Abstract:
Desertification is a global ecological problem. It is common in many areas in the Theni district of Tamil
Nadu. The study villages in the Theni district are affected by the aeolian sand deposition, forming linear
dunes along the Western Ghats. They have been so for hundreds of years. Arable/agricultural land has been
covered by dunes for an area of 12,000 ha (1999). High dunes are stretching for almost 20-25 km along the
Western Ghats, after about 40 per cent of the area (4,800 ha) has been sand quarried in the last several
years. The villages get very low rainfall of about 650 mm to 750 mm a year as they are in the rain shadow
of the Ghats. The study looks at what happened after sand quarrying/mining of the area by the human
agency during 2012-18 and how the reclaimed areas are now used, for small-scale agriculture, in the last
six years. Secondary and documentary data are not available for the exact extent of reclaimed land being
used, as no survey has been done since 1976. And, lands under the dunes could not be surveyed.
The objectives of the study are: (1) To examine the process of land reclamation in the study area through
sand mining from the dunes and sand encroached areas; and (2) To analyse the use of reclaimed land for
agriculture, by the marginal and small farmers. Land reclamation has been happening for several years as
an individual effort. Some farmers have decided on their own or the advice of a neighbour. In some cases,
they have followed others. Lands of great extent (nearly 100 ha) have been reclaimed from the dunes in
Maniampatti and Silamalai, our current concern. The paper speaks about the impacts of land reclamation
on the agriculture of the villages from a questionnaire survey
