Tackling land degradation in India

Our research shows that it's critically important to support local communities, involve them in decision-making and provide them with the skills needed to restore degraded land.

It is estimated that 6% of India suffers from some form of land degradation, with Rajasthan being one of the worst affected states. "In some areas, overgrazing has been so severe that trees have been reduced to kneehigh stumps," says Pal Singh, the World Agroforestry Centre's regional coordinator for South Asia. A shortage of livestock fodder and declining crop yields have forced many families to migrate to the cities in search of work.

Recent research suggests that community-driven restoration schemes can play an important role in tackling land degradation across India. As evidence, Pal Singh cites the success of a scheme initiated by one of the Centre's partners in Rajasthan, the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES).

A range of relatively simple soil conservation measures were introduced in two villages, Amartia and Kekadia. The communities constructed contour trenches, gully plugs, soil-filled cages, loose boulder check dams and earth bunds – these help to retain water during the rainy season – and a series of stone-wall enclosures. They also planted trees, seeded some areas with leguminous fodder crops and introduced measures to control grazing. "The soil in these areas is now much richer in nutrients and biological activity than it was in the past," says Singh. "Over the past 6 years, these measures have helped to transform the landscape."

Rainwater run-off has been reduced from 80% to 45–50% in the areas where bunds were constructed. The water level in the wells has risen by 1.5 m, and there has been a significant increase in forest cover. Before the conservation measures were introduced, farmers in the two villages were able to grow two crops a year on just 73 ha of arable land. Now, thanks to the greater availability of water and nutrients, they are double cropping 135 ha, and crop productivity has risen by 24%, reports Ravindranath of FES. Before the project began, farmers were obliged to buy livestock fodder for at least 6 months a year. Now they have a surplus, and in 2010 they raised over 1.4 million rupees (US$30 000) from fodder sales.

"Our research shows that it's critically important to support local communities, involve them in decisionmaking and provide them with the skills needed to restore degraded land," says Singh. Putting this principle into practice is at the heart of two other research and restoration schemes launched by the World Agroforestry Centre and its partners in India. One is helping farmers along the Brahmaputra River to restore land that has been smothered with nutrient-poor sand, the consequence of poor land management upstream. The other, in Orissa and neighbouring states, is exploring ways to help farmers restore fertility to land that has been choked by toxic mine tailings.