ISLAMABAD, Oct 28: The World Bank has advised the government to take initiatives to mitigate the adverse effects of waterlogging and salinity.

According to a WB study, waterlogging and salinity in the Indus basin are caused by factors ranging from defective drainage and genetic salinity to canal irrigation and poor on-farm water use.

A substantial investment in subsurface drainage and lining of distributaries was required to lower the water table and protect the natural resource base of agriculture, the report stated.

It said the public sector would have to take a leading role in developing and maintaining an integrated drainage system.

Large investment for lining or reconstruction of watercourses also required community effort, it said.

There were numerous farm level investments that could substantially reduce soil degradation but they would be made if private returns justified the costs incurred, it said.

The study noted that the level of private on-farm investment was low.

Major on-farm or community level investments were reported for 16 per cent affected plots. Land levelling accounted for 31 per cent of investments over the last 10 years on affected plots, followed by drainage, tree plantation and tubewell installation.

Among regular farm level measures, requiring costly monitoring, irrigation-related measures were taken on 11 per cent of affected plots, 16 per cent implemented a cropping technique to mitigate salinity and 13 per cent undertook land preparation practice.

According to the WB study, waterlogging and salinity and the efforts undertaken to solve them were related to the land holding status of cultivators. About 27 per cent of saline plots were cultivated by tenants. However, while salinity and waterlogging mitigating practice was carried out on 85 per cent of owner-cultivated plots, only 12 per cent of affected sharecropped plots and four per cent of fixed rent contract plots undertook any salinity reducing measures.