Recommended Optimal Land Utilization and Farming Techniques (ROLUFS) in Pendurthi Mandal, A Geospatial Approach, Vishakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA

Integrating land and water resources is a major key in sustainable development. Managing agricultural land is a concerning task keeping the ever increasing population in mind as agriculture utilizes largest amount of water in the world. A case study of Pendurthi mandal, Vishakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh, India has been taken up for resource appraisal. Basic integration of land and water resources (BILWRUS), generation of thematic maps using remote sensing in conjunction with Geographical Information System, and ground laboratory techniques has been the major task. The proposed landuse has been assigned to all the 23 villages of the study area, using recommended optimal land utilization and farming techniques (ROLUFS) as per the norms set by National water Development Program for Rainfed areas (NWDPRA).


Physiography
The study area forms part of Vishakhapatnam fold belt, and the foliation generally strikes NE-SW. In the central part of the EGGB there are four main tectono thermal events dated at 2600, 2200-1900, 1180-950 625-500Ma Fonarev et al. (1998. Majority of the area is plain and under agriculture, with hills in the eastern, northern and southern parts of the mandal. The predominant rock type is khondalite, followed by charnockites, kalonized clay and quartzite. The charnockites occur as outcrops in small patches. Some of the big rock (khondalite quarries) are at Juttada and Chinnamushiwada. Laterite with iron oxide concretions is exposed near Pendurthi. All the hills inside the study area are khondalites. Workable deposits of graphite are reported near Narava (Figure 2a).
The study area enjoys sub-tropical climatic conditions and the temperature ranges between min 14 0 -20 0 C during the month of December and maximum 33 0 -42 0 C during May. The area receives rainfall during June to December from both south-west and north-east monsoon and the average rainfall is 1110mm per annum (Source: Zilla Praja Parishad, Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh).

Hydrology of Meghadrigedda Reservoir
The study area has numerous ephemeral streams, and depicts dendritic type of drainage which is found in regions where rocks offer uniform resistance in a horizontal direction. The highest order obtained is 6 th , most part of this particular subbasin comes under the jurisdiction of the study area. Meghadrigedda is an east flowing river taking its rise from the Eastern Ghats from the Nandikonda hill. It flows south upto karupavani village and thereafter in south eastern direction until it joins the sea near Dolphin's nose, Vishakhapatnam town ( Figure 2b). Meghadrigedda reservoir drains an area of 220.77sqkm .
The Meghadrigedda reservoir occupies 6.6 sqkm in the study area, hence deserves a mention separately.
The geographical dam site is East Longitude 83  where tanks cover 1.24sqkm, tube wells 6.55sqkm dug wells 4.55sqkm, sprinklers 0.12sqkm and drip irrigation covering 0.03sqkm as per the year 2018-2019 (source: Chief Planning Officer, Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh).

Methodology
Sentinel data 2 has been georeferenced using Survey of India (SOI) topographical maps 65O/1 and 65O/2&3 on 1:50000 which cover the study area. The drainage network has been demarcated as a vector layer in *.shp format. Individual maps as well as thematic maps have been studied in combination.
Generation of basic resources and thematic maps using remote sensing in conjunction with ground laboratory technique has been the major task for integration. Geology, geomorphology and structural maps have been combined to achieve at ground water potential zones. Basic Integration of land and water resources (BILWRUS) was generated using slope, soil, hydrogeomorphology and landuse/landcover (Table 6). Schematic chart showing methodology adopted for integrated resource analysis for the study area is shown in (Figure 8). Various intersecting polygons have been classified according to combinations, and the two composite maps have been integrated to arrive at Recommended optimal land utilization and farming techniques (ROLUFS). Finally present landuse and proposed landuse of the study area has been displayed in Table 7.

