Delineation of erosion risk areas in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States of India Mishra Prasant Kumar1, Mandal Debashis1,*, Math S.K.N.1, Sharda Vishwa Nath2 1ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 2Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board, New Delhi *E-mail: dmandalcswcrti@gmail.com
Online published on 9 October, 2018. Abstract Although several studies have assessed land degradation status in India, relatively few have evaluated the actual erosion risk areas. Moreover, no systematic procedure or methodology exists to analyze and integrate the available data base for delineation and prioritization of erosion risk areas for effective planning and execution of soil conservation programs and ensure environmental security. In this paper, a methodology has been developed as a case study to assess the soil erosion risks by integrating spatial data on potential erosion rates and soil loss tolerance limits (SLTL) for conservation planning in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, predominantly a semi-arid tropical region in India. The analysis showed that about 19% of total geographical area (TGA) of the state requires conservation measures though about 67% area suffers from potential erosion rates varying from 5 to more than 40 t ha−1 yr−1. It was observed that about 81% of TGA in the state does not require any specific soil conservation measure as the prevailing erosion rates are well within the SLTL. The suggested technique can be successfully employed for delineation and prioritization of erosion risk areas in any region or country for identifying best management practices to contain the erosion losses and efficiently plan the land resources to allocate funds on priority. Top Keywords Erosion risk, Potential erosion, Soil conservation planning, Soil loss tolerance limit, Soil sustainability. Top |