aDivision of Technology Evaluation and Transfer, Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal - 132001, Haryana
bDivision of Soil and Crop Management, Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal - 132001, Haryana
cDivision of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal - 132001, Haryana
Online published on 24 November, 2014.
India has approximately 3 million hectares of irrigation-induced waterlogged saline area, of which 0.5 Mha area is in the state of Haryana. The Haryana farmers face the problems of waterlogging and soil salinity which are harmful for water-uptake of crops. Agriculture in the semi-arid and arid regions of India is predominantly practised by small and marginal farmers having less than one hectare of landholdings. Hence, farmers are not in a position to invest themselves in irrigation and drainage systems, which are very expensive. In India, most of the irrigation and drainage projects are funded by the central or state government. In Haryana, the Haryana operational pilot project is playing a major role in installing subsurface drainage on a large-scale. The subsurface drainage technology has proved to be a technically-feasible and cost-effective tool to combat the twin problems of waterlogging and soil salinity. It has been observed that after the installation of subsurface drainage system, the average soil salinity decreased by 44 per cent and the groundwater table improved by 35 per cent, especially during the monsoon period. The cropping patterns also changed in favour of more remunerative crops and the yield of major crops increased up to 20 per cent from the earlier levels. Along with increase in land productivity and enhanced farm income, the benefit-cost ratio has increased from 1.1 to 1.4, showing the economic feasibility of subsurface drainage technology in reclaiming waterlogged saline soils in Haryana.
Waterlogging, soil salinity, soil reclamation, subsurface drainage impact, farm income, Haryana
