Culturable wasteland

Topic: Land Use, Farming Systems and Cropping Seasons in India · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 1 "Resources and Development"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Land Resources and Agriculture"

Meaning

Culturable wasteland is land that is fit for farming but has not been farmed for more than 5 years in a row, and that can be brought back under farming (reclaimed) with suitable methods. It matters because, along with fallow land, it is India's main reserve for growing more food without clearing forests.

Explanation

How land becomes culturable wasteland

• Cause: a farmer stops cultivating a plot. Common reasons are poor soil, no water, a remote location or not enough labour.
• Process: the land passes through three land-use categories, one after another, as the years go by:
• Current fallow (land left unfarmed for 1 agricultural year or less) →
• Fallow other than current fallow (more than 1 year but less than 5 years) →

• Culturable wasteland (more than 5 years).

• Result: shrubs and scrub jungle grow over it. The land is not farmed, but it has not lost its ability to be farmed.

The official definition

• It is land available for cultivation that has not been cultivated during the last five years or more in a row, including the current year [2].
• It may be fallow or covered with shrubs and jungle [2].
• It counts whether it is accessible or not, and whether it lies in separate blocks or inside farm holdings [2].
• It is one of the nine land-use categories. Every hectare of reporting area (the area covered by land revenue records) goes into only one of these nine.

Where it sits in the classification

• Class 12 (NCERT): category (vi) of the nine land-use categories.
• Class 10 (NCERT): it falls under the head "Other uncultivated land (excluding fallow land)", together with:
• permanent pastures and grazing land

• miscellaneous tree crops and groves

• Not part of net sown area (NSA), the physical area on which crops are sown and harvested.

Conditions for reclaiming it

• Reclamation (making the land fit for farming again) needs work and money, for example:
• watershed development (managing rain and runoff in a small catchment so water and soil stay on the land)
• soil-health care to bring back fertility

• irrigation to supply water

• After reclamation, the land moves into net sown area.

Where it occurs

• Across India's reporting area: it is recorded in the village papers. These are kept by village accountants (the patwari or lekhpal) [2].
• Reporting area is about 30.8 crore ha. That is about 93% of India's geographical area of about 32.87 crore ha. So culturable wasteland is counted only inside this 93%.
• Not recorded where village papers are missing:
• Most north-eastern states except Assam. Land there is often under community or tribal ownership and shifting cultivation (jhum), so there are no regular revenue papers.
• Areas occupied by Pakistan and China in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin). These have not been surveyed.

• In tracts with no village papers, gaps are filled using Agricultural Census (1995-96 and 2000-01) estimates [2].

• Where it is going: culturable wasteland is one of the sources of land for the growing land put to non-agricultural uses (settlements, roads, railways, canals, industry), along with farmland and pasture.

Don't confuse with

• Barren and wasteland: this land cannot be farmed with present technology, or only at a very high cost (barren hills, deserts, the Chambal valley ravines) [2]. Culturable wasteland can be farmed after reclamation.
• Fallow other than current fallow: this land has been out of farming for more than 1 year and less than 5 years [2]. After 5 years, it becomes culturable wasteland.
• Current fallow: land rested for 1 agricultural year or less so the soil can recover its fertility naturally. It is usually sown again next season.
• "Marginal land": this is not a land-use category at all. "Marginal" describes farm-holding size (a holding of less than 1 ha).

Prelims Hooks

• Time limits: current fallow is 1 year or less → fallow other than current fallow is 1–5 years → culturable wasteland is more than 5 years.
• Of the nine land-use categories, only barren and wasteland cannot be farmed with present technology. Culturable wasteland can be reclaimed.
• In the Class 10 grouping, culturable wasteland falls under "Other uncultivated land (excluding fallow land)", not under "Fallow lands" and not under "Land not available for cultivation".
• Official definition: not cultivated for the last five years or more in a row, including the current year. It may be fallow or covered with shrubs and jungle [2].
• Culturable wasteland data come from reporting area (village papers of land revenue departments), not from the Survey of India's geographical area.
• Trap: "marginal land" is not one of the nine land-use categories.

Mains Points

• Food security without deforestation:
• Fallow land and culturable wasteland are India's main land reserve for farming.

• Reclaiming them through watershed development, soil-health care and irrigation, and raising cropping intensity on existing net sown area, can grow more food without clearing forest. (GS-III)

• Competing demands on the reserve:

• Non-agricultural uses (towns, industry, infrastructure) keep growing and take land from culturable wasteland, farmland and common grazing land.

• Culturable wasteland can also be used for afforestation. This helps close the gap between India's forest cover of 21.76% (ISFR 2023) and the 33% goal of the National Forest Policy 1988 [3]. Planning must balance food, forests and development.

• Weak data:

• About 7% of India, mainly the north-east and the areas occupied by Pakistan and China, lies outside land-use records. Some figures rest on estimates [2].
• Response: check revenue records against satellite-based maps (FSI and ISRO/NRSC) so that reclamation schemes target the correct land. (GS-I, GS-III)

Related concepts

• Reporting area
• Land use categories
• Area classified as forest
• Barren and wasteland
• Land put to non-agricultural uses
• Permanent pastures and grazing land
• Current fallow
• Fallow other than current fallow
• Net sown area

Read more

• Land-use accounting: reporting area and the nine categories