Revamp rainfed farming

The focus of agricultural research and development programmes needs to shift towards rainfed lands that harbour the bulk of rural poverty

Look at the dimensions of India’s unirrigated or rain-dependent agriculture sector.

• About 52 per cent of the total cropland is unirrigated and relies primarily on rainfall for farming.
• Over 60 per cent farmers cultivate crops without irrigation.
• Between 55 and 60 per cent of the gross domestic product of the ‘agriculture and allied activities’ (agri-GDP) comes from rainfed lands.
• Nearly 90 per cent millets (jowar, bajra, ragi and others), 85 per cent pulses, 70 per cent oilseeds and 40 per cent rice is grown in unirrigated fields.  
• About 65 per cent cattle, 75 per cent sheep and 80 per cent goats are maintained by rain-supported farmers.

Such a gigantic segment of agriculture has, regrettably, not received due attention in the development process. The bulk of the investment and promotional effort has gone to water-based farming. The overriding priority to irrigated agriculture was understandable in the beginning of the green revolution. The precarious ship-to-mouth existence for meeting food needs at that time necessitated concentration of efforts and resources to areas having potential for quick breakthrough in production. But sticking to the same strategy even after becoming surplus in foodgrains is hard to justify.

The net result of this discrimination is that the average crop yield in the rain-dependent tracts has remained meagre 1.1 tonne a hectare while it has jumped to above 2.8 tonnes in irrigated areas. The progressive farmers generally harvest four to six tonnes of grains per hectare of irrigated land. The rainfed areas have also been overlooked in providing supportive services, notably marketing support, jeopardising their economic viability. Only 20-30 per cent income of the 

rain-reliant farmers comes from crop cultivation. The rest is from livestock husbandry and other means, including non-farm employment. 

In contrast, the farmers tilling irrigated lands earn about 60 per cent of their income from the crops segment alone.

Unsurprisingly, the green revolution has remained confined largely to the irrigated crops of wheat, rice, sugarcane and a few others. The predominantly dryland crops, such as oilseeds, pulses and coarse grains, including the highly nutritious millets, have not gained much from it. This cannot be allowed to continue any longer. The focus of agricultural research and development programmes needs to shift towards rainfed lands which harbour the bulk of rural poverty.  

The areas having large and contiguous dry-farming tracts are well known. Most of these are located in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, central Rajasthan, Saurashtra region of Gujarat and some parts of the Western Ghats, mainly the rain-shadow areas of the Ghats. Many other states, too, have large chunks of unirrigated lands.

These rainfed territories typically have marginal and small landholdings; eroded, degraded and low fertility soils; poor quality or inaccessible groundwater; and inadequate infrastructure. The farmers in these tracts are generally cash starved and old because the youth usually migrate to other areas. The agro-ecological conditions of these tracts vary considerably and are gradually exacerbating due to climate change. These tracts, therefore, need area-specific strategies to ameliorate agriculture.

Several valuable suggestions to revamp rainfed farming emerged from the fourth international conference on ‘soil and water resources management for climate smart agriculture’ held recently in New Delhi. Significant among these include conservation of water where it falls and promotion of appropriate integrated farming systems, rather than crop farming alone. The farming systems for rainfed areas need to combine crops with trees, livestock, fisheries, beekeeping and others to harness their synergies. Such systems automatically hedge weather and price risks. At least some ventures would yield incomes even during adversities.

Incentivising formation of farmers’ producers companies can help to procure inputs and sell the output at the best prices. 

These bodies can also facilitate induction of new technology and mechanisation of key farm operations to improve their efficiency. However, none of these measures can prove effective without adequate backing from the farm research centres in terms of situation-specific technologies for higher production at lower costs to make rainfed farming profitable.

Email:surinder.sud@gmail.com