intensification, and by reducing losses and optimizing the input-use efficiency. Strategies of soil-water management in India's dry farming regions include conserving water in the root zone, water harvesting, and recycling, and integrated nutrient management (INM) involving use of crop residue mulch and biosolids. Similarly, soil-water management in India's irrigated regions (e.g., RWS in the Indo-Gangetic Basin) include INM, crop-residue management, efficient irrigation methods (furrow, drip), irrigation with saline water, alternative cropping systems, and no-till farming. Soil water, the precious and scarce resource, must be used prudently. Undervaluing a scarce resource can lead to its misuse, overexploitation, depletion, pollution, and contamination and eutrophication.

KEYWORDS:

• water-use efficiency
• irrigation
• integrated nutrient management
• no-till farming
• residue management