Agro-Eco Sub region Based Crop Planning in the Black Soil Regions and Indo-Gangetic Plains – Application of Soil Information System

Abstract

Agro-Ecological Sub-Regions (AESRs) of the country were conceptualized using limited soil data and accordingly a map was generated way back in 1994. The present paper revisits the AESR concept to revise this map with the help of georeferenced soil information system (GeoSIS) recently developed at the sub-country levels of the Black Soil Region (BSR) and the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). GeoSIS has been proved to be an excellent tool in successful application of AgroEcological Sub Regions (AESRs) at the regional and national levels. This novel approach could narrow the knowledge gap in revising the soil and agro-management technologies, used in dry land agriculture for productivity enhancement with special reference to the BSR dominated by cotton and soybean cropping systems. For the IGP, similar approach was used for the rice-wheat cropping systems. Revised AESR map identifies the areas under different level of productivity of these four important crops of two major food-growing regions of the country. The identified areas in the form of thematic maps shall help the planners and land resource managers to prioritize areas for resource management.

Soil Survey, the Profession I Embraced: a Few Pages from my Tour Diary

“…The journey started in the Western Ghats ended in the other side of the Ghats towards the Arabian Sea. I observed coastal Maharashtra closely and could gather enormous experience about the soils, flora and fauna to utilize soil information system for horticultural crop planning (Bhattacharyya et al 2019(Bhattacharyya et al , 2021.…”