21.

Fragmentation of land holdings’ and ‘Degradation of cultivable land’ are the serious problems of Indian agriculture. Suggest and explain measures to overcome these problems. 

Breaking arable land into smaller pieces is called fragmentation of land.

A] Because of fragmentation of land, the average land holding becomes very small. That makes agriculture uneconomical. Following measures can be taken to overcome this problem:

a. Proper implementation of land reforms will help reconsolidate and equally redistribute the land among people.

b. Increasing population is responsible for the division of land. If we control the population growth and divert some population to other sectors such as manufacturing, fragmentation of land can be checked.

B] Degradation of land is caused by wrong techniques of irrigation, over use of fertilisers and deforestation. Land degradation can be checked by taking the following measures:

a. Farmers can shift from old irrigation techniques such as flood irrigation to drip irrigation or water sprinklers. It will avoid waterlogging in fields.

b. Check the overuse of chemical fertilisers such as urea and pesticides. Increase in the use of organic fertilisers and biofertilisers or cultivating leguminous crops improves the quality of land.