Traditional Knowledge for Sustainable Management of Soils - Principles of Sustainable Soil Management in Agroecosystems - page 321

TABLE 13.8 (Continued)
Indigenous Practices of Soil and Water Conservation in India

State Where
Followed Indigenous Practices Crops/Plants Grown Purpose/Benefit

Application of tank silt All crops Improvement of soil

moisture holding
capacity of soil

Andhra Pradesh
Karnataka

Green manuring with
sun hemp; sesbania
and cowpea

Paddy Improve organic matter

for soil fertility
improvement, weed
control, soil and water
conservation

Madhya Pradesh

Crop stubbles/residue
management

Rabi crops Improve organic matter

in soil and to improve
water holding capacity
of soil

Madhya Pradesh

Planting trees Acacia sp. Reduce salinity of soil Uttar Pradesh

Source: Srivastava, S.K., and Hema Pandey, Indian J. Tradit. Knowl. , 5(1), 122-131, 2006.

Jal lands: In the southern Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, there are several
gully courses that suffer from waterlogging with an underlying hardpan. These are
called Jal lands. Such lands are terraced and put to a mixture of ragi and short-
duration rice crops by tribals. The logic is, if the rainfall is normal, both the crops
yield some grain. If there is low rainfall, at least ragi would provide sufficient grain.
If the rainfall is high, ragi may yield less, but rice will provide food security. In
larger-sized gully courses, embankments are constructed to store inflow of rain-
water for (1) direct use for irrigation by gravity and (2) recharging groundwater. This
recharges open wells also (Venkateswarlu 2004).
Jhola lands: In the high-rainfall Koraput district of Odisha, tribals reclaim gul-
lies and hilly tracts between two hills and convert them to terraced rice fields. The
onflowing perennial streams are the source of irrigation. They add adequate quanti-
ties of nutrients through the silt load carried from the hillocks (MSSRF 2012). This
supports excellent rice crop without any need for chemical fertilizers.

13.5 TRADITIONAL CONCEPTS OF INTEGRATED
NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Soil, water, and vegetation were three basic natural resources recognized in ancient
India. The survival of God's creation depends upon them, and nature has provided them
as assets to human beings (Mishra 1998). Since the pre-Vedic era, people have been
managing natural resources to meet their requirements. As the farmers had the village
administration in their hands, they were ranked high in the social system. Farmers gained
technical knowledge suitable to the specific conditions of that region in order to manage
land, water, and vegetation through experience and learning by doing. Every culture of a