Prof. (Dr.) R.D. Gupta
Quite akin to the Indian economy, which mostly relies upon agriculture, Jammu and Kashmir State’s economy is too dependent upon agriculture. However, these days, agricultural production in Jammu and Kashmir possesses a number of issues. Of the various issues responsible for causing low crop production and productivity, land degradation is the main cause in this context. Scarce plain area for cultivating the various crops, extreme variation in agroclimatic conditions, lack of irrigation facilities and improved tillage implements for the marginal and small land holdings are the other reasons for causing low crops productivity and its production.
Land degradation
Presently, it is not sufficiently realised by a large number of people, how important is to protect the life support systems on which we all depend upon. Among these systems, one cannot overestimate the significance of the land/soil resources, for we derive the bulk of our food and other requirements from plants growing on soil. “Soil, infact, is Nature’s gift to mankind”. In a state like Jammu and Kashmir, where like other states the population pressure is so high, rational utilization of the soil resources assumes great importance for sustainable agricultural production with minimum hazards. This essentially means proper land utilization. Protecting land from further degradation, which is already degraded to the extent of 32 per cent of the total geographical area of 2,22,236 km2 and about 57-60 per cent is not very much suitable for cultivation. According to one report, hardly 5 per cent of the area is available for cultivation in the Kashmir Himalayas, 21 per cent of the net sown area is double cropped and 40 per cent of the cultivated land is irrigated. About 90 per cent of the cropped area produces mainly good crops like rice, maize, wheat, barley, finger millet and potato. Orchards provide temperate and subtropical fruits. Horticulture and sericulture, indeed, are supplementary to agriculture. Land degradation itself is a complex issue which consists of soil erosion, unscientific cultivation, soil salinization and alkalization, acidification, water logging and various developmental activities.
Soil erosion
Owing to great variation in steepness of slope ranging from slightly gentle (1-2%) to very steep slope (15% or more upto 40-60%), the arable lands of whole of Jammu and Kashmir are subject to serious erosion hazards of water and wind. The wind erosion is mostly confined to Ladakh region. In all districts of Jammu region, the damage to soil due to soil erosion is considerable, especially in the tracts lying in the Outer Himalayas or Siwaliks, most of which occurs during monsoon. Most of the foothills of Pir Panjal Himalayas and north Kashmir ranges have been eroded to such an extent that rich soil, which supports vegetation has since been washed away, and what is left behind, is the unproductive mass of gravels, stones and pebbles. There is heavy formation of rills, gullies and ravines in these areas besides sheet and splash erosion. In Jammu and other Siwaliks including submontane area known as Kandi belt, loss of soil through erosion is found to the extent of 168 tonnes per hectare. However, soil erosion in some of the catchments of Kandi area of Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir State, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh is as high as 225 tonnes per hectare.
In the light of the above, the need of the hour is to reclaim the eroded soils through adopting all the soil and water conservation measures viz., mechanical or engineering, agronomic and biological. The most important requirement is to keep the land under vegetative cover for as long as possible, because under such situation there is minimum loss of soil and water. Hence, biological methods should be preferred to follow, being very cheap and easy. Reforestation or afforestation, planting of grasses, establishment of vegetative cover and enclosures are the main methods of biological control.
Faulty agricultural practices
Faulty agricultural practices like cultivation of crops in hilly terrain beyond 15 per cent slope aggravates soil erosion. Imbalanced use of chemical fertilizers – nitrogenous, phosphatic and potassic, without maintaining their prescribed ratio of 4:2:1 depletes the soil fertility which eventually causes deficiency of secondary and micronutrients like sulphur and zinc. Deficiency of sulphur and zinc has now become a major constraint in crop production in soils of Jammu region, especially those of Jammu and Kathua districts.
Soil acidity
There was a notion that no constraint of soil acidity existed in Jammu and Kashmir. This proposition was, however, wrong because as early as in 1939, 1956 and 1967, various scientists found acid soils both in cultivated and uncultivated areas. Even apple growing soils of Sopore showed acidity. Presence of slightly (pH 5.6 to 6.0), moderately (pH 5.1 to 5.5) and strongly (pH 4.0 to 5.0) acidic soils in Jammu region have also been reported. These soils are deficient in calcium and magnesium. But have high content of iron and aluminium which results in phosphate fixation, rendering thereby, its low availability and aluminium toxicity to plants. Thus, crop growth is severely affected and eventually the crop productivity becomes lessened. To increase the crop productivity and its production, acidic soils are amended with liming. Liming requirement varies according to the pH and texture of the soils.
Lack of irrigation facilities
Assure irrigated water supply is imperative for high yielding varieties of crops particularly rice and wheat, which respond to high fertilizer doses. However, there is acute shortage of water in many areas of the state. On an average, merely 40 per cent of an arable land is under irrigated conditions.
Poor economic conditions of the farmers
More than 70 per cent of state’s peasants are economically weak. Their purchasing capacity for agricultural inputs is not so high. As such, it becomes very difficult for them to use chemical fertilizers, weedicides and other pesticides, and new costly varieties of seeds.
Timely supply of agricultural inputs
There is no doubt that the Departments of Agriculture are resorting to a lot of efforts to supply various kinds of seeds, fertilizers and other inputs to the farmers well in time. However, a few of the farmers dwelling in far-flung areas of Kishtwar, Ramban, Doda, Reasi, Udhampur, Poonch and Kathua cannot take much advantage owing to one or other reasons.
Suggestions and priorities for the future
(i) Wherever, the rice and wheat rotational farming system is being followed, requires adopting integrated nutrient management. Integrated nutrient management involves the use of plant nutrients, especially nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, both in the form of organic and inorganic sources. Generally, use of 50 per cent of these nutrients through inorganics and 50 per cent through organic sources have found beneficial to sustain the productivity of both of these crops.
(ii) Green manuring practice requires to be practised, wherever it is possible. This practice besides preventing the deficiency of macro-secondary nutrients (sulphur, calcium, magnesium) and micro-nutrients (iron, manganese, zinc, copper, molybdenum, boron and chlorine) if any, will also enrich the soil with organic matter and nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium.
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