Soil and land resource evaluation for rural agricultural land use planning – A case study from hot semiarid ecosystem of Western India

Abstract

The farmers of today are expected to maintain rural agricultural landscapes with production mandates that restrict their mandate to integrate conservation plans with landscape management. In this context, an effort was made to evaluate the degree of land use, management and conservation practices adopted in Lagadwal village of Dhule district through detailed soil survey and photopedological interview walks and discussions with farmers. The landscape photographs were thematically arranged and analyzed to construct and narrate theories of land care by local farmers on erosive high hills covering thirty per cent of area (>620m elevation) and supporting extremely shallow Budkhed and Lagadwal series in southern part of the village. The photo views of erosive mid hill landscapes with gullies and landslip areas (40% of area, 600 to 620m) have soil association of moderately shallow Lagadwal thana series on crests / side slopes to very deep Brahmasila and Gaikot series in lower slopes whereas low hills (35% of area, 580 to 600m) with ridge lines and drainage depressions have moderately deep Lagadwal tola series. The farmer’s did not perceive the long term landscape changes occurred due to partially effective conservation plans and pressing financial issues. The photographs revealed the unclear realties of harvesting farm produce on these steeply sloping erosive landscapes emphasizing more on explicit policy toward land management practices and offers opportunity to the farmer’s to change their farm production management activities. The photographs were not intended to evaluate land care per se but offers an insight to the farmers how they look of the land at landscape level.