Western Ghats News

Meet on soil conservation from Nov 16
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 07, 2002 10:46:03 PM ]
PANAJI: A national symposium on `Soil and Water Conservation Measures and Sustainable Land Use Systems', with special reference to the Western Ghats region, will be held at the ICAR Research Complex, Old Goa, on November 16 and 17.

It will be inaugurated by Dr M.V. Rao, former Special Director General, ICAR and Vice-Chancellor Acharya N.G. Ranga of Agricultural University, Hyderabad.

It is being organised under the aegis of the National Agricultural Technology Project, Coastal Agro-Eco System, funded by the World Bank, and will deal with the overexploitation and improper management of soil and water resources, which is causing a serious threat to the production system and environmental degradation in the Western Ghats.

Though the coastal lower ghats receive higher rainfall, still many places experience severe scarcity of water during summer months, as the maximum amount of rainfall is received during the four months of the southwest monsoon. Overexploitation of ground water in the coastal region would also inflict irreparable environmental damage, leading to desertification of presently cultivated lands through increased salinity. Drainage congestion is also a problem, limiting productivity of agricultural land at some places in the coastal region.

A multi-locational study on `Development and Evaluation of Soil and Water Conservation Measures and land use systems for sustainable crop production in the Western Ghats of coastal region', has been taken up under NATP-Coastal eco-system. The Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute Research Centre, Udhagamandalam, is the lead institute with five co-operating centres, viz. CPCRI, Kidu farm, ICAR Research Complex for Goa, IISR Cardamum Research Station, Appangala NRCOP Regional Station, Palode and KKV, Dapoli. 

There will be four technical sessions, viz. soil and water conservation measures, water harvesting systems and water management, integrated watershed management, and resource inventories, monitoring and impact studies of soil and water conservation and watershed management. 

Over 90 research papers are likely to be presented during the symposium, with about 100 delegates participating.