Significance and scope of dry farming in India and history of dryland agriculture

INTRODUCTION

Dryland agriculture forms an important component of Indian agriculture contributing significantly towards production of food grain, feed and fodder. It refers to crop production, totally depending upon the rainfall and these areas getting an annual rainfall between 400 mm to 1000 mm are known as drylands.
Rainfall in drylands is highly undependable in terms of onset, recession and distribution during the crop growing season.
Rainfall in these areas is unevenly distributed, highly uncertain and erratic. In certain areas the total annual rainfall does not exceed 500 mm.
Drylands, besides being water deficient, are characterized by high evaporation rates, exceptionally high day temperature during summer, low humidity, high run off and soil erosion.
The soils of such areas are often found to be saline and low in fertility.
As water is the most important factor of crop production, inadequacy and uncertainty of rainfall often cause partial or complete failure of the crops which leads to period of scarcities and famines.
Crops such as sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum), finger millet (Eleusine coracana) among millets, oilseeds like mustard (Brassica campestris), rapeseed (Brassica napus), and pulse crops like pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), gram (Cicer arientinum) and lentil (Lens esculentum) are the major crops of drylands.
Thus the life of both human beings and cattle in such areas becomes difficult and insecure.

Significance of Dry farming in India:

· The total land area of India is 329 million hectares of which 143 million hectares is arable land and of this 94 million hectares fall under drylands. One hundred and twenty eight districts in India have been recognized as dryland farming areas. Of these, 91 Districts are spread in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, representing typical dry farming tracts. Rest of the districts belongs to Central Rajasthan, Saurashtra region of Gujarat and rain shadow region of the Western Ghats.

Drylands contribute towards 42% of the total food grain production of the country. Almost 80% of maize (Zea mays) and jowar, 90% of bajra and approximately 95% of pulses and 75% of oilseeds are obtained from dryland agriculture. In addition to these, 70% of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is produced through dryland agriculture.

About 70% of rural population lives in dry farming areas and their livelihood depend on success or failure of the crops. More than 75% of the farmers engaged in dry farming are small and marginal. Therefore, improvement in dry farming would raise the economic status of farmers thus helping in poverty alleviation.

Although, India is blessed with average annual rainfall of about 1170 mm, slightly above the global mean of 990 mm, the fate of dryland crops oscillates with the quantity, onset, progress, spatial and temporal distribution of monsoon rains. Of the mean annual rainfall, 30 per cent of the country gets less than 750 mm and 40 per cent between 750 and 1250 mm. Only 20 per cent area is blessed with rainfall between 1250 and 2000 mm, leaving about 10 per cent area with annual rainfall over 2000 mm. A critical appraisal of the existing rain water availability shows that

SCOPE OF DRYLAND AGRICULTURE

· Considering the large areas with high yield gaps, there is significant scope to enhance the contribution of dryland agriculture to the Indian food basket.

· Feed and fodder production to support livestock is yet another important contribution of dryland agriculture. Dry farming not only contributes 40% of food grain production but also supports two-thirds of the livestock population.

· Despite considerable progress in irrigation development over the five year plans, 85% of coarse cereals, 83% in pulses, 42% in rice, 70% in oilseeds and 65% in cotton are still cultivated as rainfed. Though, impressive gains were noted in some of the rainfed crops in recent times, the gap between attainable and farmers’ yields still remain high which shows more scope for development.

· Small and marginal farmers who are the backbone of rainfed farming are resource poor and risk averse. Moreover, both public and private investments in technology adoption and infrastructure have been quite low in dryland agriculture resulting in a vicious circle of low yields-low net returns-low investments in improved technologies. With several resource management problems emerging in irrigated regions, rainfed agriculture offers scope to contribute to the growing food needs of future particularly of pulses and edible oils.

· There is scope for enhancing overall productivity of rainfed crops anywhere between 50 to 70% with the adoption of the available technologies, provided resource and institutional constraints in delivering the technology and inputs are addressed timely and adequately.

· With the promised break-through in yields through genetic manipulation and large scale adoption of water saving technologies through conservation agriculture, the yield gains can be further enhanced in the medium to long term.

· The entire dry farming area is not uniform for resource base, opportunities and constraints. There are areas receiving high rainfall and fertile deep soils where crop yields can be enhanced significantly by double cropping combined with supplemental irrigation with water harvesting.

· At present, 3 ha of dryland crop produces cereal grain equivalent to that produced in one hectare of irrigated crop. There is scope for doubling the average yield of dryland crops. With limited scope for increasing the area under plough, only option left is to increase the productivity with the modern technology and inputs, since the per capita land availability which was 0.28 ha in 1990 has declined to 0.19 ha in 2010. Crop productivity in drylands must increase from the present 0.8 to 2.0 tons ha^-1 by 2025 to meet the future challenge.

