A Review of Soil-Improving Cropping Systems for Soil Salinization

A major challenge of the Sustainable Development Goals linked to Agriculture, Food Security, and Nutrition, under the current global crop production paradigm, is that increasing crop yields often have negative environmental impacts. It is therefore urgent to develop and adopt optimal soil-improving cropping systems (SICS) that can allow us to decouple these system parameters. Soil salinization is a major environmental hazard that limits agricultural potential and is closely linked to agricultural mismanagement and water resources overexploitation, especially in arid climates. Here we review literature seeking to ameliorate the negative effect of soil salinization on crop productivity and conduct a global meta-analysis of 128 paired soil quality and yield observations from 30 studies. In this regard, we compared the effectivity of different SICS that aim to cope with soil salinization across 11 countries, in order to reveal those that are the most promising. The analysis shows that besides case-specific optimization of irrigation and drainage management, combinations of soil amendments, conditioners, and residue management can contribute to significant reductions of soil salinity while significantly increasing crop yields. These results highlight that conservation agriculture can also achieve the higher yields required for upscaling and sustaining crop production

Restoration of Soil Health for Achieving Sustainable Growth in Agriculture

Total geographical area of Pakistan is 79.61 million hectares (m.ha.). Area under cultivation is 21.59 m.ha.; of which, only 5.34 m.ha. (i.e., 25 percent) is free from soil limitations and is fit for intensive agriculture [Mian and Mirza (1993)]. The remaining agricultural lands have various types of problems including formation of slow permeability, water logging, salinity and sodicity, and wind and water erosion. Thus, on an average, three out of four hectares of cultivated land in Pakistan are in poor health. This in turn is causing temporary or permanent decline in the productive capacity of the land. Therefore, poor soil health is posing serious threat to the sustainable growth of agriculture.

Root zone salinity management using fractional skimming wells with pressurized irrigation: Inception report

Wells / Aquifers / Pumping / Groundwater irrigation / Water quality / Salinity control / Irrigation programs / Climate / Waterlogging / Drainage / Soils / Land use / Cropping systems / Farm income

Saline Agriculture for Irrigated Land in Pakistan: A Handbook

Farm Management,

Strategies to mitigate secondary salinization in the Indus Basin of Pakistan: a selective review

Salinity control / Water table / River basins / Irrigation management / Water quality / Irrigation practices / Drainage / Sodic soils / Pakistan

Proceedings of the National Conference on Managing Irrigation for Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture in Pakistan, Islamabad, November 5-7, 1996. Volume III - Papers on the theme, Water management below the Mogha

Water allocationWater distributionWatercoursesIrrigation waterIrrigation canalsWaterloggingSalinityWater useDecision makingSurface drainageIrrigation designIrrigation requirementsSprinkler irrigationWheatSurface irrigationIrrigation schedulingCottonCrop yieldSoil reclamationSodic soilsSoil salinityConjunctive useGroundwaterSurface waterFlow measurementIrrigation practicesMonitoringEvaluationFarmer participationFarmers' attitudes

Detailed soil survey of eight watercourse command areas in Chishtian and Hasalpur tehsils

Irrigation management / Hydraulics / Channel improvement / Watercourses / Soil surveys / Hydrology / Climate / Mapping / Hydraulics / Infiltration / Pakistan / Fordwah / Azim

Soil salinity-sodicity and land use suitability in the Fordwah Eastern Sadiqia (South) irrigated area

Soil salinity / Sodic soils / Soil classification / Soil surveys / Soil analysis / Groundwater development / Water table / Water quality / Land use / Irrigation canals / Farmer participation / Surface drainage / Subsurface drainage / Soil reclamation / Waterlogging / Pakistan / Fordwah Eastern Sadiqia / Bahawalnagar District

Restoration of Soil Health for Achieving Sustainable Growth in Agriculture

Total geographical area of Pakistan is 79.61 million hectares (m.ha.). Area under cultivation is 21.59 m.ha.; of which, only 5.34 m.ha. (i.e., 25 percent) is free from soil limitations and is fit for intensive agriculture [Mian and Mirza (1993)]. The remaining agricultural lands have various types of problems including formation of slow permeability, water logging, salinity and sodicity, and wind and water erosion. Thus, on an average, three out of four hectares of cultivated land in Pakistan are in poor health. This in turn is causing temporary or permanent decline in the productive capacity of the land. Therefore, poor soil health is posing serious threat to the sustainable growth of agriculture. The most important on-farm effects of land are summarised in Table 1

Productivity Constraints of Cholistani Farmers

This paper examines the factors behind low crop yield in Cholistan. Both the quantitative and qualitative analysis show how the low levels of agricultural productivity in this area may be linked to material and climatic factors. The quantitative analysis is mainly focused on physical factors. The qualitative analysis, however, emphasises that relative inefficiency of agricultural activity in Cholistan reflects the influence of physical, economic, social and, most importantly, climatic factors. The quantitative findings provide valuable insight into various ‘sources of productivity’ in terms of acreage effect, capital input effect and irrigation water availability effect. The size of the positive and significant coefficients on these variables suggest the extent to which one or the other variable effect is prominent in improving the crop yield. The qualitative analysis examines multiple interrelated factors which can be blamed on for relative inefficiency of Cholistani farmers. The hot climate of the area turns out to be the most critical variable in this analysis. Many specific technological drought-mitigating measures are proposed. However, for consistent policy formulation, a thorough study and quantitative evaluation of the potential and practicality of these measures in Cholistan is suggested.