Saline soil could double by 2050, affect crop production: CSSRI
According to the institute, India has 6.73 mha salt-affected areas. Of this, 2.95 mha is saline distributed over 16 states
Salt-affected soils (SAS) currently spread across 6.73 million hectares (mha) in India could more than double by 2050, posing a serious threat to the sustainability of the crop production system, city-based Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) affiliated Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI) has found.
According to the institute, India has 6.73 mha salt-affected areas. Of this, 2.95 mha is saline distributed over 16 states. Due to inefficient drainage systems, associated water-logging conditions, increasing use of unsustainable management practices and incessantly expensing area under poor-quality groundwater irrigation, the situation may worsen in the near future as the projected area might increase to the extent of 16.2 mha by 2050.
This rise, the institute said, poses a serious threat to the sustainability of the crop production system. According to estimates, the annual crop production loss due to salinity and sodicity is as high as 16.84 million tonnes, resulting in a loss of ₹23,000 crore (2015 base price).
“Further, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Punjab states account for 80% of the total sodic lands of India. The problem of saline soils is present in 12 states, among them Gujarat has the highest area (1.68 mha). This necessitates the need for sustainable management of the degraded lands to avoid their further expansion and associated ramifications for food security under the looming effects of climate change,” it said.
The problem extends across borders as salt-affected soils are spread in more than 100 countries in the world that covers over 835 mha land, of which 76 mha is affected by human-induced salinisation and sodification.
The CSSRI said, due to this, the livelihoods of more than 2.6 billion (about 74%) of resource-poor peasants are facing a threat globally due to moderate to severe degradation of nearly 52% of the world’s agrarian land, which also results in an annual economic loss to the extent of US$ 6.3 billion.
“To contain the process of further soil deterioration, sustainable land management is vital for ecological sustainability and to meet the national targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Presently, soil salinization is a major environmental challenge affecting the production and flow of essential ecosystem services (loss of biodiversity, nutrient and water recycling, carbon sequestration etc.) eventually results in the reduced productive capacity of soils,” it suggests.
ICAR-CSSRI director Dr RK Yadav said that in this context, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has devised a comprehensive global strategic framework (2018-2030) to overcome international and national challenges.
“For this, the member countries are committed to achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN) by 2030 to restore land productivity and thereby improve the livelihood security of resource-poor farmers. In 2019, India set its target of restoring 26 Mha of degraded land including salinized and waterlogged lands by 2030. To discuss this, the institute in collaboration with the Indian Society of Soil Salinity and Water Quality is organising a conference on ‘Rejuvenating Salt Affected Ecologies for Land Degradation Neutrality under Changing Climate’ from February 14-16. Delegates from eight to ten countries are likely to participate in this conference,” he added.
