45 per cent of country's geographical area hit by soil erosion

New Delhi, Aug 9 (PTI) About 45 per cent of the
country's total geographical area is hit by land degradation
due to soil erosion at an average rate of 16.4 tonnes per
hectare per annum.

According to Ministry of Rural Development, about
146.82 million hectare area of country's total geographical
area of 328.60 million hectare is hit by various kinds of soil
erosion and land degradation.

This was found in a study conducted by the National
Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning and Indian Council
of Agricultural Research, an official said.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR),
carrying out studies at its various regional centres, also
found that the average rate of soil erosion was 16.4 tonnes
per hectare per year.

"This is more than the permissible limit (of erosion)
of 10 tonnes per hectare per annum," the official said.

The study said that about 93.68 million hectare soil
of the total degraded area of 146.82 million hectare was
eroded due to water. This constitutes about 63 per cent of the
total degraded area.

About 16.03 million hectare land has been degraded by
soil acidity, about 14.30 million hectare by water logging and
about 9.48 million hectare by wind erosion.

Nearly 29 per cent of the eroded soil has been "lost
permanently" to the sea and the remaining 10 per cent of the
eroded soil is deposited in the reservoirs, the study said.

It also noted that 61 per cent of the total eroded
soil simply moves from one place to another.

A ministry official said the Centre is running various
programmes to prevent soil erosion and land degradation. It
provides financial assistance to states under the programmes
and monitors its implementation. PTI PKU
SDE