The extent of Land degradation reported was 187.7 and 146.8 million ha during 1994 and 2004, respectively and more recently (2010) over 120 million ha based on the harmonized database comprising of 82.6 million ha under water erosion.
12.0 million ha under wind erosion, 24.7 million ha under chemical degradation and 1.0 million ha under physical degradation.
In order to prevent soil erosion and land degradation, Ministry of Agriculture is implementing various watershed programmes, namely; National Watershed Development Project for Rainfed Areas (NWDPRA).
Soil Conservation in the Catchments of River Valley Project and Flood Prone River (RVP&FPR) and Reclamation and Development of Alkali & Acid Soils (RADAS) across the country.
Ministry of Rural Development is also implementing Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) for the purpose.
About 57.61 million ha area has been developed under various watershed development programmes of Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Rural Development since inception upto 2011-12.
Besides, 1.5 million ha sodic land has been reclaimed using gypsum technology and 0.5 million ha saline land have been reclaimed using sub-surface drainage technology across the country.
This information was given today by Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Dr. Charan Das Mahant in a written reply to Lok Sabha questions.
