The policy of the department is therefore to optimize the land capability through various technological interventions and improving upon traditional practices in conserving the scarce natural resources on catchment/watershed basis. This will result in better environmental protection and enhance farmers’ income, which will ultimately ensure peace, progress and prosperity in the state.
Strategy and approach
- Strengthening and upgradation of existing Meteorological observatories and also to establish weather stations in key locations for monitoring and documentation of daily weather conditions, for dissemination to stake holders.
- Strengthening soil survey, soil testing laboratories and Cartography to establish an inventory of land resources as per its capabilities for a realistic land use plan.
- Capacity building programs for pre-service, in-service employees and farmers’ training programs on soil and water conservation technologies.
- Land shaping in the form of bench terrace, half-moon terrace, bunding, trenching, etc, for slope reduction and manage surface run-off. This will improve soil moisture regime and retain soil fertility thereby improving productivity per unit area and encouraging settled cultivation.
- Reduce soil erosion and rehabilitate non-arable land which can potentially cause hazards and reclaim it for cultivation and other purposes such as drinking water and irrigation source, etc, through contour trenching, gully control structures, conservation forestry, etc.
- Develop water harvesting structures such as embankments, dams, de-silting structures, farm ponds, rain water harvesting structures, etc for multipurpose use like irrigation, fishery, ground water recharge, etc.
- Reclamation of degraded soils by application of soil amendments and liming of acidic soils for enhanced nutrient availability, which will boost crop growth and production.
The action slogan in keeping with the action slogan, “Scientific development, conservation and management of land and water resources for sustainable economic development and healthy natural environment of the state”, the department has been taking up broad based conservation activities through various state and central schemes, throughout the state. In the supporting services sector, soils of the state are being surveyed and tested for determining the health and capability status. In addition, daily weather conditions are being monitored through 17 Meteorological Observatories, 9 Automatic Weather Stations and 22 Automatic Rain Gauges established at different Agro-climatic zones throughout the state. The knowledge of which, are pre-requisite for planning and execution of various developmental activities