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Introduction
Today the research focus is on the dynamics of land
use. Land represents an important resource for the
economic life of a majority of people in the world.
The way people handle and use land resource is
decisive for their social and economic well-being as
well as for the sustained quality of land resources.
Land use however is not only a realm of those
directly using it; it is exposed to a part of the wider
reality of social and economic development and
change. Land use therefore is a highly dynamic
process. This implies that policy discussion and
development planning need to be based on a sound
understanding of these dynamics.
Indian Perspective
India, with only 2.3% of worlds total land area is supporting 18% and 15% of
worlds human and livestock population, respectively. The per capita arable land in the
country is only 0.15 ha and it is expected to come down to 0.08 ha by 2025. The
increasing pressure on the scarce soil resource and unscientific practices adopted for
short-term gains to meet the mounting multiple demands has led to over exploitation and
degradation of these resources. Long-term sustained productivity is being ignored for
short term gains.
It is a paradoxical situation that on the one hand more production is required
from the scarce soil resources for meeting the demand of ever expanding population, on
the other hand vast areas are either going out of cultivation or showing alarming
reduction in productivity due to land degradation at an alarming rate. Therefore,
reclamation of the degraded lands and prevention of any further degradation of land, are
among the serious national challenges.
As per the recent estimates of National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use
Planning, out of a total of 146.5 million ha of degraded land, water erosion affects 103.9
million ha, wind erosion 13.1 million ha physical deterioration 12.23 million ha, chemical
deterioration 10.3 million ha and deterioration due to other complex problems is 7.2
million ha.
1950-51
1991
2001
0.26 ha.
0.12 ha.
0.11 ha.
0.46 ha.
0.21 ha.
0.14 ha.
1950-51
1991
2001
0.46 ha.
0.04 ha.
(IGFRI estimate)
U.P
4%
Maintaining and improving soil fertility and unit area land productivity.