India, Aug. 7 -- The Government of India has issued a release:

Sl. No.

State/UT

Total Area under land Degradation (in ha)

1

Andhra Pradesh

2,378,042

2

Arunachal Pradesh

200,683

3

Assam

834,530

4

Bihar

746,586

5

Chhattisgarh

2,306,531

6

Delhi

91,543

7

Goa

194,877

8

Gujarat

10,248,057

9

Haryana

364,154

10

Himachal Pradesh

2,400,300

11

Jammu & Kashmir

1,129,503

12

Jharkhand

5,482,260

13

Karnataka

6,959,847

14

Kerala

422,299

15

Ladakh

7,111,968

16

Madhya Pradesh

3,859,735

17

Maharashtra

14,306,029

18

Manipur

612,566

19

Meghalaya

557,576

20

Mizoram

275,827

21

Nagaland

828,943

22

Odisha

5,359,014

23

Punjab

167,989

24

Rajasthan

21,237,669

25

Sikkim

84,610

26

Tamil Nadu

1,599,981

27

Telangana

3,638,508

28

Tripura

447,378

29

Uttar Pradesh

1,549,608

30

Uttarakhand

673,894

31

West Bengal

1,784,345

Total

97,854,851

Government has not undertaken any assessment on agricultural land affected by degradation and its impact on crop productivity. However, as per Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India (2021) published by the Space Applications Centre (ISRO), an area of 6.38 lakh ha is manmade desertification and land degradation in the country as on 2018-19. The State wise details, including the State of Maharashtra, are given in Annexure.

The Government has taken various measures to promote soil restoration, sustainable land management, water conservation and climate resilient agriculture to improve agricultural productivity, as given below:

Despite the challenges posed by biotic and abiotic stresses, the agriculture sector has recorded sustained growth in crop productivity and overall agricultural production over the last decade. Food grain production has increased from 252.03 million tonnes in 2014-15 to a record 357.73 million tonnes in 2024-25, while horticulture production has increased from 280.98 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 370.73 million tonnes in 2024-25, reflecting the resilience and steady growth of agricultural production across the country.

Annexure

State wise Status of Desertification and Land Degradation

This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.