Integrated systems approach for enhancing resilience of arid farming systems in South Asia

This paper aims to share the methods and processes of designing resilient farming systems to improve livelihoods under the drylands in South-Asia. The study is based on 250 randomly selected farm households along the rainfall gradient from Jodhpur- Barmer-Jaisalmer districts in Western Rajasthan in India. Our analysis demonstrates that the dryland smallholder farming systems occur within diverse agro-ecological and socio-economic environments and develop different livelihood strategies driven by opportunities and constraints encountered. Multiple livelihood assets determine different land use patterns and agricultural management practices in dryland systems in south Asia. Well-designed household survey on socio-economic and agroecological variables and statistical approach helped capture the diversity of livelihood assets to categorize households into homogenous farm types. The follow up FDG’s with farmers and stakeholder were equally important to validate farm typologies and prioritization of interventions. Engaging the innovation platform for identification of potential innovation options and their prioritization at district level; involving farmers for each farm typology, and ex-ante assessment of promising options led to the on-farm assessment of farm type specific most appropriate interventions in the action villages. Landscape and community level options were prioritized with the village development committee and proactive farmers. The institutional platforms experimented at village to regional level has strengthened the capacity of the community/stakeholders to innovate to improve the farming systems resilience and economic viability. An ex-post assessment demonstrates significant increase in farming systems productivity, household income and development of value chains as well as sustainable management of natural resource including common pastures. This study contributes to the understanding of how research for development through integrated systems approach can contribute towards stabilizing farm incomes, sustainable intensification and smoothening livelihood of resource poor farmers in vulnerable dry regions

Vermicomposting of green Eucalyptus leaf litter by Eisenia foetida and Eudrilus eugenia

Effective clearance of different types of waste has become significant to sustain healthy environment. Vermicomposting has become a suitable substitute for the safe, hygienic and cost effective disposal of organic solid wastes. Earthworms decompose organic waste leading to the production of compost which is high in nutrient content. The present work has been designed to reveal competitive and / or beneficial interactions by studying the inter-specific interactions in terms of growth, maturation, survival and vermicomposting efficiency of two earthworm species Eisenia foetida and Eudrilus eugenia exposed to green leaf litter of Eucalyptus and measured physical variables during entire process. The complete process was taken fourteen weeks.Work was done in plastic beans in four set. 100 % cattle dung was also taken as a control. During the process following parameters viz. pH, temperature, biomass reduction and moisture content were analysed.pHof vermicomposting substrate was recorded low initially acidic but at last stage set in alkaline range. In case of temperature, it was changed 16-18°C ± 1°C from initial value. This was higher than control cattle dung (13°C± 1°C). Organic biomass was also depleted during process which was about 70-71 % ±1 % from initial level as compaired to cattle dung (46 %). Moisture content was lowerinitially then increased and set at high level

Chemical Stabilisation of Sand : Part* II Construction and Studies of 50m X 4m Road

An experimental track (50m X 4m) was constructed on a loose sand bed by using two chemical-sand composition containing either 9 per cent urea formaldehyde (UF) resin or 11 per cent sodium silicate binder (on solid content basis). The trafficability studies on 5-6 cm thick stabilised track was found to vary from 1625 to 1700 psi in UF stabilised track and from 1340 to 1460 psi in silicate stabilised track. The effect of resin, desert environmental conditions and trafficability studies showed cumulative loss of load bearing capacity from 1625-1700 to 645-1125 psi

A PWM Strategies for diode assisted NPC-MLI to obtain maximum voltage gain for EV Application

Abstract: The projected diode assisted Neutral Point Diode Clamed (NPC-MLI) with the photovoltaic system produces a maximum voltage gain that is comparatively higher than those of other boost conversion techniques. This paper mainly explores vector selection approach pulse-width modulation (PWM) strategies for diode-assisted NPC-MLI to obtain a maximum voltage gain without compromising in waveform quality. To obtain a high voltage gain maximum utilization of dc-link voltage and stress on the power switches must be reduced. From the above issues in the diode assisted NPC-MLI leads to vector selection approach PWM technique to perform capacitive charging in parallel and discharging in series to obtain maximum voltage gain. The operation principle and the relationship of voltage gain versus voltage boost duty ratio and switching device voltage stress versus voltage gain are theoretically investigated in detail. Owing to better performance, diode-assisted NPC-MLI is more promising and competitive topology for wide range DC/AC power conversion in a renewable anergy application. Furthermore, theoretically investigated are validated via simulation and experimental results

Integrated ecosystems approach for sustainable intensification of community based silvo-patoral systems in arid western Rajasthan, India: implications for upscaling

