Saline land is increasing in Gujarat

Dilip Patel
Ahmedabad, 14 September 2025
Gujarat is the only region where the problem of saline land is increasing due to three areas such as coastal area, desert, river mouth, low rainfall, deep groundwater exploitation. Desert, sea, dam and borewell have become a curse for the farmers of Gujarat.

Agricultural land in India is becoming saline. Out of this, 50 percent of the total land of the country belongs to the farmers of Gujarat. A total of 58.41 lakh hectares of land including saline and salt affected land in Gujarat has become saline. According to this, if the loss of production of the farmers of Gujarat is calculated on the support price, then it becomes more than Rs 10 thousand crore. On an average, a farmer has to suffer a loss of 3 tonnes of agricultural production per farmer at the rate of 3 hectares of land.

Despite being in power for 25 years, the BJP is indifferent to stopping saline land. The same thing happened during the 23-year rule of Congress.

Experiment in 3 districts

Fertility of 42 thousand hectares of land has decreased in three districts of Gujarat, Bhavnagar, Sabarkantha and Banaskantha. MS University is helping in improving the quality of soil by 2025. An MoU was also signed to include MS University in this project.

Project
A joint project has been started by India and Germany for land improvement in four states, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Delhi-NCR and Maharashtra. Under this project, people will be made aware to improve the quality of soil by 2029 in 75 villages of three districts. Emphasis will be laid on natural farming and farmers will be trained for this.

Agro forests, check dams and reverse check dams will be built to prevent salinity.

Experts said that it is necessary to plant trees on the land on both sides of the railway track.

Reasons

Factors such as sea salinity, desertification, deepening of groundwater, climate change, excessive rainfall, soil erosion due to flash floods are responsible in all three districts. Excessive use of chemical fertilizers and severe pollution reduce soil fertility. Organic fertilizers and other nutrients should be used to increase soil fertility. Different crops should be grown. Chemical fertilizers should be used in a balanced manner.

Soil fertility has been decreasing for some years. The reason for this is excessive use of fertilizers, pesticides, climate change and farmers not adopting crop rotation every two years. All these reasons are directly affecting the sugarcane crop.

Sugarcane production has reduced by five to six tonnes per acre. The reason for this is that farmers have been growing the same crop for years. And they use more chemical fertilizers due to which the soil has become hard. And the roots of the crop do not go deep. Also, there has been more rainfall this year, and there is also a lot of trouble from pigs. Seminars are also organized by Kamrej Sugar from time to time to encourage farmers to adopt crop rotation and natural farming.

As of 2021, 6.73 million hectares of land in the country is saline. In this, the Central Government has declared a total of 14.35 lakh hectares of land in Gujarat as saline. The Central Government had declared 16.8 lakh hectares of land as saline in 2018. Which is 56.84 percent of the total agricultural land of the country. Gujarat is one such area in the whole country where saline land is increasing every year in the coastal area of ​​1 to 10 kilometers.

Central Government Report

According to the report of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute of the Central Government, 67 lakh hectares of land in the country has been declared saline, out of which 56.6 lakh tonnes of agricultural production is being lost. Agricultural production worth Rs 8000 crore is being lost at the support price. According to him, due to saline land, the farmers of Gujarat are suffering a loss of production of Rs 4200 crore.

Saline water in coastal areas
Gujarat has 1640 km of sea. The lush green coasts of Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Bhavnagar areas have now dried up. Mangrove land is filled with saline water. This has worsened the agricultural conditions. Every year 1 to 10 km of land increases in salinity. This salinity has reached Vanthali. This happens on every coast of Gujarat where rainfall is less. The project of building embankments and walls on the coast to stop salinity in mangroves is not effective. Sea walls have to be built. But it is not possible to build walls everywhere.

Veraval 50 km saline water
There was a good garden of mangrove swamps here. There is salinity there. Roses, nagarbel, clean chikoo and coconut trees grow in the garden.

River mouths
Due to low rainfall and construction of dams in the upper reaches, sea water enters the river mouths during high tide, increasing salinity. Narmada river is the latest example of this.

