Salinity management alternatives for the Rechna Doab, Punjab, Pakistan: volume one - Principal findings and implications for sustainable irrigated agriculture.
1997
Rehman G. | Jehangir W.A. | Aslam M. | Skogerboe G.V. | Rehman A.
This report is the first of eight volumes under the umbrella title "Salinity Management Alternatives for the Rechna Doab, Punjab, Pakistan". Rechna Doab, the ancient floodplain between the Ravi and Chanab rivers covering a gross area of 2.9 Mha, is one of the most intensively developed irrigated areas within the country. This study, is an integrated attempt across both space and time to address the systems responsiveness to the concerns of soil salinity, and the threat of higher subsurface water levels. Various amounts of data have been collected by public agencies in this study area since 1960. The planning for this study was done during January-March 1995. Then spatial database manipulations using GIS tools were employed to provide the base stratification leading to the selection of sample sites for IIMI's field campaigns during 1995, which were meant to corroborate, and in many instances update, the information already gathered from public sources. This included, in addition to structured farmer interviews, physical observations on the useable pumped water quality, soil salinity, surface soil texture, and cropping patterns. The integrated approach involves a synthesis of spatial modelling comprising drainage, salinity and groundwater use constraints with a calibrated groundwater salinity model; a root zone surface and groundwater balance model; and production function models appropriate to the agroecology of the area. The output provides both suggestive and predictive links to the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the Rechna Doab.
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