Rainfed Agriculture

Featured Articles
August 10, 2022
Taming water - Irrigation and drought protection in colonial India and the present
The irrigation at all costs mindset and narrow policies for drought protection during the colonial rule ignored rainfed agriculture and local practices that sustained agriculture in the Bombay Deccan. This continues even today.
Recurrent droughts and the struggle for survival (Image Source: Gaurav Bhosale via Wikimedia Commons):
June 19, 2022
Hidden treasure: Adivasi’s traditional food diversity
Odisha Millets Mission is trying to bring back the glory of millets in tribal areas
A range of millet recipes and ready to cook items are sold by Millets on Wheels in Jashipur block in Mayurbhanj district. This initiative is supported by Odisha Millets Mission (Image: Odisha Millets Mission)
May 25, 2022
Non pesticide management – a viable alternative
A study assesses the impact of the Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming programme
The APCNF policy promotes zero synthetic chemical inputs (Image: Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming Facebook Page)
April 24, 2021
Scaling up sustainable agriculture critical to improve farm incomes
Study by CEEW proposes several measures for promoting sustainable agricultural practices and systems, including restructured government support and rigorous evidence generation
SRI rice field (Image: Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 4.0)
April 1, 2021
COVID-19 and social protection: Impact in the agriculture sector
Lower transaction costs, minimal leakages, and immediate delivery make a strong case for direct cash transfers, says study.
Access to credit increased farmers' expenditures on farm-related activities. (Image: Pixy.org)
March 12, 2021
Strengthening the frontline for water security
Challenges and aspirations of community champions and how programs can address them
Kalyani Dash works with 150 households in the village directly and trains them on chemical-free farming techniques, water secure crop production, efficient water use in agriculture for a sustainable farming future as well as kitchen and nutrition gardening. (Image: FES)
Living with droughts
Special report on drought calls for new management approach
UNDRR
Posted on 20 Jun, 2021 11:02 AM

As per a Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction: Special Report on Drought 2021, released by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UND
Drought resilience partnerships at the national and local levels will be critical to managing drought (Image: Pixabay; hbieser)
Scaling up sustainable agriculture critical to improve farm incomes
Study by CEEW proposes several measures for promoting sustainable agricultural practices and systems, including restructured government support and rigorous evidence generation
Council on Energy Environment and Water
Posted on 24 Apr, 2021 01:32 PM

SRI rice field (Image: Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 4.0)
COVID-19 and social protection: Impact in the agriculture sector
Lower transaction costs, minimal leakages, and immediate delivery make a strong case for direct cash transfers, says study.
Deepak Varshney
Anjani Kumar
Ashok K Mishra
Shahidur Rashid
Pramod K Joshi
Posted on 01 Apr, 2021 01:10 PM

COVID-19 induced significant economic and social disruptions in India. Rural households, including smallholders, were affected by loss in migrant income, livelihood and farm and non-farm income.
Access to credit increased farmers' expenditures on farm-related activities. (Image: Pixy.org)
Strengthening the frontline for water security
Challenges and aspirations of community champions and how programs can address them
Manisha Shah
Saswatik Tripathy
Posted on 12 Mar, 2021 05:00 PM

India has over 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats, which manage the governance of over 6,64,000 villages spread across the country.
Kalyani Dash works with 150 households in the village directly and trains them on chemical-free farming techniques, water secure crop production, efficient water use in agriculture for a sustainable farming future as well as kitchen and nutrition gardening. (Image: FES)
Managing groundwater demand: the way forward
Substituting groundwater irrigation by canal irrigation will not help in maintaining the current levels of food production in India. Managing groundwater demand will, finds a study.
Meha Jain
Ram Fishman
Pinki Mondal
Gillian L. Galford
Nishan Bhattarai
Shahid Naeem
Upmanu Lall
Balwinder Singh
Ruth S. DeFries
Posted on 02 Mar, 2021 07:25 AM

Groundwater reserves are depleting at rapid rates in India, which is one of the world’s largest consumer of groundwater with it  providing 60 percent of the irrigation needs of the country.
Groundwater, a valuable resource! (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Budget 2021: Will agriculture sector get a boost?
Solutions are needed that will increase productivity while maintaining sustainability
Simi Mehta
Ritika Gupta
Anshula Mehta
Sunidhi Agarwal
Nikhil Jacob
Posted on 28 Jan, 2021 10:15 AM

The agriculture sector is confronted with high price volatility, low returns, low productivity and weather risks.
The government could consider a shift from the price support system to an income support system. PM-KISAN is a step in that direction, but the assistance under that is lacking. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
The invisible face of agriculture
Women farmers need support in the form of resources, technologies, policies and other actions to level the farming field. The first step is to recognise their role in farming.
Simi Mehta
Anshula Mehta
Sunidhi Agarwal
Posted on 16 Jan, 2021 11:14 AM

“Female labour participation has been declining across India from 1990 to 2019. It has declined from 31% to 25% from 2005 to 2010 and further to 20% in 2019. This has contributed to employment loss for women.
Though women are involved in economic activities of the cropping system but their role is negligible in household decision making and participation (Image: PxHere)
Not in the interest of women farmers!
The new farm related bills will spell doom for women workers who form the bulk of small and marginal sections of Indian agriculture, warns Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch (MAKAAM).
MAKAAM
Posted on 07 Dec, 2020 11:52 PM

Three farm-related Bills were recently passed in the Parliament by the BJP led government at the Center, which have subsequently received presidential assent.
Farm women, overworked and underpaid (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Madhya Pradesh’s recurring droughts: Measuring, responding and reducing the vulnerabilities
Drought vulnerability in agriculture has been recognised as a key development issue in the state.
Shweta Prajapati
Posted on 02 Dec, 2020 10:40 AM

Climate change has been a popular buzzword for the last two decades in the international policy arena, stimulating multitude of ideas and a few action commitments at different levels of governments.
Rugged, rocky terrain of Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh (Image: Shweta Prajapati)
Who is the thirstiest of them all?
A study evaluating the water use efficiency of sugarcane, curry banana and paddy among borewell irrigating farmers finds paddy to be the most inefficient and thirstiest of the three.
K. S. Sujitha
P. Jothi
P. Padmavathi and A. Narayanamoorthy
Posted on 23 Sep, 2020 12:34 PM

Agriculture uses as high as 85 percent of the available water in India of which the irrigated area accounts for nearly 48.8 percent of the 140 million hectare (mha) of agricultural land, while the remaining 51.2 percent is rainfed.
Paddy, a thirsty crop (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
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