Increasing Income and Employment through Sustainable Farming Systems in Water Scarce Region of Uttar Pradesh

The farming systems in the water-scarce region of semiarid Uttar Pradesh have been examined. The availability of land and also of water has become the most limiting factors in farming for increasing the levels of farm income and employment. Therefore, an effort has been made to suggest sustainable farming systems through optimization of farm resources and also by putting restriction on the availability of irrigation water. It has been shown that the income and employment could be increased in the water-scarce situation if the farm resources are utilized optimally and less water-requiring crops/ activities are selected in the farm plan.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Institutional and Technological Options for Sustainable Intensification of Community Based Silvi-pasture Systems in Arid Eco-regions of South Asia

In arid eco-region 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). 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; Mishra and Kumar, 2007). Previous empirical research using the social-ecological systems thinking and framework (Ostrom, 1990; Wade, 1988; Baland and Plateau, 1999) 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. As part of the CRP Dryland Systems, this study was conducted on the people’s perceptions on the causes leading to degradation of common pastures and the factors hindering sustainable management and rehabilitation efforts and to facilitate the participatory assessment of NRM and institutional options for sustainable intensification of community silvipasture systems in western Rajasthan

Estimation of Economic Returns to Soil and Water Conservation Research – An Ex Ante Analysis

The economic returns to investment made in soil and water conservation research have been analyzed. Technologies such as conservation furrow, residue incorporation have been found to be economically viable under farmers’ conditions. The study has covered four locations, viz. Agra and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Kota in Rajasthan and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. The economic surplus analysis has revealed that when adopted on a large scale, soil and water conservation technologies generate significant economic surplus as reflected in high NPV and BC ratio. The share of producer surplus has been found to be higher in the total economic surplus generated from technology adoption. Thus, investments in generation and transfer of soil and water conservation technologies have been found be justified in terms of economic benefits. However, various constraints that hamper adoption of these technologies are to be addressed so that the potential benefits could be realized by both farmer and consumer.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Soil and Water Conservation Works through National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in Andhra Pradesh — An Analysis of Livelihood Impact

The impact of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has been studied on rural livelihoods and the nature of soil and water conservation (SWC) works. NREGS is under implementation in almost all the rural districts of the country with the major objective of enhancing livelihoods through productive works. Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are the three states leading in scheme implementation with a large number of works, expenditure and employment. In Andhra Pradesh, soil and water conservation (SWC) works have accounted for over 80 per cent. The share of labour wages under the scheme has been 80 per cent with only 20 per cent for material, which is well within the prescribed norm of 40 per cent for the latter. The field study in the Ananthapur district has indicated that almost two-thirds of the beneficiaries are farmers. The scheme has brought down the migration levels from about 27 per cent to only 7 per cent in the study villages. The linear regression function has brought out that the number of family members participating in the NREGS is significantly influenced by income from other sources, family size and landholding. The NREGS earnings are being used mainly for food, education and health security. Although the scheme provides opportunity for 100 days of wage guarantee, the actual average employment is only for 25 days per household. Ideally, this gap needs to be bridged at least in the distress districts. The study has observed that SWC works in agricultural lands, especially in the rainfed areas need to be continued. However, some works require structural modifications for a better impact.Agricultural and Food Policy,

How Indian agriculture should change after COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the vulnerability of India’s Agri food system and accentuated the need for agricultural market reforms and digital solutions to connect farmers to markets, to create safety nets and ensure reasonable working conditions, and to decentralize Agri food systems to make them more resilient

Shaping food environments to support sustainable healthy diets in low and middle-income countries

The global ambitions to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture demand a complex transition of the current food environments for enabling sustainable healthy diets. The food environments in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) have been experiencing rapid and dynamic transitions across the globe, necessitating a system-level thinking and systemic approach to understand opportunities for improvement. There is a need for valid, reliable measures of food and nutrition environments for reorienting thinking and data collection toward determinants of food demand, especially the food environment components, which are critical to understand the transforming food systems. Food environment transformations are urgently required to provide consumers with more affordable and nutritious diets capable of meeting social and environmental challenges. In the present perspective, we aim to provide insights on prioritizing research on understanding and designing evidence based inclusive food environments which is crucial for promoting long-term food system innovations that are economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable and, above all, contribute to sustainable healthy diets

