Conservation in Land Reclamation Programs

Abstract: The additional water required for the reclamation of agricultural lands might not be available in adequate quantities and at an appropriate time. Since the demand for the limited water in arid and semi-arid regions is increasing, it calls for in-situ conservation of rainwater. A rainwater conservation technology is proposed that form a part of the alkali land reclamation programs. This technology if adopted, could conserve more than 80 % of the rainwater in the area where it falls. On-farm development activities and leaching with saline water that occur naturally are proposed for in-situ conservation of rainfall to leach saline soils. The rainwater utilization for leaching in this manner could almost be doubled. Use of saline water for leaching is also highlighted. With this approach, a 15%—40 % saving in the fresh water requirement could be attained. A pitcher irrigation technique for irrigation with saline water is also described. It is shown that highly saline water even up to 15 dS/m EC could be used to grow salt sensitive vegetable crops. Some of these technologies could be extended to normal lands to augment the scarce natural resource, minimize drainage and avoid flooding at the tail ends