From Our Correspondent
Tura, July 7: Meghalaya Speaker Thomas A Sangma launched the Sloping Agriculture Land Technology (SALT) project at Sasatgre on the foothills of Nokrek Biosphere Reserve, on Friday in presence of Minister for Soil and Water Conservation, Marcuise N Marak, other dignitaries, district officials and the residents of the area.
The pilot project is being implemented in the villages of Baldinggre, Dura Kalakgre and Sasatgre in West and East Garo Hills with an aim to implement it in other areas as well.
Thomas A Sangma said that SALT project is appealing and initially he was wondering what kind of SALT project it was. But after knowing it, the project seemed important and necessary to prevent soil erosion and enhance fertility to the soil.
Even though Meghalaya witnesses the heaviest rainfall in the world, however the huge amount of water flows to neighbouring Assam and about 80 per cent flows away to Bangladesh, he said, while it is necessary to retain the water for the purpose of using it in the dry season.
The speaker also mentioned that along with the flow of water the fertile top soil flows away and hence the cultivable land of the area becomes less productive, however, SALT project is aimed to help water retention as well as to prevent soil erosion and enhance fertility of the soil – especially in the slopes of the hills and in the abandoned jhum cultivation areas.
Further, he also said that in order to make the soil fertile, nitrogen fixation is necessary and a plant that fixes nitrogen will be planted along these slopes where agriculture and allied activities will be practiced.
Stating that the state government and the district officials have been initiating and implementing different important projects for the benefit of the people, he said that the people should be willing to support and cooperate with these projects and expressed hope that they will definitely help increase production of cash crops like fruits, vegetables and thereby uplift the economy of the rural people.
Minister for Soil and Water Conservation, Marcuise N Marak shared the present context of drastic climate change related to global warming experienced across the planet, “We need to change our ways and life style in order to protect and preserve our environment for future generations,” he said. Mentioning about the disadvantages of jhum cultivation the minister said that the practice of felling trees is harmful for nature and adopting the new Sloping Agriculture Land Technology (SALT) project is a welcome step and advised the people to support and implement the project for better agricultural production and livelihood. Reminding that the Nokrek Biosphere Reserve is the source of the main rivers of Garo Hills region, he urged everyone to lend a helping hand in preserving the water sources as well as the surrounding environment.
Divisional Officer, Tura Soil and Water Conservation (T) Division Charseng Marak informed that the trend setting SALT project is a kind of technology especially useful for hilly areas to retain the fertility of the soil and prevent soil erosion. Hedge rows will be planted to prevent draining of fertile soil and nitrogen fixation plant will be planted. The project would also be applied for cultivation of paddy and squash in the first phase and would be expanded to other areas later, he added.
Expressing his gratitude to the department of Soil and Water Conservation for introducing orange plantation and numerous other development activities in the area, the Nokma from Baladinggre, informed that there has been considerable decrease in the production of agriculture produce like orange, squash, etc in the area and said that the land which produce thousand squash is merely producing about 50 to 100 squash now.
Earlier, during the beginning of the programme, nitrogen fixation sapling was planted at the SALT project implementation site at Sasatgre.