Gender-differentiated farmers' perception of climate risk and its impact, access to climate information, and adaptation strategies in Senegal

AICCRA (Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research in Africa), started in 2021 in six (6) African countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, Mali, Senegal) with the ambition to build technical, institutional and human capacities needed to improve the transfer of climate-related information, decision-making tools and technologies in support of climate change efforts. The present study uses the AICCRA-Senegal baseline data to understand the gender-differentiated farmers' perception of climate risk and its impact, access to climate information, and adaptation strategies. The study covers 514 households in three regions of Senegal, namely Kaffrine, Louga and Thies. The analysis shows that though the in terms of knowledge and understanding about climate change there is no significant deviation between adult men and women respondents, but dissemination efforts on climate information services and capacity development related to CSA the significantly wide gap exists between men and women farmers. The climate related literacy among the women respondents in the study regions was found that more than 80% of both women and men were aware of climate change. The majority of farmers both men and women perceived a strong to the very strong adverse impact of climate change on crop production in terms of yield and quality loss, water scarcity, new pests and diseases and the impact on soil health. Livestock production has been impacted by the adverse effects of climate change in terms of a decrease in milk yield, increased animal diseases, reduced feed, fodder and water availability for animals use. When it comes to access of climate-related information and capacity building on climate adaptation, the rate of participation of women members of the farm household was very low ( 5%). Although we found that more than 80% of the women respondents have perceived knowledge about climate change and its impacts and they form about 50% of the farm family workforce, their access to climate information and knowledge is very little. We conclude that poor integration of farm women into the climate adaptation programs is likely to have poor outcomes. Any climate adaptation program cannot achieve its objectives unless it equally builds the capacity of farm women for climate adaptation. This study has helped AICCRA-Senegal to make its interventions on improving climate information services and climate-smart agriculture more gender sensitive

Grain legumes and dryland cereals contribute to carbon sequestration in the drylands of Africa and South Asia

Grain legumes and drylands cereals including chickpea (Cicer arietinum), common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), lentil (Lens culinaris), pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), soybean (Glycine max), finger millet (Eleusine coracana), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) are the leading sources of food grain in drylands of Africa and South Asia. These crops can help smallholder agriculture to become more resilient, productive, and profitable, but their quantitative impact on carbon sequestration is unknown. The aim of this review study was to quantify their contribution to carbon sequestration across the drylands of Africa and South Asia based on 437 publications with 1319 observations in studies conducted across 32 countries. Cropping systems with grain legumes showed the greatest increase in soil organic carbon (SOC) concentrations, while cereals (and pigeon pea) gave the largest amount of aboveground carbon stock (>2 Mg C ha 1). Estimated carbon stock in post-harvest residues of these crops was 1.51 +/- 0.05 Mg C ha 1 in Africa and 2.29 +/- 0.10 Mg C ha 1 in South Asia. These crops produced more aboveground carbon, and significantly increased SOC, when grown as intercrops. Soils with low initial SOC (32%) showed the greatest potential for carbon sequestration when cropped with grain legumes and dryland cereals. This study is the first of its kind to provide evidence that grain legumes and drylands cereals improve carbon sequestration across Africa and South Asia

Senegal Cluster Baseline Report

This report presents the socio-demographic and economic situation of farmers in the context of farming systems and climate change in the intervention areas of the AICCRA-Senegal project. It also highlights the baseline situation of the key performance indicators of agriculture and livestock value chains, plus the use of climate information and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) innovations. The report has been developed based on the primary data collected from 503 farm households covering both the treatment and control villages in the study region-peanut basin of Senegal. The introductory chapter covers the context of the project, its objectives and methodological aspects. The second part presents characteristics of farms, plus farmers and livestock keepers. The third section describes agricultural systems for the three main agricultural crop value chains, the following section focuses on livestock systems; The fifth and final section is devoted to presentation of the level of knowledge and use of climate information. It also highlights the status of vulnerability/resilience in the face of climate change and variability