The target in food grain production cannot be realized from irrigated areas alone as we have irrigation potential for 178 million hectares only. Moreover the productivity of grains already showed a plateau in irrigated agriculture due to problems related to nutrient exhaustion, salinity build up and raising water table. Therefore, the challenges of the present millennium would be to produce more from drylands while ensuring conservation of existing resources. Hence, new strategies would have to be evolved which would make the fragile dryland ecosystems more productive as well as sustainable. In order to achieve evergreen revolution, we shall have to make grey areas (drylands) as green through latest technological innovations.

For the relatively lower rainfall regions, the overall system productivity needs to be enhanced by integrating crops, trees and livestock. This agro-eco region based differential approach is the key for realizing the full potential of dryland agriculture besides addressing the dimension of regional equity.

Dryland offers good scope for development of Agroforestry, Social forestry, Horti-Sylvi-pasture and other such similar systems which will not only supply food, fuel to the village people and fodder to the cattle but forms a suitable vegetative cover for ecological maintenance.

Therefore, we will have to evolve an appropriate technology for dry land farming. On the other hand, we can say that second ‘green revolution’ in Indian agriculture can be had in rainfed/dryland agriculture.

STATUS OF DRYLAND AGRICULTURE

Global status

Dryland agriculture is the main stay of over 800 million inhabitants of the Semi Arid Tropics (SAT) in 600 million hectares of land. These inhabitants rely on traditionally organized and fragile agriculture systems for livelihood. The low and unpredictable rainfall that defines dryland agriculture is found on about 40 per cent of the global land surface and 60 per cent of which is in the developing world. Local rainfall is the only source of water available for crop production in most parts of region. As a consequence of low rainfall and its high variability of onset and distribution, prolonged dryspells, which usually occur during the growing season crop growth and yields are often affected. In this region, rainfall exceeds evapotranspiration for two to four and a half months (dry semi arid) or four and half to seven months (wet semi arid) in any particular year (Troll, 1965). Worldwide adverse soils high air and soil temperature, destructive plant insect and diseases, and intensive rains and winds are among the other major constraints that limit agricultural productivity on the drylands. In the drylands of the world, millets, minor millets, pulses and oil seeds are predominantly grown. Farmers in these regions produce more than 50 per cent of groundnut, 80 per cent pearl millet and about 93 per cent of pulses and hence major share of world’s food grains come from these drylands.

Rainfed farming systems occupy about 80% of the world’s agricultural lands and contribute to over two-thirds of the global food production. In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 95% of farmed land is rainfed; in Latin America 90%; in South Asia 60%; in East Asia 65%; and in West Asia and North Africa 75% (Rockstrom et al. 2007). Out of total world population, more than 1.5 billion people live in dryland areas. The bulk of this population belongs to sub-Saharan and Asia, the region that is more or less inhabited by the world’s poorest people. These dryland areas are under increased pressure due to the prevalence of poor agricultural practices, over-grazing and intensive cropping to meet food and fiber requirement of man and animal. In the process a total of 1.2 billion hectares already experience moderate to severe and extreme degradation chiefly in relation to fertile topsoil. The technological development of dryland areas is very poor, particularly in agriculture front. Thus this land is unable to meet the pressure of people’s need. A severe environmental degradation is unavoidable due to this pressure. In addition, the poor development in the social and economic front often creates serious disturbances. The ultimate result is the persistence of perennial poverty in the dryland areas. In some countries the dryland covers more than 50 per cent of the total geographical area. Most of these countries are economically very poor. This poor economic status leads to a poor social consciousness, which is the major cause of excessive population growth in these countries. The final outcome of this situation is the low growth rate of gross domestic production (GDP). Naturally per capita income, expenditure and food/nutrition availability is very low in these countries.

National status

Out of total landmass of 329 million hectares with an average annual rainfall of about 1120 mm, 224 million hectares are moderate to extreme dry. These areas alone provide home to some 40% of our total human population and two third of cattle population. Maximum of these areas is generally mono-cropped and dependent on rain only. No significant technological development in agricultural front, particularly in respect of water conservation to produce a second crop, is found in these areas and only subsistence agriculture predominantly exists. Instead of high value crops, these areas are compelled to produce 90% of coarse cereals, 91% of pulses, 86% of oil seed and 67% of cotton obviously with low productivity. At the same time, in our country, 90% of people of dry areas depend only on agriculture for their livelihood. Interestingly an estimated 45% of total food grains come from the dry areas and that too with the help of age-old package of practices. Naturally, poverty is a constant companion of the people living in these areas.

