Research And Technology For Dryland Farming In India: Some Issues For The Future Strategy

The paper examines the research strategy in dryland agriculture in India during the last 15 years in the context of the rapidly changing agricultural situation in the country. The discussion is confined to issues relating to agricultural research and technology. The main factors contributing to worsening the situation of dryland agriculture, other than strains on traditional farming systems, are the uncertain future and stagnation of dryland crops, the decline of livestock herds, increasing unsuitability of traditional technologies, and the mounting natural resource scarcity. The major achievement of past research was the generation of potential for high productivity arable farming, particularly in the parts of the dry tropics with relatively dependable rainfall. Systematic research for different soil-rainfall zones should form an important part of future research and development. Other areas of major concern include yield barriers and competitiveness of dry crops, the crucial role of institutional components in new technologies, precision and high management intensity, and the cost factor. The competitiveness of dryland crops as a group is severely handicapped by the lack of HYVs in oilseeds and pulses; the imbalance generated by concentration on major crops and on grain production has not helped to strengthen the range of high productivity options; there is very little in terms of viable technological options which can help conservation and upgrading of depleted sub-marginal lands

Resource base as a determinant of cropping patterns. Economics Department Occasional Paper no.14

This report describes how a region's natural resources, the level of technology, relative commodity prices, and market infrastructure determine the cropping pattern of an area. Farm level resources are separated into two categories: (1)those for which utilization ismore or less rigidly determined by ownership and (2)those where accessibility to and utilization of the resource isnot determined by ownership. The first category includes resources such as land, while the second includes such things as labor, bullocks, and farm equipment. The topics discussed include the impact of: major resource investments, canal irrigation, tractorization, and cross sectional analysis of resource differences. Within the resource base, the land types, irrigation, and rainfall play the most important roles. These basic resources, together with the availability of crop varieties, markets and the relative prices of commodities determine the comparative advantage of different crops and crop mixes on the various soil types and also the rate of return to investment inimprovement of the resource base. Massive resource transformations which alleviate major constraints such as those indicated by canal irrigation and tractorization overshadow the impact of other resource differences and can lead to shifts incropping patterns inparticular directions for farms indifferent categories. Such resource improvements orient the cropping patterns towards high value crops and tend to reduce the importance of mixed crops. Introduction of new varieties tends to change patterns of comparative advantage of different crops and may lead to shifts incropping patterns as well as investment incentives for other capital items

Dry Farming Research : Issues And Approaches

Tbc major problems wastraining generation cf dry-farming tech. nology arc weatha variability, and low rcsoucc allocation for research. Scientists tod reswch on drylands unattractive as they are of~cnb, y training and incentive systems, accustomed to expcrimcntation in slable agr&atic environments. This paper discusses the implications of these con~traints in terms of the researcb policy-makkrs' expectation profile, recognition of location s@i6aty, divelopins of multioption technolog, and widening thc research infrastruaure. It also discusses past efforts in dryland research md some features of the present approach: (1) integration of resource and aopcenved technologies; (2) multilocational testing (3) mechanisms for farm-level testing; and (4) problem-focused rcaxrch

Poverty Debate in India: A Minority View

Rum1 socio-economic chonge Is often inodequarely captuned by social science reseorch in the &Id. This happens partly duc to perceptions of the nsearchers and partly due to inadequacies of research tools and approaches, Tlrispoper illus~mtesth e situation by pmenting evidence on incidence of rum1 poverty in two villages of Rqiosthan as examined through different approaches, during 1963-66 and 1982-84. Households that have become poonr by conventional measurement oj income in fact appear better off when seen through dvferent qualitative indicators oftheir economic well-being. The poper suggests the need for supplementing conventional measurements of income by qualitative indicators of change to orrive at a realistic understanding of rural socio-economic change

Population Growth and the Decline of Common Property Resources in Rajasthan, India

Using data from villages in three districts of Western Rajasthan, this paper describes the decline in area and deterioration in quality of common property resources over three decades. The decline of common property resources is associated with institutional changes in the villages. The introduction of land reforms in the early 1950s led to large-scale privatization of common property resources, reduced the private cost of use of common property resources, and slackened their upkeep by disrupting the traditional management system. Increased commercialization of livestock farming, increased use of tractors, and demographic pressure also played roles in the process. Farmers adjusted to shrinking common property resources by reducing herd size, by changing its composition, and by relying more on private resources to rear animals. These changes tend to reduce the comparative advantage of livestock farming in the arid region. Since the shrinkage of common property resources is largely a result of the transfer of submarginal lands from grazing to cropping, resource degradation is accelerated

Intercropping in traditional farming systems

Though largely neglected by researchers and planners, intercropping is a key element of traditional farming systems. Its superiority over sole cropping has bean shown in terms of higher and dependable gross returns per hectare as we1l as per unit of peak period 'Labor use. Its potentia1 for greater employment ls also revealed'. Studies show that intercropping is largely a system of sma1l and unirrigated farms. A significant imp1ication of this finding Is that any breakthrough in intercropping technology wi11 help poor farmers more than the rich..

Some dimensions of traditional farming in semi-arid tropical India

This paper summarizes some results of village level studies conducted since 1975 by ICRISAT in six villages in three agroclimatic zones of peninsular India. Results which are of direct relevance to the research strategy for generating new technology for SAT areas are discussed.The paper analyzes the rationale behind the practices of monsoon fallowing of deep vertisols and inter-cropping in rainfed agriculture

Pulses Production in Semi-Arid Regions of India

Pulse production in India is characterised by diversity of crops and their regional specificity based on adaptation to prevailing agroclimatic conditions. Pulses as a group can utilise limited soil moisture and nutrients more efficiently than cereal crops and for that reason farmers have chosen them to grow under highly adverse conditions. The process of differential resource allocation to pulse crops operates at agro-ecological niche allocation and at individual farmers level, out of necessity, and not out of choice or preference. At present more than 92 per cent of the area under pulses is confined to unirrigated areas, and in future the bulk of pulse production will continue to come from unirrigated areas. Therefore, any plan for increasing pulse production in the country should be based on a long-term approach for improved productivity of these crops under rainfed farming conditions rather than on the use of high inputs. Crop productivity comparisons made under unirrigated conditions between pulses and cereals do not support the general belief that pulses suffer from inherent low productivity. Rather the low productivity of pulses is due to the low input conditions associated with the complex socio-economic and agroclimatic problems of rainfed agriculture. Long neglect of rainfed areas has resulted in poor institutional development and, therefore, there is considerable lag in developing strong traditions of scientific thinking and research, and training of scientists to work in these areas. This para deals in detail with agroclimatic, socio-economic and biological constraints of pulse production and gaps in transfer of technology in rainfed area