Slope
Slope, aspect and altitude are the important terrain parameters which influence micro climatic temperature regime and runoff which play a significant role in soil development, vegetation and crop productivity. Slope plays a very important role in the utilization of the prevailing land surface. A higher slope contributes very high erosion as compared to lower slope to less erosion. The first paper in which observed slope form is applied to the elucidation of the origin of landforms was studied by Sorby (1850) of the origin of the striking steep sided valleys. Significant contributions have been made in calculation of slope by Wentworth (1930), Raisz and Henry (1937), Robinson (1948), Miller (1953, and Strahler (1957).
Highest slopes of more than 15 degrees to 35 degrees are confined to south-western, eastern and norther parts. Major part of the area is under less than 1 degree (Figure 3(a) and Table 2).  dominate the study area, followed by small patches of residual hills and inselbergs ( Figure 3b and Table 3). Ground water prospects map of the study area shows a plenty of scope to increase ground water sources. There is no irrigation system; the entire activity is under dug wells, bore well and tanks.
The total number of tanks are 108 tanks and tank area is 5.22sqkm, the smallest tank is in Juttada covering 0.01sqkm and the largest tank is in Pinagadi covering an area of 0.87sqkm (Sentinel data 2020, Figure 3(b) and Table 3). These are flat and smooth surface of buried pediment with shallow 0-5m of overburden of weathered material of varying lithology. Ground water prospects are poor to moderate. This unit mostly covers the eastern part of the mandal, and lies to some extent in western and southern parts, and is between the contours 20-30m. In this layer the pediment is laid with a thin layer of overburden and is exposed to shallow depths.

Pediment Zone (PZ)
It is a transitory zone between the debris slope and the next important hill slope element the Pediment. Nookaraju and Vaidhyanadhan (1971 These residual forms are relic features lift out during scrap retrieval and pediplanation. These boulder maps owe their origin to mineralogical resistance (Twidale, 1976) and to primary parting/pacing Schumm andChorley (1966) Garner (1974). These isolated hills are noticed at two places lying in the contour interval of (80-100m) Jerripotulpalem village (96m) and Pulagalipalem (98m) and are also made of charnockites. The slope of the hills varies from 12 to 18 degrees. The slope and sparse vegetation accounts to high runoff, hence ground water prospects are very poor. Mass wasting is prevalent in the form of soil creep.

Structural Hills (SH)
There are five structural hills, Yerrakonda (370m), Narava (375m), Vepgunta (263m), Porlupalem (324m), and near Mudapaka (321m). These are made up of well jointed Khondalites. The slope of the hills is in between 12 to 13 degrees. The Yerrakona hill range in the reserve forest is named after the forest. The Narava hill and the reserved forest are named after the Narava village.

Ground Water Prospects and Water Quality
Ground water hydrology may be defined as the science of the occurrence of the distribution and movement of water below the surface of the Earth Todd (1980). Ground water prospects map is prepared for the study area ( Figure 4). 92 samples were collected from the 23 villages of the study area (Table 4). The hydrochemcial data includes the samples from both bore and open wells for certain parameters like pH, TDS, chlorides, flourides, hardness, alakalinity etc. These are determined by using the standard procedures (US salnity Laboratory, 1954;USGS, 1996;Hem, 1970;APHA, 1971) in the laboratory. pH is determined elcetronically with a direct reading called public health meter. Chloride is estimated by tritating the water sample against shear nitrate solution (0.005N) using potassium chromate indicator. Total alakalinity of water sample is estimated by tritating against standard sulphuric acid using methyl orange as indicator and represented as cacosin mg/l. Hardness of the water sample is determined by tritating against EDTA solution (0.02N) and expressed as mg/l. Flouride is determined by the Zirinium alizarine method and is expressed as mg/l ( Figure

Soils and Soil Erodability
Barring the hills and the water bodies the rest of the area is covered with alluvial soils and red loams and clays The gravelly loams are confined to the peripheral areas of the hills in the eastern and northern part of the study On the basis of the soil map prepared, the soils of the Pendurthi mandal have been categorized into alluvial, redloams and clays, gravelly loams and shallow skeletal sandy soils which are confined to the mountains. Figure 6(a). The soils of Pendurthi are free from salinity hazard, but the study area is subject to varying degrees of erosion hazard depending upon the topographic location. The soil fertility is low to medium, necessitating the application of both organic and chemical fertilizers for obtaining good yields. Soil samples were collected for estimation of physical and chemical characteristics in the Laboratory (Anakapalli soil Laboratory, Ankapalli, Vishakhapatnam district).
Based on the soil analysis, it can be stated that the soil reaction (pH) is tending to be alkaline. The soluble salt content is normal (less than 0.1mhos/cm). The fertility status in respect of organic carbon is low, available Po5 is low to medium attaining good crop yields. The spatial distribution of the soils is shown in (Table 5).   Soil erodibility map has also been prepared and has been categorized into three categories. Figure 6(b).
Slight erosion(e1) these areas are flat having none to slight degradation in the form of sheet wash resulting in the loss of 0.5cm top soil.
Moderate erosion(e2). In moderate erosion soil profile loses about 50-75 percent of the soil erosion.
Severe erosion(e3) when the soil profile has lost the entire surface horizon, and also a part of subsurface erosion, it is said to be severely eroded. Total 120 100

