Natural resource inventory of Luppi village, eastern plateau of India: Implications for sustainable agricultural development

Degradation of land and denudation of forest resources, instability in production, erosion of soil, and depletion of native fertility status necessitates a thorough understanding for sustainable agricultural development for conservation of natural resources for present and future generations. We studied the natural resource inventory of Luppi village, situated at eastern plateau of India using a Geographic Information System and satellite imagery (IRS IC LISS III satellite imagery) and Participatory Rural Appraisal Technique, a procedure for rapid acquisition of knowledge, development activity, and decision-making done with the involvement of rural people and household survey. A base map and resource map of the village were developed using GEOMATICA software. Toposequence based micro-level study revealed that there were four types of land situations: upper terraces locally called Tanr, Bahri (land close to homesteads), Baad (middle terraces), and Garha (lower terraces). Adverse bio-physical and socio-economic conditions and age-old, traditional, unscientific agricultural activities in the region act as deterrents for crop production and natural resource management. Based on the study, it can be concluded that priority should be given to long term strategies encompassing silviculture or silvi-pastoral system (cultivation of trees and pasture simultaneously) on upland, cultivation of short-duration, flash-flood tolerant, high-yielding rice variety for Aman (wet) season, and cold-tolerant rice variety for winter season in low land areas; social forestry in degraded land; agro-ecologically suited cropping systems with suitable variety choice for problem areas; and judicious nutrient management in homestead gardens that is ecologically suitable, socio-econornic ally acceptable, technologically sound, and environmentally sustainable.