Rural Development Programmes

(i) Sustainable Development and Utilization of Sodic Wastelands, adopting Green Technologies, using Schools as Knowledge Dissemination Centres

(ii) Dissemination of dry flower/cut flower technologies

(iii) Remediation of wastelands

Wastelands in India have been estimated to the extent of about 175 m ha by Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India. Most of the wasteland available in U.P. is salt affected, consisting of about 80% sodic soils.  Sodic soils are commonly found in Indo-gangetic plains of UP, Punjab and Haryana states. About 2.5 m ha sodic soil has been estimated in Indo-gangetic plains. Of this, UP alone constitutes about 1.23 m ha sodic soils. The reclamation and utilization of sodic wastelands are of paramount importance in view of the ever-growing population pressure. The alternate proposition is searching for salt tolerant varieties or some non-traditional crops, which can withstand under such stress.  Salt affected soils could be reclaimed successfully with suitable management practices. Several methods of reclamation have been found successful at Banthra Research Station of NBRI and other institutions.

After sustainable development of sodic wastelands, appropriate agro-technology, specific for such sites is essential to make the cultivation of economic plants profitable and viable for the farmers. This includes recommendations on cultural management, input requirement, crop rotations, cropping systems and post harvest management. The application of biofertilizers and biopesticides further helps in improving the growth and yield of economic plants on alkaline waste lands. It is essential to train the farmers, and also demonstrate these technologies in properly designed field demonstrations, with appropriate economic analysis. The activities of the project aim at helping the rural population to economically utilize the sodic wastelands for growing industrial plants, sustain the environment, and adopt certain activities for income generation

The special and novel feature of the project is using rural schools as Knowledge Dissemination Centres, where teachers and school children will be trained on various aspects of the project. The demonstrations will also be arranged in selected schools. The project is to be implemented in the rural parts of districts Lucknow and Sultanpur.