Interface Meeting on Reclamation and Management of Coastal and Inland Salt-Affected Soils of Gujarat

24th August 2018, Gandhinagar

An interface meeting of ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, senior officers of Gujarat State Agriculture Department, State Agricultural Universities and State Line Departments was organized today to discuss and prepare action plan for reclamation and management of coastal and inland saline soils of Gujarat and to set up collaborative platforms for conducting R&D works jointly related to salinity in the state.

 Shri Sanjay Prasad, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture), Govt. of Gujarat, in his opening remarks highlighted that salinity of soil and water is one of the major challenges related to agriculture in Gujarat and informed that about 30% of the total area of the state is affected by salinity. He emphasized to adopt modern sustainable solutions based on new research instead of conventional solutions to tackle the problems of salinity in agriculture in Gujarat. He urged SAU’s and ICAR to collaborate on the task of soil reclamation and find out the region specific solutions for the state.

 Dr. P.C. Sharma, Director, ICAR-CSSRI briefed on extent of salt affected soils in Gujarat and highlighted technologies and interventions developed for reclamation and management of coastal and inland saline soils of the country as well as for Gujarat.

Dr. Ashok Patel, Vice Chancellor, SDAU, urged to adopt zone wise strategies to address the situation of salinity/sodicity.

Dr. N. C. Patel, Vice Chancellor, AAU, mentioned varying nature of problem across the state necessitating region wise/ District wise action plans with package of practices. He said progressive farmers are adopting new technologies on their own but for marginal farmers, projects with 500 ha area should be implemented. 

Dr. C.J. Dangaria, Vice Chancellor, NAU said screening of salt tolerant varieties needs to be taken up on priority. Drip technology is useful and should be promoted for efficient water management in order to prevent soil salinization, he added.

Senior officials from State Govt., SAU and line department attended the meeting.    

(Source: ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal)