Development of Tall and Diara Land for Sustainable Agriculture in Central Bihar, India

Mokama tall (lake) area is located in central Bihar (India). It is ephemeral in nature and comprises a group of seven continuous tall. It is spread over a rest area and acts as a delta to several rivers that flow into it. This area is suffering due to stagnation of water during monsoon period; it is submerged under 4 to 6 meter deep water during monsoon. Cultivation of rainy season crops over it is not possible, even cultivation of winter season crops suffers if the drainage and reclamation of the area get delayed beyond sowing time (15 October); thereafter, this is a mono-cropped area with very low productivity. Though the fertility status of soil is good yet the quantity and quality of produce is poor. This is considered to be the main problem. A number of schemes have been executed to solve this but without any substantial success. The diara land is found in between the natural levees of the river and formed due to its meandering and course changing behaviour. The topography of diara land is mostly undulating and intersected with numerous dead and disconnected channels;- Remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) are reliable techniques to prepare a comprehensive inventory of land use pattern of an area. The tall and Diara which are rich biodiversity of and biological resources, have not been given due attention and multiple uses of various resources have not been attempted. In this paper, authors have presented general features of the tall and diara lands; existing cropping pattern and sowing time, soil characteristics and major problems. Involvement of appropriate holistic management strategies have been suggested to improve the agricultural production in this area.