Out of a total 329 million hectare (m ha), 175 m ha are in various stages of degradation. About 50 percent of total cultivable land suffers from soil erosion and salinity problem. About 30 m ha of fragile land now under cultivation is progressively degrading. Out of 450 million of cattle population, there are 300 million heads of cattle present in dryland areas. The annual fodder requirement of India is about 932 million tonnes of green and 750 million tonnes of dry fodder as against current availability of 250 and 414 million tonnes respectively.

In Indian sub-continent, about one fifth of total geographical area is affected by drought once in every 5 years and one third once in every ten years. Apart from these general features, the localized drought situations frequently occur in many parts of our country. These drought conditions reduced the crop production to about 44% during the affected years and pulled down the GDP and economic growth.

HISTORY OF DRYLAND AGRICULTURE

Global development

Dryland farming is practised in various parts of the world. The specific practices vary because of differences in local conditions, both physical and social. Dryland farming in India began centuries earlier than in North America. However, there are some striking similarities between the two regions with respect to the scientific study of dryland farming. Hegde (1995) reported that, in 1917, Aiyer had listed the important farmer practices and found them quite similar to those that Campbell (1907) had proposed for the Great Plains in the United States of America in the early 1900s. Field bunding, fall ploughing, frequent intercultivations, drill sowing, and growing drought-resistant crops, such as finger millet, grain sorghum and pearl millet, were some of the practices listed.

Considering the importance of farming in drylands distributed worldwide, the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) was established on October 11, 1972 near Hyderabad. Subsequently, the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) established at Aleppo, Syria in 1977 is one of the newest links in a world-wide network to improve and increase food production. The Centre’s principal geographic area of concern involves 22 countries of the Near East and North Africa with a population of 300 million people. The five main operational programmes of the Centre are Farming Systems, Cereal Crops Improvement, Food Legumes Improvement, Forage and Pasture Crop Improvement and Training and Communication (ICARDA, 1981).

History of dryland agriculture in India

The repeated and frequent crop failure in the country, resulting in short food grain supply, attracted the attention of our scientists and administration. Thus the scarcity of food grains in India were made the subject of enquiry in the year 1880 and the first Famine Commission was appointed in the same year. The commission after thorough study of the situation recommended the establishment of protective irrigation projects in South India and formation of department of agriculture in all the states. But no significant improvements could be done till systematic and scientific approach to the dry farming problem in India was made.

A.K.Y.N. Aiyer (1917) listed the important practices followed by the farmers of dryland areas of India. This included field bunding, fall ploughing, frequent inter-cultivation, drill sowing and growing crops like jowar, bajra, ragi etc., which can stand water stress considerably. First systematic scientific approach to tackle the problems of dry farming areas was initiated by Tamhane in 1923 on a small plot at Manjri farm near Pune and the work passed on to Kanitkar in 1926. A comprehensive scheme of research was drawn up by Kanitkar with financial support from the ICAR. Realizing the importance, the ICAR launched a scientific research project on dryland farming at five centres: Sholapur and Bijapur in 1933, Hagari and Raichur in 1934 and Rothak in 1935. Between 1923 and 1943 package of practices were developed from studies on crop production under dryland situation. These systems were very much similar to those already listed by Aiyer in 1917. Depending on the province where they developed these packages were named as (1) Bombay (now Mumbai) Dry Farming Method, (2) Madras (now Chennai) Dry Farming Method, (3) Hyderabad Dry Farming Method, (4) Punjab Dry Farming Method. This research mainly concentrated on rainfall analysis, physico-chemical properties of soils, physiological studies on millets and on agronomic aspects. Scientific study of dryland farming was initiated by the Government of India in 1923. Early research focused on improving crop yields. Important practices included: (i) bunding to conserve soil and water; (ii) deep ploughing once in three years for better intake and storage of water; (iii) use of farmyard manure to supply plant nutrients; (iv) use of a low seeding rate; and (v) intercultivation for weed and evaporation control. These practices gave a 15–20 percent increase over the base yields (Hegde, 1995, Singh, 1995). By the mid-1950s, the emphasis had shifted to soil management. Soil conservation research and training centres were established at eight locations, focusing on contour bunding. However, negative results were often obtained because of water accumulation and runoff problems, particularly on Vertisols.

