This page provides the link to the lead papers and presentations of the national workshop by ICAR, WASSAN and CSA on “New paradigm for rainfed farming: Support systems and incentives” in 2007. The serious crisis in rainfed farming warranted the GoI to announce a relief package for acute distress areas. The rainfed areas, constituting the major poverty geography of the country, faced a historical neglect and discrimination in terms of receiving public support and investments. The rainfed farmer is facing the brunt of this neglect.
The crisis is no longer an issue of increasing agriculture productivity; it has now become a livelihood issue affecting millions of farmers. Support in terms of public investments and subsidies in fertilizers and other inputs, (electricity, micro irrigation, horticulture, irrigation water supply, credit and price support etc;) are used mostly by farmers in the ‘irrigated areas’ and by those having access to irrigation water.
These support systems fostered the paradigm of green-revolution in the resource endowed areas, but are bypassing the major poverty stricken rainfed areas. This workshop was organized in the light of the need for restructuring the public policy/ support systems and incentives available for rainfed farming.
On the basis of the scattered field experiences and research outputs across the country, the workshop deliberated and evolved a framework for establishing appropriate support systems and incentives for reinvigorating sustainable rainfed farming systems and livelihoods in rainfed areas. The workshop also brought-out a concrete agenda for action research, piloting new initiatives, upscaling successful experiences, networking and policy analysis/ influence.
A series of thematic presentations followed by discussions set the stage for group-work. The group work on the 2nd day brought forth the essentials of a new framework. A session with funding organisations was scheduled to provide an interface and to promote dialogue on the subject. The concluding session recaps the proceedings and flags the follow-up actions.