🏜️Wasteland Development

What is Wasteland?

In the previous lesson, we studied ICRAF’s Diagnosis and Design (D&D) methodology for planning agroforestry interventions. One of the most important targets for such interventions is wasteland — degraded or underutilised land that represents both a challenge and an opportunity.

Wasteland is land that is presently lying unused or is not being used to its optimum potential due to physical, chemical, or socio-economic constraints. India has vast stretches of such land, and reclaiming them through agroforestry, social forestry, and watershed management is a national priority.

This lesson covers:

1. Classification — Cultivable vs uncultivable wastelands (National Wastelands Development Board)
2. Extent in India — Total area, state-wise changes, and conversion patterns
3. Causes — Why wastelands form and persist
4. Shifting cultivation — Local names across India and the world

Wasteland development is frequently tested in IBPS AFO, NABARD, and FCI exams, especially the classification, state-level data, and shifting cultivation names.

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Classification of Wastelands

The fundamental distinction in wasteland management is whether the land can be reclaimed for productive use or not. The National Wastelands Development Board (NWDB) classifies wastelands into two categories based on this reclamation potential.

1. Cultivable Wastelands

These are lands that can potentially be brought under productive use through appropriate interventions like agroforestry, soil conservation, or drainage improvement:

1. Gullied and/or ravinous lands — formed by water erosion cutting deep channels, common in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan
2. Undulating land without shrubs — uneven terrain stripped of vegetation cover
3. Surface waterlogging land and marsh — areas where excess water accumulates due to poor drainage or high water table
4. Salt-affected land — soils with high salinity or alkalinity that inhibit plant growth; reclaimed using gypsum application and drainage
5. Shifting cultivation area — land degraded by repeated slash-and-burn cycles (called jhum in Northeast India)
6. Degraded forestland — forests that have lost canopy cover and biodiversity due to overexploitation
7. Degraded pasture / grazing land — overgrazed areas where palatable species have been replaced by unpalatable weeds
8. Degraded forest plantations — failed or poorly maintained tree plantations
9. Strip lands — narrow degraded strips along roads, railways, and canals
10. Sand dunes — wind-deposited sand formations, predominantly in Rajasthan’s Thar Desert
11. Mining / industrial wastelands — land degraded by mining operations, dumping of mine waste, and industrial effluents

2. Uncultivable Wastelands

These lands cannot be used for vegetation due to permanent physical limitations:

1. Barren rocky / stony areas — exposed rock surfaces with no soil for plant establishment
2. Steep sloping areas — terrain too steep for any cultivation or plantation without prohibitive cost
3. Snow-covered and/or glacial lands — permanently frozen areas at high altitudes

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Extent of Wastelands in India

India’s wasteland data comes from the Wastelands Atlas of India published by the Department of Land Resources. The numbers reveal both the scale of the challenge and the progress being made.

• Total wastelands in India (2015—16): 55.76 Mha (16.96% of geographical area) — nearly one-sixth of India’s total land is classified as wasteland
• In 2008—09, India’s total wasteland was 56.60 Mha (17.21%)
• Change in 2015—16 compared to 2008—09: 8,404 sq. km decrease (0.26%) — a modest but measurable improvement driven by afforestation and land reclamation programmes
• Per capita agriculture land in India: 0.12 ha — less than half the world average, highlighting the urgency of wasteland reclamation
• World per capita agriculture land: 0.29 ha

Conversion of Wastelands

The majority of reclaimed wastelands have been converted into croplands, showing that agroforestry and land development programmes are directly expanding India’s productive agricultural base:

State-wise Changes

• Decrease in wastelands observed in 18 states, increase in 11 states
• States with the largest decrease: Rajasthan (0.48 Mha) — extensive desert stabilisation and canal irrigation, Bihar (0.11 Mha), Uttar Pradesh (0.10 Mha), Andhra Pradesh (0.08 Mha), Mizoram (0.057 Mha), Madhya Pradesh (0.039 Mha), Jammu & Kashmir (0.038 Mha), West Bengal (0.032 Mha)
• States with increase in wastelands: Odisha (465.82 sq. km) — mining and industrial degradation, Assam (406.69 sq. km), Telangana (377.79 sq. km), Chhattisgarh (373.54 sq. km)

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Causes of Wasteland Formation

Wastelands do not form overnight — they result from prolonged misuse or neglect of land resources. Understanding the causes helps in designing appropriate reclamation strategies.

1. Deforestation — removal of tree cover exposes soil to wind and water erosion, leading to gullied and ravinous lands. This is the single largest cause of wasteland formation in India.
2. Over-cultivation — continuous cropping without fallowing or organic inputs depletes soil nutrients and degrades soil structure, eventually making the land unproductive
3. Overgrazing — excessive livestock pressure destroys palatable grasses and compacts soil, replacing productive pastures with thorny and unpalatable weeds
4. Unskilled irrigation — improper canal management and flood irrigation without drainage causes waterlogging (raising water table) and salinisation (salt accumulation on the surface)
5. Improper developmental activities — dumping of industrial waste, mine spoils, and urban refuse physically degrades land and introduces toxic chemicals into the soil

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Category-wise Wastelands of India

The Wastelands Atlas breaks down India’s total wasteland into detailed categories. The largest categories are barren rocky/stony areas, snow-covered/glacial areas, and land with scrub — together accounting for over 70% of all wastelands.

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Shifting Cultivation — Local Names

Shifting cultivation (also called slash-and-burn or swidden agriculture) involves clearing a patch of forest, burning the vegetation, cultivating crops for 1—3 years until soil fertility declines, then abandoning the plot and moving to a new area. It is one of the major causes of wasteland formation, particularly in the hilly regions of Northeast India. The practice is known by different names across the world and in different regions of India — exam questions frequently test these local names.

World

India

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Summary Cheat Sheet