Mapping of household vulnerability and identification of adaptation strategies in dryland systems of South Asia, Research Report No. 67

Low amount and high variability of rainfall in South Asian dryland production system have affected the livelihood of small and marginal households. Therefore, a marginal change in the climate could challenge the livelihood resilience of millions of farmers and affect the healthy ecosystem function in South Asia. The CGIAR Consortium Research Program on Dryland Systems (DS) focuses on DS across the world in order to tackle these problems. The overall emphasis of the research involves understanding the problem, identifying and demonstrating technologies and searching for mechanisms to promote the adoption of promising technologies. In South Asia, the program selected six districts in Andhra Pradesh (Anantapur and Kurnool), Karnataka (Bijapur) and Western Rajasthan (Jaisalmer, Barmer, and Jodhpur) as action sites..

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

Soil and water managements and landscapes: Africa RISING science, innovations and technologies with scaling potential from the Ethiopian highlands

United States Agency for International Developmen

Entry Points to Improve Livestock Water Productivity in Selected Forage Based Livestock Systems

Agricultural production is challenged by increasing water scarcity and simultaneously growing demands for food and feed. Globally livestock feed sourcing is seen as one of the major causes for water depletion, and therefore increasing livestock water productivity (LWP) is necessary. Feed sources in Forage Based Livestock Production Systems [FLPS (grazing, mixed-irrigated and mixed-rain-fed)] largely consist of pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, and also plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals. In drylands (arid and semi-arid) eco-regions, FLPS are generally extensive and thus the scale of water depletion for feed production is a major concern. This paper synthesizes LWP-knowledge generated across different FLPS over time and systematically identifies entry points to enhance productive uses of fresh water resources. It draws on examples of grazing systems in Uganda (Nile basin), mixed-rainfed systems in Ethiopia (Nile basin), mixed-irrigated systems in Sudan (Nile basin), and mixed-irrigated systems in India (Indio-Gangetic basin). Although these systems vary by their degree of intensification, scale of water related problems, and therefore in their values of LWP, a number of common entry points to increase LWP can be identified. Based on empirical evidence from these systems, we systematically clustered these entry points as: i) improving the water productivity of feed; ii) improving livestock feed sourcing and feeding; iii) enhancing livestock feed use efficiencies; iv) enabling institutions and market linkages to facilitate adoption of relevant technologies. The paper concludes by discussing a comprehensive framework for entry points to improve water productivity in FLPS

Land use and agricultural change dynamics in SAT watersheds of southern India

Impact of dynamic land use and land cover changes on the livelihood of local communities and ecosystem services is a major concern. This is particularly evident in most dryland agricultural systems in South Asia. We study land use/land cover (LULC) changes over the last two decades in a watershed (9589 ha) located in semi-arid eco-region in South India (Anantapuram district) using Landsat and IRS imagery. We captured additional data through field observations and focused group discussions. The high resolution 30 m data and the spectral matching techniques (SMTs) provided accuracy of 91–100% for various land use classes and 80–95% for the rice and groundnut areas. The watershed studied has undergone significant land use changes between 1988 and 2012. Diminishing size and number of surface water bodies, and contrastingly increased areas under irrigation clearly explain that the system has evolved significantly towards groundwater-irrigated groundnut production. Such changes could be beneficial in the short run, but if the groundwater withdrawal is without sufficient recharge, the long-term consequences on livelihoods could be negative. The water scarcity could be aggravated under the climate change. The construction of checkdams and dugout ponds to recharge groundwater is a potential solution to enhance recharge

Drivers and major changes in agricultural production systems in drylands of South Asia: assessing implications for key environmental indicators and research needs

The South Asian dryland (arid and semi-arid) ecosystems have been exhibiting considerable agricultural production system changes. In fact, today, there are scientific consensus that this nature of agricultural production system enables it to capture market, technologies and environmental opportunities. Pressing concerns are, however, adverse environmental trade-offs that these changes are experiencing and therefore the challenges toward a resilient agricultural production system. This is particularly important in arid and semi-arid ecosystems which are resources constrained and thus more vulnerable: for example to climate change. To stimulate and revive a debate in agricultural research circles, this paper demonstrates the magnitude of major changes, their drivers and environmental implications in context to agricultural production systems in drylands of South Asia. As an example we selected districts representing different dryland agricultural production systems in western Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka states of India. Taking crop, livestock and trees as major enterprises, we characterized agricultural production systems of the sample districts. Key operational resources, demographic and external agents were illustrated as examples of drivers of changes. Then major emphasis was given to material and environment related livelihood outcomes and their dynamic as agricultural production systems evolve over time. Despite a remarkable improvement in material outcomes of agricultural production (> 100% increase in cereal grain yields taking 1966 as a base year), the long term environmental dimension tends to be compromised by short term needs: as demonstrated by perpetual soil nutrient stock mining, ground water depletion and instability of cereal grain yields (28-110% CV). Based on these empirical evidence, we debate as to where a system research should focus and what policy circles need to do to address emerging problems and contribute to advances toward a sustainable agricultural production systems in dryland

