Module 4 - India: Community Organization to Reclaim Sodic Lands

Uttar Pradesh State in India has about 17 million hectares under cultivation. It accounts for 10 percent of India's net sown area and 25 percent of the total irrigated area. It produces nearly 20 percent of India's food grains. A major concern in the state is the declining productivity of food grains, especially rice and wheat. This decline results mainly from water-induced land degradation (salinization, sodification, groundwater depletion) and loss of soil fertility (the sustained removal of nutrients is associated with more intensive cropping and the inappropriate use of heavily subsidized nitrogen fertilizers.

Project Objectives and Description

The main objectives of the Uttar Pradesh Sodic Lands Reclamation Projects (Sodic I and Sodic II) were to:

• Develop models for environmental protection and improved agricultural production through large-scale reclamation of sodic lands.
  
  
• Strengthen local institutions to manage such schemes.
  
  
• Contribute to poverty reduction of the families concerned.

The Sodic I pilot took the approach that any physical investments in the land to reduce sodicity would have to be partnered and owned by a community that recognized their value. It thus designed a project based on participation, decentralization, and linking research and technology institutions to farmers. Under Sodic I, approximately 64,000 hectares of barren lands were brought under green cover for the first time. Sodic II seeks to use the approaches tested in Sodic I to increase agricultural productivity in 10 districts of Uttar Pradesh. Essential elements for sustained land quality improvements were defined to include community participation and ownership, rehabilitation of drains, improved irrigation management, and increased research on appropriate technologies. The research-extension link was also found to be weak and was to be strengthened through community-based mechanisms. Important components of participation and their characteristics include:

• The on-farm development and land reclamation component focuses on beneficiary-led, on-farm reclamation efforts.
  
  
• The technology dissemination component establishes a community-based, demand-driven system, building on the successes of the pilot project in developing grassroot organizations and their participation in supporting technology dissemination.