Rakabi area
Bhal and Ghed areas are areas where saline water is filled because the land is at sea level. Jawaharlal Nehru had made the Bhal soil improvement project. At that time foreign scientists had come. The saline soil of Bhal had to be improved. This project went on for many years. But even today the situation remains the same. Water from four major rivers of Saurashtra comes to Ghed. Still the condition is bad. Where nothing is grown except gram, salinity has come there. Water comes when the tide comes. Salinity is increasing in Bhal area of ​​Ahmedabad, Botad, Vallabhbhipur or Dholka. This problem has been there since Saurashtra was an island. That is why salinity is increasing.

Narmada river, its latest example
Narmada

After the construction of Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada river, water has started coming less in Narmada river. In summer, the sea comes within 120 kilometers. That is why the land in the surrounding areas is becoming saline. If this continues for a long time, lakhs of hectares of land will become saline. This is the condition of big rivers including Sabarmati in Gujarat. Check dams should be built where salinity is increasing.

Rann of Kutch, Dwarka
Groundwater is saline in 6 districts around Banni Rann of Kutch. Patan Division

Saline land of Patan, Saraswati, Chansma and Harij talukas is included in this. Since no other crop is grown there, lakhs of Kharek trees have been planted there. Viramgam, Mandal and two talukas of Ahmedabad districts have become saline. Rice was once grown in Kutch, but now there is a problem of saline water there. It is estimated that there are 20 lakh Kharek trees in Kutch. Kharek has been cultivated in Kutch for about five hundred years. Kharek is an important fruit tree of Kutch.

Irrigation boreholes
Saline water is obtained by drawing irrigation water by making deep boreholes in Mehsana and North Gujarat. The land there is now becoming saline. In Gujarat, where canal irrigation has been used for years, the salinity of the soil has increased due to dam irrigation in Kheda. This is being seen in South Gujarat. Now, due to the Narmada canal, where the water level is the highest, lakhs of hectares of land may become saline after five years. This is more likely in Surendranagar. There is water scarcity due to less rainfall and hence more use of groundwater.

What experts say
K.B. Kikani, former Vice Chancellor of Junagadh Agricultural University, says that about 58.41 lakh hectares of land in Gujarat is saline in varying degrees. If we take the Narmada river itself, 60 lakh hectares of land has become saline.

Effects on agriculture
Saline soil causes low germination of seeds. It becomes difficult to plant saplings or cuttings. When the soil dries up, it becomes sticky and hard. A crust forms on it which does not break when ploughed. Plants are unable to absorb nutrients. Therefore, agricultural production decreases. Since farming is not economically viable for farmers, farmers abandon farming and the land becomes barren.

Measures
Build large dams on rivers and streams, construct large check dams and embankments on the sea coast. Dams, check dams or embankments should be built on the sea coast. Dark zones should be declared.

Agricultural measures
There are new agricultural crops that can be grown in saline soil. Soil and irrigation water should be analyzed. Gypsum and indigenous organic fertilizers should be used to reduce salinity. Increase green cover. Increase soil drainage. Crops can be selected according to the soil and season.

Ezee cornea, piludi, jojoba, jatropha and sarovar should be cultivated for cultivation. After the soil is improved, zinc absorbing crops can be sown against salinity. Many varieties of wheat have also been grown. Do not take summer and winter crops. The drainage capacity of the soil should be increased. Deep plowing with cow dung, rice husk and green manure increases the drainage capacity. This prevents soil erosion.

Crops that can be grown in saline soil

Devla, beetroot, sorghum, bor, chikoo, cotton, sorghum, wheat, millet, sunflower, cassava, spinach, tomato, mango, pomegranate, guava and some medicinal crops like black cumin, sorghum, paddy, barley can be grown. The salt tolerance of these crops is relatively high.

NITI Aayog
The NITI Aayog task force on 2025 said it has suggested the use of cow urine and cow dung to increase the fertility and moisture of agricultural land. The NITI Aayog task force has found that India’s soil is depleting its natural resources and recommended the use of cow dung and urine for crop nutrition in agriculture.
The total cost of running a gaushala with 1,000 cows is Rs 1,18,182 per day including land, while without land, the daily cost is Rs 82,475. The income from the sale of the gaushala’s produce is only 30 per cent, while the rest comes from donations, grants and other income sources. The total daily income of a gaushala with 1,000 cows is only Rs 50,074. Such a huge difference in income makes the gaushala economically unviable.