Landuse Landcover
Landuse refers to "mans" activities and the various uses which are carried out on the land. Landcover refers to natural vegetation, water bodies, rock/soil besides any artificial cover that may result due to land transformation. The terms landuse and landcover are apparently very closely related and are mutually dependent. According to Vink (1975), the use to which land in a certain region at a certain time is put to use is known as landuse. Based on the 1920 census data (USA) Weaver 1954 published a land use map of that country. Based on Stamps (1950) land utilization system numerous studies were carried out in the Eastern European countries. Landuse maps were prepared by Avery (1965) for the USA and Bruyin The landuse/landcover information mapped have been arranged and grouped into a framework of landuse/landcover classification system primarily developed for interpretation with remotely sensed data. The landuse/landcover has been classified into level I and level II classes, National Remote Sensing Center (NRSA) Here, the "level" indicates the degree of information content. Higher the level, greater will be the information. Variations in multispectral responses of the different landcover categories enable detection, identification and categorization of different landuse classes commensurate with the scale of mapping. Temporal variability of landuse/landcover evidenced by seasonal changes in water bodies and agricultural crops as well as confusion arising from similar spectral response from the different landuse/landcover classes categories are resolved by resource to multi season remote sensing data and group verification. Systematic image interpretation involving detection, identification, classification and codification of the landuse/landcover with reference to image interpretation keys in conjunction with corresponding SOI topographical sheets and other ancillary maps were utilized ( Figure 7 and Table 6).

Agricultural Land
It is defined as the land primarily used for the cultivation of agricultural crops. The agriculture in the study area is irrigated by tanks and is rainfed. The major crops that are grown in the study area include

Kharif Unirrigated
It is associated with rainfed crops under dryland farming covering 32.85sqkm of the mandal and accounting for 27.37 percent of the landuse.

Plantations
Plantations are clearly identified in the crop lands during rabi season by their relatively low response particularly red and infrared regions related to their internal structure of their foliage and sizable open area of the soil exposed between the trees. Major plantations in the region are Cashew, Casuraina and Mango, covering 4.50sqkm and constitute 3.75 percent of the study area.

Forests
It's an area within the notified forest boundary having an association of trees and other vegetation types.
The total forest area is 10.15sqkm covering 8.45 percent of the study area which is associated with trees and other vegetation cover. The scrub forest is an area of degraded forest mainly due to excessive biotic interference and natural causes which contain mainly bushes and scrubs. The degradation is mainly seen on steep slopes of the hills of the Pedurthi and Vepagunta area subject to severe erosion.

Water Bodies
This class encompasses surface water bodies either impounded in the form of lakes ponds rivers, etc.

River/Stream
It is a natural course of water flowing on the land surface along a defined channel. It may be seasonal or perennial.

Reservoir/Tanks
A lake is a large body of surface impounded water natural or artificial within the landmass. Tanks are small lakes of impounded water. The reservoir constitutes 6.60sqkm, 5.50 percent of the study area and tanks 5.22sqkm comprising 4.35 percent of the study area.

Others
Industrial and mining are has been combined in the landuse/landcover map. It covers 2.10sqkm comprising 1.75 percent of the study area.

SF-Hills
Vegetation barriers across waterways.
2) BSA-P The expanded form of the abbreviated words listed in the above table can be seen in Table 7.

Development and Management Plans
Inappropriate and uncontrolled use of natural resources can downgrade their quality and destroy them.

Intensive Agriculture
Intensified agriculture which aims at higher yields per unit area. This particular type of cropping involves high amount of labor and money. If it's practiced in the allocated villages, it will increase the incomes of the families.

Agrohorticulture
Alongside agricultural crops, horticulture sector has been suggested in the villages with a holistic growth of spices, fruits, vegetables, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, etc. as nearness to Vishakhapatnam city makes a good business for supply of fresh flowers as well.