Climate Change, Gender and Adaptation Strategies in Dryland Systems of South Asia : A Household Level Analysis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan States of India; Research Report No. 65

There is a blossoming literature on gender and climate change issues broadly focused on the adverse effects of climate condition. These studies are mostly focused on gender inequalities in agrarian communities of developing countries where the dependence on climatic conditions for living is more apparent. Frequently, the issues of climate change, poverty, gender and economic empowerment are addressed as the most prominent in developing regions. In some cases, the studies narrow down the focus to specific weather events like droughts, floods or natural disasters in rural communities. The agrarian communities of backward areas in South Asia are some of the representative examples which are frequently presented in climate change and gender studies..

Quantification of Risk Associated with Technology Adoption in Dryland Systems of South Asia : A Household Level Analysis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan States of India; Research Report No. 66

Climate change increasingly becomes a challenge for smallholder farmers. Strategies that will help farmers to cope with vulnerability are important. These strategies comprise a variety of interventions ranging from technical, institutional to policy. This study is an in-depth analysis of household level climate change shocks, farmers’ perception of vulnerability, adaptation strategies they followed and risk in technology adoption. A baseline survey was conducted in the dryland system action sites in three states of India: Andhra Pradesh (Kurnool and Anantapur districts); Karnataka (Bijapur district) and Rajasthan (Jaisalmer, Barmer and Jodhpur districts) in 2012-13 for 2011-12 production season. A total of 1019 farmers were surveyed..

Extractable soil nutrient effects on feed quality traits of crop residues in the semiarid rainfed mixed crop–livestock farming systems of Southern India

In the mixed crop–livestock systems, while general relation among feed quality, productivity and soil nutrient management have been reported, information on the effects of extractable soil nutrients on crop residue (CR) feed quality traits is scarce (e.g. in semiarid regions of Karnataka, India). In view of the increasingly important role of CR as feed components, in these farming systems, generating such information is a relevant research issue for sustainable development. Here, we report the occurrence and strength of relationships among extractable nutrients in soils and CR feed quality traits, and the effects of improved nutrients input on feed availability and feed quality of CR. Soil samples were collected from farmers’ fields in the semiarid zone of Karnataka and analyzed for available phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sulphur (S), zinc (Zn) and boron (B) using standard laboratory methods. Soil test results were clustered as low, medium or high based on the level of nutrient concentration. Four major farming systems involving nine crops and 419 farms were selected for on-farm trials. Under every sample farm, a plot with farmer’s practice (control) and improved fertilizer inputs (combined application of nutrients found deficient by soil testing) were laid. Performance of crops was recorded. Samples were collected for CR feed quality trait analysis using Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy. The result showed that for cereal and oil crops, extractable soil S was significantly negatively associated with anti-feed quality traits such as neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL) (P < 0.01), but significantly positively related to metabolizable energy (ME) and in vitro digestibility (P < 0.01). Extractable B and K levels were associated positively and significantly with NDF, ADF and ADL for oil crops and cereals. Crop level associations, for most crops, showed similar trend. Improved fertilizer inputs affected CR yield much more than it did the quality. It increased ME productivity (ME ha−1) and thereof the potential milk yield ha−1 by as high as 40 % over the control. Therefore, balanced nutrient inputs on crop land positively impact productivity of the livestock compartment of mixed crop–livestock farming system, and this knowledge can build on the currently perceived need and benefits of balanced nutrient replenishment in crop–livestock system

Quantifying Farm Household Resilience and the Implications of Livelihood Heterogeneity in the Semi-Arid Tropics of India

The vast majority of farmers in the drylands are resource-poor smallholders, whose livelihoods depend heavily on their farming systems. Therefore, increasing the resilience of these smallholders is vital for their prosperity. This study quantified household resilience and identified livelihoods and their influence on resilience in the semiarid tropics of India by analysing 684 households. A resilience capacity index was devised based on the composition of household food and non-food expenditure, cash savings, and food and feed reserves. The index ranged from 8.4 reflecting highly resilient households with access to irrigation characteristics, to -3.7 for households with highly limited resilience and low household assets. The livelihoods were identified through multivariate analysis on selected socioeconomic and biophysical variables; households were heterogeneous in their livelihoods. Irrigated livestock and rainfed marginal types had the highest and lowest resilience capacity index with the mean score of 0.69 and −1.07, respectively. Finally, we quantified the influence of livelihood strategies on household resilience. Household resilience was strengthened by the possession of livestock, crop diversification and access to irrigation. Low resilience is predominantly caused by low household assets. The resilience capacity index and derived livelihood strategies helps to understand the complexity of household resilience, and will aid in targeting technology interventions for development