Even where yield increases were observed, they were again not more than 15–20 percent above the base yields. The importance of shorter-duration crops to match the soil-water availability period was recognized in the 1960s. It was also in the mid-1960s that high-yielding hybrids and cultivars became available that were responsive not only to fertilizers but also to management. Later in the 1950s, importance of soil management (soil and moisture conservation) was realized for improving the productivity of drylands and the ICAR established eight Soil Conservation Research Centres in 1954. The Desert Afforestation Research Station was established in 1952. In 1957 it was registered as the Desert Afforestation and Soil Conservation Station and as a full-fledged Institute on Arid Zone Research as Central Arid Zone Research Institute at Jodhpur, Rajasthan in the year 1959.

The ICAR collaborated with Canadian dryland research (Indo-Canadian Dryland Research) from 1970 to 1987. The ICAR-ICRISAT collaborative research programmes worked in areas of biological nitrogen fixation, agroforestry, soil and moisture conservation, economics of watershed technology and vegetative barriers in soil and water conservation. The Indo-US collaboration on dryland research was started in 1980. It was the Fourth Plan (1969-74) document which emphasized the urgent need for creating conditions whereby the dryland farmers could participate meaningfully in the agricultural development process. In recognition of this need, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) thought of preparing a comprehensive research project on dryland agriculture. Nearly Rs.200 million was earmarked for dryland research and development in the Fourth Plan. An All India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture (AICRPDA) was thus born. A unique feature of this coordinated project was that Integrated Dryland Development Projects, started simultaneously in 1970, were linked with the research centres to give back-up support and for testing the technology in the farmers’ fields.

Dryland development programmes

All India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture

The All India Coordinated Research Project (ICAR) for Dryland Agriculture (AICRPDA) was formally launched in June, 1970 in active collaboration with the Government of Canada (Research Branch, Canada Agriculture). The AICRPDA is a multi-disciplinary project encompassing the disciplines of Agronomy, Soil Science, Plant Breeding and Agricultural Engineering. The project was launched at 23 cooperating centres located in the 8 major agro-climatic regions of the country, representing all major soil types and cropping patterns. The 23 Cooperating Research Centres were located Hyderabad, Anantapur, Bellary, Bangalore, Kovilpatti, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Varanasi, Rewa, Jhansi, Dehradun, Ludhiana, Rakh Dhiansar, Hisar, Agra, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Rajkot, Anand, Indore, Akola, Solapur and Bijapur. The coordinating Cell of the project was located at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. The project started with the identification of the constraints responsible for lower yields in different regions: and then to develop a relevant location specific research program to solve production constraints. To make the programs more effective it was expanded to 16 agro-economic research centres. These centres have been established with an obvious objective of accelerating the conservation development and efficient, long term use of basic resources of soil and water for a self sustaining production. The main areas of investigations of these centres are given below:

· Identification of different crops and selection of high yielding varieties for different agro-climatic zones of the country.

· Developing cropping sequences and cropping systems suitable for dry farming.

Determining the optimal crop population and planting pattern.

· Evaluating tillage implements and practices for water intake and storage in the soil profile, establishment of better crop stand and control of weeds.

· Designing and developing animal drawn implements for speedy and efficient cultural operations.

· Evaluating use of surface mulches, both organic and inorganic for short term moisture conservation.

· Determining ideal fertilizer doses and improving fertilizer use efficiency.

Testing new planting materials for introduction/substitution after they have proved their superiority over existing ones.

· Harvesting and storing inevitable run off and recycling it as life saving or protective irrigation.

· Developing strategies for meeting the challenges of an aberrant weather like skip or catch cropping etc.

Operational Research Programme

The first Operational Research Programme on Dryland Agriculture was launched at Indore (Madhya Pradesh) with the collaboration of U.K. It was augmented with the addition of four more CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) sponsored ORPs in 1976. In 1984, four additional ORPs were added to the list. Currently, nine Dryland Operational Research Projects are operating at Indore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Sholapur, Ranchi, Hoshiarpur, Anantpur, Hisar and Arjia (Rajasthan).

Watershed Development Programme

The year 1983 saw the beginning of yet another programme for developmet of dryland agriculture on watershed basis. The work began in 47 model watersheds, the average size of each being 700 to 800 hectares. A sum of Rs.25 lakhs for a period of five years was earmarked by the Government of India for development of each watershed on scientific basis. The programme consisted of soil and water conservation measures, crop management and alternate land use systems.

Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture

In recognition of commendable research work done by the scientists of AICRPDA and in view of the national urgency and importance of developing more stable and remunerative farming systems for drylands of the country, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research elevated the status the Directorate of AICRPDA to that of a full-fledged institute, christened as CRIDA. On April 19, 1985, the institute was formally inaugurated. The main purpose of establishing CRIDA was to carry out ‘lead research’ in the area of dryland agriculture, leaving location specific problems and their solutions of AICRPDA.