Horticulture
By switching on to species like local berries (ber), cluster beans, gooseberry (aonla) wood apple (custard apple) and pomegranate, the green cover can be increased to eight times. By adopting to drip irrigation the coverage increases to 32 times. The other moisture stress species are guava, cashew, pineapple and manilkarazapota, commonly known as sapodilla (Sapota). Flowers and aromatic plants can also be encouraged.

Silvipasture
Nourishment of cattle improves their working capacity, milk and meat production. Jowar, maize, bajra and horsegram are good fodder crops followed by cowpea, glycine, digitaria, pospalum, and tubers like casava, sweet potato, and arrowroot are some of the crops which can improve the health of the cattle.

Afforestation
It grows maximum foliage next to forestry; an activity chiefly looked after the government. Wood industries are the chief consumers of plantations and forests, next only to fuel needs. Of them housing and paper industry takes the lions share. Wood dust boards must be used instead of main trunkbranches, and for paper, mesta based factories must be increased.NAP (National Afforestation Programme) NAP Scheme aims to support and accelerate the ongoing process of devolving forest protection, management and development functions to decentralized institutions of Joint Forest Management Committee (JFMC) at the village level, and Forest Development Agency (FDA) at the forest division level.
(http://naeb.nic.in/NAP_glance.htm). NAP scheme could be taken as an aid by the mandal revenue office, and forward the proposed afforestation for the covered villages.
There are several species which spur out long branches in no time and they must be encouraged.
EryhtinaIndica (local name, Dadap), ficusInfectoria (bunyan) and Firligosia (Pipa) are all very good to support afforestation, by implanting such ideas biomass growth can be increased.

Social Forestry
Social forestry is an activity of utmost importance to the common man, hence must be practiced anywhere from high moisture zones like tank bunds, water harvesting structures, etc. Even broad casting of seeds in rock beds also will yield excellent results. The stress should be laid on local needs, growing a variety of plants and social fencing. Neglect of the organic matter of the trees by training at growing stage not only wastes biomasss, but also stunts growth and economy. Close density hastens vertical growth, trimming girth, growth, and biomass. Social fencing is a must for survival of greenery.

Barren Stone Area
The quarrying is mostly done in the villages on the sides of the barren mountainous area. In the first place heavy quarrying must be stopped by the local government, however if the activity is being carried on with the support of the local or state government, then it must be encouraged in making large plunge holes in the center, in such a way that they become reservoirs of water in the monsoon season, especially near Vepagunta village.

Discussions
National Water Development Program for rainfed areas (NWDPRA) norms have been followed in acheiveng at (BILWRUS) Basic Inegration of land and water resources by integrating Drainage, Slope, Soil, and Hydrgeomorphology, which has inturn been overlayed with Landuselandcover to arrive at Recommended Optimal Landutilization and Farming Techniques (ROLUFS). The Prepared BILWRUS (Table 7) has been set as a guidleine to match with the ROLUFS (Table 8) to arrive at conclusion for a propsed landuse for each and every village (Table 9). In Table 7, 55 categories of land utlization have been covered as against geology, geomorphology, slope, soil,landcapability, ground water prospects, and as per the pertaining landuse, the propsed land use has been suggested for all the 23 villages with sutiable conservation methods as well (Figure 9, Table 9).
It is essential to develop rural technologies system with a proper setup of delivery modes in growing greens. The covered aspects are silivpasture, horticulture, social forestry afforestation and organic fertilization. Rain water strategy could be developed so that water is stored in underground channels during the rainy season when in plenty,and consumed duing the dry season, when water is scarce. This strategy will also complement the bore well technique which is much more expensive and sometimes non-functional. The constructiocn of rural roads must be backed with adequate transportation system so that the rural dweller should be able to transport their agriculture produce to the district headquarters.
The farmers could organize marketing of their products to obtain better returns. Facilities must be extended to lease out machinary as most of the villagers lack the machinery, and have to expend most of their energy for physical work, their productivity is also very low, and their cycle of poverty becomes a viscous one. In order to allow and maintain continuity in the rural development programs, the Government must enshrine rural development programs into Law, so that subsequent administration will continue to follow and maintain the program, as it is common practice when one administration leaves power, the subsequent administrations tend to jettison or underplay the previous government programs. Proposed land use pattern helps in improving the environmental conditions and rural economic growth, equally helping in sustainable development.