There are five basic
elements (Panch Tatva) that are required for the production of biomass.
These basic items are Soil (Pruthvi); Water (Jal); Air (Vayu or Sameer);
Energy (Agni) and Space (Aakash). If all these elements are
optimally and appropriately and optimally used more productivity can be
achieved.
Land Cover Management
The Land Cover Management project was sponsored by the Department
of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of
India, New Delhi.
The project envisaged producing a larger
quantity of biomass per unit area with a minimum amount of water. Cover
Management is done in three phases i.e. production of biomass, followed by
processing biomass, preservation, and product diversification and marketing.
Soil and Water Management:
Management of soil and water is necessary,
especially in an area where the land is denudated. Following are some
techniques that play a crucial role in the management of soil and water:
·
Ridge valley
structures to ensure minimize soil erosion and rainwater runoff
·
Large-scale plantation
·
Construction of
Continuous Contour Trenches (CCT)
·
Making Loose Boulder
Structures (LBS)
·
Digging Farm Ponds
·
Construction of
Earthen bunds and Dams
·
Cement Plugs (CP) in
drainage lines
These watershed
management measures ensure the availability of water around the year for
agriculture, horticulture, social forestry, etc.
Plantation is done
according to the favorable association between different
species: Promoting multi-tier plantation systems having a favorable
association between different plant species. The multitier system is resilient
to natural perturbation and gives quality biomass from a variety of plant
species.
Soil Nutrient Management
/ The detritus cycle prevalent in nature replenishes and
enriches itself with humus, microbial, and fungal elements through natural
processes as well as human interventions. One way of nutrient management is
making different kinds of manure i.e. NADEP, Vermi, Liquid Fertilizer, Bio
Fertilizers, Green Manure, Biodynamic preparations, etc.
Management of Solar
Radiation
There are two kinds of
plant species i.e. Halophytes are plants that need bright
sunlight and their chloroplast needs radiation of a wavelength of 680 nm,
and Sciophytes are plants that need dim or filtered sunlight
and their chloroplast can work in a radiation wavelength of 700 nm.
Space Management
In a biodiversified plant community,
every available space is utilized for growing organic material. The biomass is
produced at four different levels:
1. Top canopy
of halophytes
2. Middle canopy of
facultative halophytes or facultative sciophytes
3. Ground canopy of Sciophyte
4.
Underground tuberous plants
The productivity
of such plant community is 2.5 times more than the monoculture farm.
Land
before the project
Land after the project
Replication of Technology
CSV implemented the Land Cover
Management project on an experimental plot in Karla village, Wardha
where by using the above-mentioned technologies and diverse sources of water
i.e. liquid water, humidity, fog, dew; capillary, and transpired water. 2.5
times more biomass was produced per unit area compared to the
conventional system of monoculture.
These sets of technologies appropriate for
Land Cover Management were transferred to more than 100 grassroots agencies
working for farmers, artisans, women, and youths.