CRIDA and AICRPDA scientists assisted the State Governments and State Agricultural Universities in the selection of sites, preparation of master plans, training of personnel, monitoring and evaluation, and providing technical back-stop to 30 model watersheds. CRIDA thus emerged as the pioneer institution in providing an effective linkage between research and development in the area of dryland agriculture.

The Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) has played pioneering role in developing and dissemination of improved rainfed farming technologies in different agro-ecological regions of the country. Over the last 26 years CRIDA and its network of research stations have developed and disseminated large number of technologies in rainwater management, watershed management, efficient cropping systems, farm machinery and diversified land use systems. Despite good progress made so far the adoption and diffusion of key rainfed technologies is still low resulting in large yield gaps between research stations and farmers’ fields. Increasing climatic variability and climate change poses new challenges in the form of deficit rainfall, droughts and floods. The Institute has to play an important role not only to address the current problems of rainfed agriculture but also prepare for the anticipated impacts of climate change. The Vision 2030 of CRIDA outlines the future scenario, new and emerging challenges, the strength of the network and strategies to meet both the short term and long term challenges. The plan draws upon the strength of the Institute in its multi-disciplinarity, its experience in working with a consortium approach and the lessons learnt from large number of multi-institutional action research projects implemented in recent years.

History of dryland agriculture

Global development

History of dryland agriculture in India

1917 : A.K.Y.N. Aiyer (1917) listed the important practices followed by the farmers of dryland areas of India. This included field bunding, fall ploughing, frequent inter-cultivation, drill sowing and growing crops like jowar, bajra, ragi etc., which can stand water stress considerably.

1923: First systematic scientific approach to tackle the problems of dry farming areas was initiated by Tamhane in 1923 on a small plot at Manjri farm near Pune. Scientific study of dryland farming was initiated by the Government of India in 1923.

1926: Works of Tamhane was passed on to Kanitkar in 1926. A comprehensive scheme of research was drawn up by Kanitkar with financial support from the ICAR.

1933: Realizing the importance, the ICAR launched a scientific research project on dryland farming at five centres: Sholapur and Bijapur in 1933, Hagari and Raichur in 1934 and Rothak in 1935.

1943: Package of practices were developed from studies on crop production under dryland situation. Depending on the province where they developed these packages were named as (1) Bombay (now Mumbai) Dry Farming Method, (2) Madras (now Chennai) Dry Farming Method, (3) Hyderabad Dry Farming Method, (4) Punjab Dry Farming Method.

1950: Emphasis shifted to soil management. Soil conservation research and training centres were established at eight locations, focusing on contour bunding. ICAR established eight Soil Conservation Research Centres in 1954.

1952: The Desert Afforestation Research Station was established in 1952.

1957: It was registered as the Desert Afforestation and Soil Conservation Station and as a full-fledged Institute on Arid Zone Research as Central Arid Zone Research Institute at Jodhpur, Rajasthan in the year 1959.

1960: The importance of shorter-duration crops to match the soil-water availability period was recognized in the 1960s. It was also in the mid-1960s that high-yielding hybrids and cultivars became available that were responsive not only to fertilizers but also to management.

1970: The ICAR collaborated with Canadian dryland research (Indo-Canadian Dryland Research) from 1970 to 1987. The ICAR-ICRISAT collaborative research programmes worked in areas of biological nitrogen fixation, agroforestry, soil and moisture conservation, economics of watershed technology and vegetative barriers in soil and water conservation.

1980: The Indo-US collaboration on dryland research was started in 1980. It was the Fourth Plan (1969-74) document which emphasized the urgent need for creating conditions whereby the dryland farmers could participate meaningfully in the agricultural development processNearly Rs.200 million was earmarked for dryland research and development in the Fourth Plan. An All India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture (AICRPDA) was thus born.

Dryland development programmes

All India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture

The AICRPDA is a multi-disciplinary project encompassing the disciplines of Agronomy, Soil Science, Plant Breeding and Agricultural Engineering. The project was launched at 23 cooperating centres located in the 8 major agro-climatic regions of the country, representing all major soil types and cropping patterns. The 23 Cooperating Research Centres were located Hyderabad, Anantapur, Bellary, Bangalore, Kovilpatti, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Varanasi, Rewa, Jhansi, Dehradun, Ludhiana, Rakh Dhiansar, Hisar, Agra, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Rajkot, Anand, Indore, Akola, Solapur and Bijapur. The coordinating Cell of the project was located at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. The main areas of investigations of these centres are given below: