Land reclamation

Land reclamation is a complex of technical and organizational and economic measures aimed at improving soil, agroclimatic and hydrological conditions for increasing the high return on land use, in order to obtain sustainable and high crop yields.

The application of reclamation works contributes to changes in the complex of natural conditions (hydrological and soil) on large areas in the right direction for people's activities. Land reclamation allows creating optimal thermal, air, food conditions for the development of flora and fauna, and also has a positive impact on the natural environment and terrain.

Land reclamation measures include irrigation and drainage of the soil (irrigation), control of rivers and surface run-off waters, fortification of unstable ravines and loose sands, a profound change in the chemical composition of the soil (salting and liming of acid soils), and soil clearing from stones. The use of melioration makes it possible to increase the productivity of land resources, which is of great importance in the development of agriculture, since it improves the yield, the feed base of livestock, and facilitates the development of new wetlands or desert lands.

There are four types of land reclamation: hydromelioration, agroforestry, cultural technical amelioration, chemical land reclamation. In turn, they are divided into species.

Hydromelioration can be irrigation, drainage, anti-flood, anti-salt, anti-erosion, anti-landslide.

Agroforestry can be anti-erosion, field-protective, pasture-protective.

The cultural and technical melioration of the soil is divided into clearing lands from grass, trees, moss, bumps, stumps; Cleaning of stones and other objects; Meliorative treatment of solonetzes; Sanding, loosening, planting, earthing, claying and primary tillage; As well as other works.

Types of chemical reclamation are: gypsum, phosphorite, liming.

The most tangible result of melioration is given by the integrated application of all or some of its species. Also, its effectiveness depends on the methods used and the cultural work. A complex of reclamation works for a certain territory will depend on its agricultural use (cultivation technology, crop rotation, selection of varieties and crops) and the type of development.

For dry areas, the best moisture indicator is provided by its two-sided regulation. To do this, drainage-humidifying complexes are built, combining irrigation with drainage, the method of carrying out water removal during the period of heavy precipitation and in spring and irrigation of the territory in dry time. Simultaneously with such systems, a collector-drainage network is built in irrigated areas, which does not allow a strong rise of groundwater and controls saline soils. Acidic soils are subjected to liming.

Land reclamation leads to climate improvement, especially in arid areas, as irrigation in the surface layer increases air humidity (because of moisture evaporating from the vegetation cover and soil). This, in turn, causes a drop in temperature and softens the effects of drought.

Usually reclamation extends to hundreds of thousands of hectares of land. This feature entails the importance of choosing a reclamation system on a scientific basis, which does not entail a negative impact on nature and its resources. In order to create a project for carrying out land reclamation work on the territory, first a complex of geological, topographic, geodetic, hydrogeological, climatological, geobotanical, soil and other studies is carried out.