The common pastures in arid Rajasthan, India though are critically important for sustaining livestock dominant smallholder rural livelihoods and ecosystems services, but have been severely degraded due to several factors. Among others, the stakeholders’ perception of low returns on any investment of time or other resources for restoring these degraded common property resources (CPRs) is resulting into their continuous neglect. Generating sufficient on-farm evidence of enhanced biomass productivity and returns from CPRs employing integrated natural resource management and appropriate governance mechanisms are suggested strategies for enhancing community participation and influencing policies for their sustainable development. The present study aims to understand the key drivers of CPRs management and assess the potential of sustainable intensification of community silvo-pastoral systems for increased biomass production and returns in arid western Rajasthan, India. The study was undertaken in Jodhpur, Barmer and Jaisalmer districts across the annual rainfall gradient from 170 mm to 280 mm. The case-study analyses and the group-discussions were used as a starting point for facilitated community elaborations on how to adopt appropriate by-laws and identify opportunities and challenges of sustainable intensification of community pastures. Action-sites of 10 ha degraded common pastures were identified in each of the three communities to test silvo-pastoral rehabilitation options. Participatory Mozer-framework matrix accounted for local preferences and climate in selecting the plant species. The community was involved in in-situ and ex-situ water and soil conservation, species selection and monitoring, fencing, cut and carry systems and output sharing. The biomass assessment with respect to yield, species diversity, share of edible and non-edible species was carried out in pasture and control plots. The integrated ecosystems approach for rehabilitation of severely degraded community silvo-pastoral systems under arid region resulted in many-fold increase in biomass yield from 0.25-0.40 t/ha to 1.6–4.6 t/ha in the second year. The proportion of edible species increased from 15 -24% to 55 – 73%. The ex-ante analysis for a 10 year time horizon indicates payback period of about three years and over 30% IRR. Paper explores the potential to upscale the approach to at least one quarter of the common lands in west Rajasthan (1 m ha) producing about 2.5 million tons additional biomass. The study highlights the role of the structure and functions of the production system as well as social ecological system in designing appropriate NRM interventions, species selection, grazing system, market integration and institutional mechanisms

Assessment of Agricultural Technologies for Dryland Systems in South Asia: A Case Study of Western Rajasthan, India

Western Rajasthan accounts for 61% of the total hot arid zone in India (31.7 m ha). The rest of the arid area is spread over Gujarat (20%), Punjab and Haryana (9%), as well as small parts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka (10%). The arid region receives <450 mm annual rainfall with 40-80% coefficient of variation. With evapotranspiration (ET) four to five-fold higher than rainfall, aridity, deficit water balance, and scarcity of water for drinking and other purposes are often severe. Natural resources such as water, land and vegetation are very fragile and partly non-resilient, and hence the area is prone to irreversible land degradation and desertification under excessive pressure from human and livestock populations. Arable cropping alone is not a dependable proposition in these drylands. Animal wealth provides sustainable support to livelihoods, but the sector is not yet well organized. Only one crop can be grown during a good rainfall year, and on average, a year of good harvest is normal during a cycle of five years, while two are expected to yield moderate crops and at least two failures are usual. The arid region offers limited scope for water harvesting and recycling, particularly at a watershed scale. There is better scope for integrated land resource development on the basis of village clusters, index catchments and dune-interdune complex

Institutional and technological options for sustainable intensification of community based Silvi-pasture systems in arid ecoregions

In arid ecoregion of Rajasthan, India, common pool resources (CPRs) like common pastures and village water bodies provide ecosystem services such as fodder, fuel, timber, water and medicinal plants which are crucial for the livelihoods in particular of the poor. In western Rajasthan livestock keeping is the most important and resilient component of the agricultural systems which strongly depends on common pastures. However, the grazing areas have become severely degraded making the rural poor more vulnerable. A number of efforts have been made to improve the management of and rehabilitate the community pastures (Conroy and Lobo, 2002; Agrawal, 2003). The success of such initiatives was unreliable and even the strong involvement of elected village councils (Panchayats) has not helped. Post-project sustainability of new management practices remains uncertain due to cumbersome social dynamics, neglect of institutional arrangements as well as an overemphasis on technical and externally controlled interventions (Jodha, 2001; Chaudhry et al., 2011; Mishra and Kumar, 2007). Previous empirical research using the social-ecological systems thinking and framework (Ostrom, 1990, 2007; Wade, 1998; Baland and Plateau, 1996) has helped to better understand CPR governance challenges. Nevertheless, there is still no clear answer to the question why common pasture management works out in some Rajasthan communities and fails in others