303
valley area. After that the flood of 2000 had also deposited huge amount of sand
there. Presently the previous agricultural land is under 3- to 4-feet- thick sand cover
according to the village people. Most of the area is now covered with kashbon.
17.8 Proposed Management Measures for the Development
of Wastelands in the Study Area
For the infrastructural development, the operations of the concerned agencies are
not full-proof and conceived with some loopholes. Keeping in view with the previous discussion on the inappropriate strategies, emphasis should be given on the
relevant proposals for the development of wastelands.
Before recommending management measures for the development of the
degraded land in the area, it must be kept in mind that the study area is dominated
by scrub lands and most of them are cultivable wastelands besides limited amount
of barren rocky uncultivated lands situated in the extreme west. Therefore, the proposed measures need to put more emphasis on the reclamation and conversion of
cultivable wastelands to the agricultural lands.
The proposed strategies should focus on two more crucial factors: one is cost
effect and other is time frame. The costing of the conversion of degraded land into
cultivable one or the conservation of the present agricultural land is a vital issue for
the famers who are mostly either small or marginal and sustain their livelihood
depending only on monoculture. Again, the time involved in the reclamation is
another significant aspect to be considered. If it takes more time to recover the land
to reutilize, then the livelihood sources of the poor farmers become uncertain as
there are no alternative sources of income other than agriculture. Moreover, some
critical factors are also to be considered at the time of promoting alternative strategies such as additional costing for the clearance of mining dumps in the degraded
lands of the study area and may be too expensive to manage.
Different types of wastelands require differential reclamation measures, but prior
to the discussion of particular strategy for reclamation of each specific type of
wasteland in selected sample villages, it is essential to discuss all the possible measures to develop these degraded scrublands in the whole area in general. In totality,
the proposed reclamation measures to develop the wastelands in the entire Block
include three consecutive aspects: (i) geo-hydrological measures, (ii) agroecological measures and (iii) economic measures. But these aspects must function
through an integrated management system interconnected with each other as well as
the whole system.
Wasteland development in an integrated manner through checking of land degradation, sustainable production of biomass and measures for increased productivity
of land are only possible by watershed approach. Watershed development is a multidimensional concept where integration of multi-functional models works together
17 Management of Wastelands in Chotanagpur Plateau Fringe: Lessons…
valley area. After that the flood of 2000 had also deposited huge amount of sand
there. Presently the previous agricultural land is under 3- to 4-feet- thick sand cover
according to the village people. Most of the area is now covered with kashbon.
17.8 Proposed Management Measures for the Development
of Wastelands in the Study Area
For the infrastructural development, the operations of the concerned agencies are
not full-proof and conceived with some loopholes. Keeping in view with the previous discussion on the inappropriate strategies, emphasis should be given on the
relevant proposals for the development of wastelands.
Before recommending management measures for the development of the
degraded land in the area, it must be kept in mind that the study area is dominated
by scrub lands and most of them are cultivable wastelands besides limited amount
of barren rocky uncultivated lands situated in the extreme west. Therefore, the proposed measures need to put more emphasis on the reclamation and conversion of
cultivable wastelands to the agricultural lands.
The proposed strategies should focus on two more crucial factors: one is cost
effect and other is time frame. The costing of the conversion of degraded land into
cultivable one or the conservation of the present agricultural land is a vital issue for
the famers who are mostly either small or marginal and sustain their livelihood
depending only on monoculture. Again, the time involved in the reclamation is
another significant aspect to be considered. If it takes more time to recover the land
to reutilize, then the livelihood sources of the poor farmers become uncertain as
there are no alternative sources of income other than agriculture. Moreover, some
critical factors are also to be considered at the time of promoting alternative strategies such as additional costing for the clearance of mining dumps in the degraded
lands of the study area and may be too expensive to manage.
Different types of wastelands require differential reclamation measures, but prior
to the discussion of particular strategy for reclamation of each specific type of
wasteland in selected sample villages, it is essential to discuss all the possible measures to develop these degraded scrublands in the whole area in general. In totality,
the proposed reclamation measures to develop the wastelands in the entire Block
include three consecutive aspects: (i) geo-hydrological measures, (ii) agroecological measures and (iii) economic measures. But these aspects must function
through an integrated management system interconnected with each other as well as
the whole system.
Wasteland development in an integrated manner through checking of land degradation, sustainable production of biomass and measures for increased productivity
of land are only possible by watershed approach. Watershed development is a multidimensional concept where integration of multi-functional models works together
17 Management of Wastelands in Chotanagpur Plateau Fringe: Lessons…