JAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, “Resource and Environmental Monitoring”, Hyderabad, India, 2002 
    
   
GUNA - 
DISTRICT 
        
MP 
TBISHA X 
DISTRICT 
    
  
  
Kharif (rainy) 
season fallow lands 
20 
Kilometers 
   
  
  
Fig 3.Spatial distribution of fallow lands in Vidisha and 
Guna districts, Madhya Pradesh. 
  
Sl. Area SI. Area 
No [Districts (ha) No Districts (ha) 
1 j|Balaghat 272 20 Morena 2085 
2 Betul 46424 21 Narsimhapur| 56971 
3 [Bhind 8705 22 Panna 67786 
4 [Bhopal 25589 23 Raisen 182845 
5 |Chhatarpur 79736 24 Rajgarh 11960 
6 |Chhindwara 32548 25 Ratlam 2898 
7 |Damoh 99886 26 Rewa 78269 
8 |Datia 11024 27 Sagar 240739 
9 |Dewas 28855 28 Satna 118385 
10 |Dhar 64768 29 Sehore 42148 
11 |East Nimar 31583 30 seoni 46131 
12 |Guna 184100 31 Shahdol 18110 
13 |Gwalior 18976 32 Shajapur 2902 
14 [Hoshangabad 13615 33 Shivpuri 20871 
15 [Indore 30399 34 Sidhi 18930 
16 Jabalpur 80556 35 Tikamgarh 11653 
17 Jhabua 11395 36 Ujjain 1679 
18 |Mandla 5061 37 Vidisha 280649 
19 |Mandsaur 10373 38 West Nimar | 32813 
  
  
  
  
  
  
Table 2. Spatial extent of fallow lands in Madhya Pradesh 
Farmers' decision to sow a rainy season crop or keep his land 
fallow is based on several assumptions he/she makes, ability to 
take risk, availability of technologies and existing biophysical 
and socioeconomic conditions. Probing into the reasons for 
kharif fallowing, Krantz and Quackenbush (1970) cited three 
fundamental barriers to rainy season cropping in black soil 
regions: (i) difficulty of soil preparation prior to the monsoon 
for timely sowing of a rainy season crop; (ii) threat of flooding 
682 
of the rainy season crop under heavy rains; and (iii) the threat 
that the rainy season crop will transpire sufficient water to 
reduce available soil moisture for the post-rainy season crop to 
the point that post-rainy season yields are significantly reduced. 
Jodha (1979) states that "given the uncertainty of rainy season 
cropping in these deep black soils and the extreme difficulty of 
raising two rain-fed crops on these lands with the traditional 
technology, the farmer perhaps makes a rational choice in 
leaving the deep black soils fallow in the monsoon". Kampen 
and associates (1974) opine that high rainfall areas exhibit 
large tracts of rainy season fallow due to drainage problems, 
difficulties in cultivation and weed control and the absence of 
viable rainy season crop technologies. 
In order to utilize these fallow lands and prevent them from 
further degradation, recommendations based on extesive field 
experiments conducted by ICRISAT, several ICAR institutions 
and State Agriculture Universities may be adopted. The 
ICRISAT demonstrated the technical and economic feasibility 
of double cropping on dryland with Vertisols where rainfall 
exceeds 750 mm per year (ICRISAT, 1987; Wani 2000, and 
Wani et al. 2000). In Madhya Pradesh early sowing of soybean 
could increase the yields by many folds as observed from the 
crop simulation studies using SOYGRO model using historical 
weather datasets (Singh et al. 2001). Estimates on the size of 
the production environment where double cropping is 
technically feasible range from 5 to 12 million hectares (Ryan, 
et al. 1982). Using state-of-the-art techniques, cultivating 
these fallow lands would generate additional income to the 
farmers, create employment, reduce the edible oil imports if 
crops like soybean are taken up besides reducing the soil 
erosion by water. 
4.0 CONCLUSIONS 
It is evident from the foregoing that the space technology offers 
immense potential in generation of baseline information on land 
and water resources, and in monitoring the progress and success 
of soil and water conservation programmes. The capability 
would be further enhanced with the availability of 6m spatial 
resolution multispectral data from Linear Imaging Self- 
scanning Sensor (LISS-IV) onboard Resourcesat-1 and very 
high spatial resolution panchromatic data with stereo capability 
from Cartosat- 1 and -2 missions. 
Identification of fallow lands at a state (an administrative unit) 
level from coarse spatial resolution IRS-1C/-1D WiFS data is 
yet another dimension which space technology could add to 
optimal utilization of available land and water resources. 
Further refinement in the level of information on rainy season 
fallows at state levels seems feasible with the availability of 
Advanced WiFS sensor data with ^ around 60m spatial 
resolution, « 370 km swath and 3-4 days repetitivety, aboard 
planned Resourcesat-1 mission . 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
We are thankful to Shri S.Senthil Kumar, Junior Research 
Fellow, National Remote Sensing Agency for providing 
necessary technical support. Logistics support provided by 
Dr.Pande, BAIF, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh is also duly 
acknowledged.