Many land areas in different parts of the world are infertile due to waterlogging and salinity. In Pakistan too huge areas have become waterlogged and saline due to certain reasons. If such areas are reclaimed and their soils are made productive for farming (crop cultivation etc.) more food, fibre and other goods can be produced to meet the increasing human needs for food etc., specifically the future needs. But how this can be done conveniently and economically beneficially. Research based answer consisting of workable suggestions can be highly useful and helping.
Water logged saline soils can be best reclaimed by sub-surface drainage technology demonstrated by ICAR-CSSRI Karnal. It has been used to reclaim large saline soils in the worst affected districts of Haryana. Though it involves cost but ultimately the reclamation is cost vaiable
Thanks Sushil Kumar Yadav for your worthwhile response about the reclamation of saline soils.
Even open drainage, if labour is cheap and available, will work but you have to have somewhere to drain to. Then ridging for planting into can help. The ridges will loose their salt first. Planting forageable salt tolerant plants like saltbush can at least bring some production back for grazing animals while the salts are being leached.
If you don't have somewhere to drain to, planting salt tolerant Casuarinas around the outer edges can lower the water table. This is a lot slower but you can get some nice timber from them.
Thanks Jacob Simons for your useful solution carrying response regarding the issue would waterlogging and salinity.
Please see this: https://projects.worldbank.org/en/projects-operations/project-detail/P112033
Saline soils can be reclaimed by leaching them with good-quality water. The water causes dissolution of the salts and their removal from the root zone. In extreme cases where the concentration of salts in the root zone is very high, crop growth may be entirely prevented. To improve crop growth in such soils the excess salts must be removed from the root zone. The term reclamation of saline soils refers to the methods used to remove soluble salts from the root zone. Since all irrigation waters carry at least some salt, irrigation may hasten the process of salt accumulation in soils, and reclamation of arid lands by irrigation may be followed by a need for reclamation of salty lands by drainage and leaching. A sub-surface drainage (SSD) system is used for reclaiming waterlogged saline lands. Under the system, PVC pipes are laid at a particular depth with the help of machines and saline water, which collects due to gravity, is then pumped out into adjoining surface drains. Use shallow surface drainage on flat waterlogged or inundated areas. Use surface water management upslope, to divert surface water flows. Use raised beds on highly susceptible flats, with shallow surface drainage, and. In high rainfall areas and irrigation areas with clay soils, use mole drains.
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