Rainfed Agriculture

Featured Articles
August 10, 2022 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 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 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 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 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 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)
Return of the pearl millet
A women's collective in western Madhya Pradesh protects crop varieties bred by indigenous farming communities. Posted on 28 Sep, 2019 01:46 PM

Pandutalav, a small quiet village nestled in the dry teak forests in the tribal pocket in Dewas boasts an authentic rural way of life. This little dot on the map is known for its attempts to introduce indigenous varieties of crops, in particular pearl millet these days.

This variety of bajra has extended whiskers on its seeds when on the plant. This prevented the birds from eating it. Growing bajra in Pandutalav became possible only when Majlis could lay its hands on this variety. (Image: Majlis)
Farm ponds change farmers’ fortunes
While farm ponds in Jharkhand have helped farmers increase yields, they have also exposed them to the risk of price fluctuations, highlighting the need for ‘beyond the farm’ interventions. Posted on 13 Sep, 2019 01:09 PM

While enhanced irrigation coverage has been hailed as an important way to improve agricultural productivity, it continues to lag behind in India and agriculture continues to be rainfed, subject to the vagaries of the monsoon.

Farm ponds are one way to deal with water scarcity (Image Source: India Water Portal Flickr photos)
How to restrict crops to geographically sustainable areas: The case of arecanut in Tumkur
Arecanut farmers in Karnataka are reeling from dipping groundwater levels and infrequent water supply for irrigation. In this article, some solutions are proposed. Posted on 13 Sep, 2019 12:19 PM

Arecanut is generally grown in the Malnad area of Karnataka, which receives high rainfall. However, it is also grown in dry land areas of Tumkur district, also in Karnataka, using groundwater.

Young arecanut trees grown in drylands of Tumkur region (Gubbi Taluk, Hodalur Village) Pic Credit: Chandana Eswar
How local democracy is solving water issues in southern Rajasthan
People come together to dig community ponds in Dungarpur, to fight water scarcity. Posted on 09 Sep, 2019 09:48 AM

While most parts of the country are facing a water crisis, here’s a case from the arid state of Rajasthan, where decentralized initiatives are solving water issues. Dungarpur in southern Rajasthan has exemplified how community participation with local level planning processes are working towards improving rainwater harvesting and recharge of groundwater.

Community pond in Doja after the first pre-monsoon rain. Pic credit: Rajat Kumar
Monsoon set to abate: SkyMet Weather
Rainfall likely over central, western India; Mumbai & Chennai to receive no rains; light to moderate rainfall in Delhi this week; no extreme weather events expected across India. Posted on 28 Aug, 2019 11:49 AM

Since the 25th of July, there have been four consecutive weeks of surplus rainfall which have compensated for the delayed onset of monsoon and the deficient rains recorded in June and early July.  July had ended with a countrywide deficit of 9%, but vigorous Monsoon conditions took the rains to a surplus of 1% as on August 25.

Picture for representational purposes only. Picture courtesy India Water Portal on Flickr
P Sainath: The water crisis is not caused by drought
Magsaysay award winner & founder-editor of PARI, P Sainath analyses India's water scarcity, the agrarian crisis & farmer suicides, before asking: what can we do about it? Posted on 13 Aug, 2019 11:47 AM

P Sainath has been documenting stories from rural India for over three decades now.

Picture: The semi-arid regions of the Moyar-Bhavani River basin in Tamil Nadu. Picture credit: Prathigna Poonacha, Tanvi Deshpande; Indian Institute for Human Settlements from India Water Portal on Flickr. Picture used for representational purposes only
"Digging recharge wells is the only way Bengaluru won’t run out of water"
A million recharge wells for Bangalore Posted on 07 Aug, 2019 02:29 PM

Vishwanath Srikantaiah, popularly known as the 'Rainman', has been in the news recently for his ambitious project to build one million recharge wells in Bengaluru. Given the dire situation we find ourselves in vis-à-vis water, the initiative could not have come at a better time.

Ramakrishna Bovi is a traditional well-digger in Bengaluru. Image credit: Citizen Matters
All work and some play
Collective action games trigger conversations around the nature of the invisible and immeasurable common pool resource - groundwater. Posted on 02 Aug, 2019 12:11 PM

India is, by far, the world’s largest groundwater economy. India’s annual withdrawal of fresh groundwater (253 Billion Cubic Metres in 2013) amounts to one fourth of the global total and is more than that of China and the US combined. Over 80% of water extracted is used in agriculture. The share of tubewells in net irrigated area rose from a mere 1% in 1960-61 to over 40% in 2013-14.

Villagers in Magradeh, Madhya Pradesh watching neighbouring farmers play a game. Image credit: Water Practitioners Network
Is the Jalayukt Shivar Abhiyan just a quick fix to manage droughts?
A research paper argues that quick fix solutions to drought management will not work unless they are backed up by proper planning, implementation, monitoring and regulation of water use. Posted on 02 Aug, 2019 10:29 AM

Maharashtra is reeling under drought this year too, with the situation in Marathwada particularly bad.

Quick fix solutions to droughts will not work (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
3rd Indian National Groundwater Conference (INGWC-2020), CWRDM, Kozhikode
18-20 February 2020, Kozhikode Kerala
Posted on 02 Aug, 2019 01:26 AM

Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) is organizing the Indian National Groundwater Conference (INGWC-2020) to discuss 'Groundwater Resources Management for Sustaina

CWRDM INGC
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