Water Users Association and Irrigation Management - Institute for ...

elevant to their local situation. The classification is mainly based on the surface layer of
the soil. The most common criteria noted in some studies on local systems of soil
classification are based on levels of fertility and reflect the physical properties of soils, or
related factors such as susceptibility to erosion, drainage and water holding capacity and
workability'. Farmers are well acquainted with these characteristics through their daily
observations of soils, and particularly of their surface.
Farmers in the study area believe that level of nutrients is only one of several factors
determining a soil" s fertility. It was learnt that the darker the color of the soil, the more
fertile it is, and pertonns well even when little manure is applied. The normal soils are
most fertile, with high organic matter content. The crops grown in all kinds of soil are
paddy but the most fertile soils are cultivated more intensively and extensively than other
soils. In waterlogged soil, the choice of crops is limited and paddy is one of the few crops
that can be grown without much risk. In moderately affected saline and waterlogged areas,
yields would be poor or growth stunted if they did not use any fertilizers. Severely affected
waterlogged areas are sometimes kept fallow during the Rabi season. Again in severely
affected salinity areas, cropping intensity sometimes declined in both the villages.
Therefore. in severely affected problematic soils, farmers did not expend much etlort since
it did not give the desired results, and hence, the workability is not as ditlicult as for
moderately affected soils. In moderately affected soils, the use of hoes and spades becomcs
a little ditlicult and farmers prefcr tractors. Due to the high organic mattcr content and
humus in the fertile soil, during the rainy season grasses emerge and survive, whereas on
the problematic soil !,'fasses emerge but die quickly. Hence, workability is slightly ditlicult
in fertile soil and farmers generally work hard to maintain the soil fertility. In problematic
soil, some of the weeds grow much more vigorously than paddy because the fertility level
and other physical conditions are ideal for weeds, hence making the workability difficult.
Yet, paddy monocroppinl is common in both the villages. Although HYV are commonly
used some of the farmers in both the villages also used traditional varieties of seed for self
5 Studies by Talawar & Rhoades (1997), Tamang (1993) have reported somewhat similar observations based
on a survey of farmers in Africa.
6 Monocropping refers to the practice of growing a single plant species in one area, usually the same type of
crop grown year after year. Monocropping is generally accompanied by a trend away from mter-croppmg
and crop rotation. Both crop intensification and monoculture are frequently assOCiated with the Green
Revolution.
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