Current Science

C. Mandal ¹, D. K. Mandal ¹, T. Bhattacharyya ², D. Sarkar ², D. K. Pal ², Jagdish Prasad ², G. S. Sidhu ³, K. M. Nair ⁴, A. K. Sahoo ⁵, T. H. Das ⁶, R. S. Singh ⁷, R. Srivastava ², T. K. Sen ², S. Chatterji ², P. Chandran ², S. K. Ray ², N. G. Patil ², G. P. Obireddy ², S. K. Mahapatra ⁶, K. S. Anil Kumar ⁴, K. Das ⁶, A. K. Singh ⁷, S. K. Reza ⁸, D. Dutta ⁶, S. Srinivas ⁴, P. Tiwary ², K. Karthikeyan ², M. V. Venugopalan ⁹, A. Srivastava ¹⁰, Mausumi Raychaudhuri ¹¹, D. K. Kundu ¹¹, K. G. Mandal ¹¹, G. Kar ¹¹, S. L. Durge ², G. K. Kamble ², M. S. Gaikwad ², A. M. Nimkar ², S. V. Bobade ², S. G. Anantwar ², S. Patil ², K. M. Gaikwad ², A. M. Nimkar ², S. V. Bobade ², S. G. Anantwar ², S. Patil ², K. M. Gaikwad ², V. T. Sahu ², H. Bhondwe ², S. S. Dohtre ², S. Gharami ², S. G. Khapekar ², A. Koyal ⁴, Sujatha ⁴, B. M. N. Reddy ⁴, P. Sreekumar ⁴, D. P. Dutta ⁸, L. Gogoi ¹², V. N. Parhad ², A. S. Halder ⁶, R. Basu ⁶, R. Singh ⁷, B. L. Jat ¹³, D. L. Oad ⁷, N. R. Ola ⁷, K. Wadhai ², M. Lokhande ², V. T. Dongare ², A. Hukare ², N. Bansod ², A. Kolhe ², J. Khuspure ², H. Kuchankar ², D. Balbuddhe ², S. Sheikh ², B. P. Sunitha ⁴, B. Mohanty ³, D. Hazarika ⁸, S. Majumdar ⁶, R. S. Garhwal ⁷, A. Sahu ⁹, S. Mahapatra ¹¹, S. Puspamitra ¹¹, A. Kumar ¹⁰, N. Gautam ², B. A. Telpande ², A. M. Nimje ², C. Likhar ², S. Thakre ²

Affiliations
1 Regional Centre, National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Nagpur 440 03, IN
2 Regional Centre, National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Nagpur 440 033, IN
3 Regional Centre, National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, New Delhi 110 012, IN
4 Regional Centre, National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Bangalore 560 024, IN
5 Regional Centre, National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Kolkata 700 091
6 Regional Centre, National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Kolkata 700 091, IN
7 Regional Centre, National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Udaipur 313 001, IN
8 National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Regional Centre, Jorhat 785 004, IN
9 Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur 440 010, IN
10 National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms, Mau 275 101, IN
11 Directorate of Water Management, Bhubaneswar 751 023, IN
12 National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Regional Centre, Jorhat 785 004
13 Regional Centre, National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Udaipur 313 001

Abstract

The sustenance of food and nutritional security are the major challenges of the 21st century. The domestic food production needs to increase per annum at the rate of 2% for cereals and 0.6% for oilseeds and pulses to meet the demand by 2030. The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) and the black soil regions (BSR) are the two major food production zones of the country. Since irrigation potential is limited and expansion of irrigated area is tardy, rainfed agriculture holds promise to satisfy future food needs. Frontline demonstrations of these two regions have shown that there is a large gap at the farmers' and achievable levels of yields. This gap can be filled by adopting scientific approach of managing the natural resources. There is tremendous pressure of biotic and abiotic stresses hindering the crop production and that warrants for a systematic appraisal of natural resources. The National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS&LUP) under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) divided the country into 60 agro-ecological sub-regions (AESRs) in 1994 by superimposing maps on natural resources like soils, climate and length of growing period (LGP) for crops and other associated parameters. With the passage of nearly two decades and the advent of modern facilities of database management and improved knowledge base on natural resources, a need was felt to revise the existing AESR map to reach near the ground reality of crop performance. The new database stored in soil and terrain digital database (SOTER) has helped in modifying the AESR delineations of the BSR (76.4 m ha) and the IGP (52.01 m ha). The estimated available water content, saturated hydraulic conductivity and use of pedo-transfer functions in assessing the drainage conditions and soil quality have helped in computing with improved precision the LGP, and revise the earlier AESRs in BSR and IGP areas. This innovative exercise will be useful for the future AESR-based agricultural land use planning.

Keywords

Agro-Ecological Sub-Regions, Food Production Zones, Land-Use Planning, Length of Growing Period.

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