1.25 Million - Is the number of land hectares which had been left completely barren due to sodification in Uttar Pradesh, one of the poorest states in India. 75% of the population depends on the land for agriculture as their central livelihood.

March 12, 2007 - 1.25 Million hectares of land had been left completely barren due to sodification.**. The high buildups of toxic salts in the soil have caused declining productivity of food grains in Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state and one of its poorest. A World Bank project documents that 75% of the populationdepends on the land for agriculture as their central livelihood.

**Source: India: Reclaiming Barren Agricultural Land (Uttar Pradesh Sodic Lands Reclamation Project)

SELECTED AGRICULTURE INDICATORS

Year 2005	India	South Asia	Low Income Countries

Arable land (% of land area)	54.0	41.7	13.6

Food production index (1999-2001 = 100)	105	106	107

Cereal yields (kg per hectare)	2367	2499	2087

Agriculture Stats on India

Results on the Ground

Cropping intensity has increased from 37 percent to 200 percent. Yields of wheat and rice have doubled. After five years, yields and incomes have risen by 60 percent. In some areas, land values have quadrupled. Says Sundar Singh of Bilar village in Hathras district, "This land used to be worth only Rs 500 per bigha; now I won’t give it up if someone offers me eight times that amount.” Wage rates have doubled. Read More.

Related Resources

- Agriculture Date for India
- Poverty at a glance in India
- Data and Statistics on India
Agriculture and Achieving the Millennium Development Goals
- Brief Overview
- Exec. Summary (pdf)
- Full Report (pdf)

More Numbers from “Data of the Week”

14% is the number of births attended by skilled health staff in Afghanistan
50% the number of Indian teachers who actually engage in teaching when going to work.
90% the amount of economic activity that goes unreported in Afghanistan

Data of the Week: Sodification of Land in Uttar Pradesh, INDIA

SELECTED AGRICULTURE INDICATORS

Results on the Ground

Related Resources

More Numbers from “Data of the Week”