Technology targeting in underused lands in the Gangetic Plains of South Asia

Satisfying the food demand of an ever-increasing population, preserving the natural resource base. and improving livelihoods are major challenges for South Asia. A large area of land in the Middle and Lower Gangetic Plains of South Asia remains either uncultivated or underused following the rice crop in the kharif season. The area includes rice-fallow, estimated at 6.7 million ha, flood-prone riversides (diara land, 2.4 million ha), waterlogged areas (49 million ha), and salt-affected soils (2.3 million ha). Bringing these lands under production could substantially improve the food supply and enhance livelihoods in the region. This paper describes a methodological case study for targeting improved technologies in underused lands of Ballia District of eastern Uttar Pradesh (India) using multispectral remote-sensing images. Appropriate resource-conserving and productivity-enhancing technologies were identified that offer promising options to these underused and under productive lands. Classification of temporal satellite data IRS-P6 in combination with Spot VGT 2 permitted the identification of all major categories of underused land during the post rainy rabi/winter season in 2004-05, with an average accuracy of 89%. The total underused lands (73.134 ha) in the district were estimated to be 26% of the total cultivable lands (285,361 ha). Winter fallows (including rice fallows) and diara lands were the predominant category of underused land, covering 72% of the total underused lands identified. In addition, late-planted wheat was found to cover 64% of the total district wheat area (134,530 ha). Farmer participatory demonstrations were conducted with promising technologies for both rice (direct seeding with reduced tillage improved boro rice varieties) and wheat zero-tillage and reduced tillage, on flat and raised beds, and surface seeding targeted to different underused land types. Based on three-year averages, farmers gained additional income of US$63 ha-1 by introducing raised beds in salt-affected soils, $140 and $800 ha-1 by introducing deepwater rice varieties (monsoon) and boro rice (winter) in waterlogged areas;and $581 ha-1 by introducing zero-till lentil (winter) in rainfed fallow lowland. Timely wheat planting through zero-tillage implies an additional income of $147 ha-1 and could increase wheat production by 35,000 to 65,000 tons in the district. There is scope for scaling out developed and validated technologies to other districts in the Middle and Lower Gangetic Plains (eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, eastern Terai of Nepal, and northwestern parts of Bangladesh) because of their similar agro-climatic conditions.