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

should be noted that these lands have not gone totally out of production 8 But it is alanning
to note that about 0.41 percent oflands in Gundur and 1.31 percent oflands in Hagedal are
severely affected and have gone out of production 9 . Not much can be done to neutralize the
ef1'ect of soil salinity and waterlogging and in these areas, agency intervention is required to
reclaim the affected soil. If no remedial measures are taken, the lands may be abandoned.
Although the lands in the study area are fertile, fanners feel waterlogging and salinity has
developed because of the introduction of irrigation. Apart from productivity decline this
has also made some lands totally unfit for crop production. Another adverse effect, as
reported by fanners, is the increased cost of cultivation in the affected soils. However, the
fanners in both the villages did not mit-,'fate as a result of lands gone out of production
because such lands are not large enough for migration or to shift from agriculture to other
activities. Nevertheless, the problems need to be attended to.
When the respondents were asked to categorize different levels of soil fertility, the fanners
in the two villages classified their land affected by waterlogging and salinity into three
classes namely, mild, moderate, and severely affected. Classification is mainly based on
their experience of the potential and constraints of their soils. Yield and the quality of
yields are the most important criterion, and fanners are also aware that soil productivity is
closely related to its position within the landscape. They use this system to detennine how
they will manage soil fertility. Tables 5.3 and 5.4 show the area covered by each class of
soil in both the villages.
It is clear from the Tables 5.3 and 5.4 that, about 60 percent of the fanners in Gundur do
not have salinity and waterlogging problems in 311.45 acres of the total cultivated area. On
the other hand, in Hagedal village, 41 percent of the fanners are free from salinity and
waterlogging problems, with an area covering 426.19 acres of the total cultivated area.
About 14.9 percent of the fanners are cultivating under mild levels of salinity with an area
, An important aspect is that agricultural output from a degraded land need not always be zero. It is more
usually reflected In declining yields. The eventuality of the complete absence of production benefit arises
only when the degradation crosses some critical or threshold limit. Below this critical limit. the same level of
variable and fixed resources generate less and less over the years and the production level gradually declines
and become ultimately untit for cultivation leading to the abandonment of the land.
" It may be noted here that the figures above may in fact be little more, as the farmers later admitted that the
actual figures were little lower than they had reported. They overstated the damage, as they wanted land
reclamation activity to be carried out by CADi\.
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