| What agricultural principles were brought back by WASSAN and the DHAN Foundation in the region? | the principles of crop–livestock systems | This briefing has been produced with the generous support of Ford Foundation. Enabling crop–livestock integration. The Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN) and Development of Humane Action (DHAN) Foundation worked with the agro-ecological features of the region, reintroducing the principles of crop–livestock systems, bringing livestock and farm yard manure to complement soil biomass application and soil moisture management in the village. This enabled the revival of hardy nutritious millets that the villagers used to grow and consume. Linking knowledge, policy and practice. | 299 | definition | 1.000 | https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/pdf/India%27s%20Rainfed%20farming%20Variability%20and%20Diversity.pdf | The Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN) and Development of Humane Action (DHAN) Foundation worked with the agro-ecological features of the region, reintroducing the principles of crop–livestock systems, bringing livestock and farm yard manure to complement soil biomass application and soil moisture management in the village. | 4 | page=4,block=8 | 0.700 | valid |
| What is Kiran S? | an independent researcher, based in Hyderabad | A Ravindra is the director and Ramachandrudu M V, the head of research node, for WASSAN, Hyderabad. Kiran S is an independent researcher, based in Hyderabad. | 111 | definition | 0.980 | https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/pdf/India%27s%20Rainfed%20farming%20Variability%20and%20Diversity.pdf | Kiran S is an independent researcher, based in Hyderabad. | 4 | page=4,block=8 | 0.850 | valid |
| What agricultural revival was made possible by reintroducing crop–livestock systems in the village? | the revival of hardy nutritious millets that the villagers used to grow and consume | This briefing has been produced with the generous support of Ford Foundation. Enabling crop–livestock integration. The Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN) and Development of Humane Action (DHAN) Foundation worked with the agro-ecological features of the region, reintroducing the principles of crop–livestock systems, bringing livestock and farm yard manure to complement soil biomass application and soil moisture management in the village. This enabled the revival of hardy nutritious millets that the villagers used to grow and consume. Linking knowledge, policy and practice. | 478 | relationship | 0.970 | https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/pdf/India%27s%20Rainfed%20farming%20Variability%20and%20Diversity.pdf | This enabled the revival of hardy nutritious millets that the villagers used to grow and consume. | 4 | page=4,block=8 | 0.700 | valid |
| What are the characteristics of rainfed agriculture that limit the adoption of uniform technologies? | diverse and subject to variable intensity and frequency of rainfall | IIED Briefing technologies, such as high yielding variety (HYV) seeds and chemical inputs. The government also supplies external inputs to rainfed farming tracts through programmes and policy instruments that incentivise the adoption of production-boosting technologies. But rainfed agriculture is diverse and subject to variable intensity and frequency of rainfall, meaning there is little scope for the adoption of uniform technologies. And the increasing costs of inputs and rapidly worsening incremental capital output ratios mean rainfed farming communities can ill afford these unsuitable technologies — even if supplied with price support or subsidies. Far more important for rainfed farming are location-specific knowledge, agronomic principles and choice of practices, time- dependent decisions, and the flow of skills and knowledge into the farming system to ensure effective production. | 298 | relationship | 0.970 | https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/pdf/India%27s%20Rainfed%20farming%20Variability%20and%20Diversity.pdf | But rainfed agriculture is diverse and subject to variable intensity and frequency of rainfall, meaning there is little scope for the adoption of uniform technologies. |
| What biases hinder the understanding of production problems and solutions in rainfed agriculture? | the articulation of production problems — and solutions — is biased towards individual crops and their isolated outputs | The criteria of either exclusive dependence on rainfall or an area with assured irrigation are being replaced by typologies that include social, cultural, economic and agro-ecological features. While evidence is available on the many roles of a rainfed system and its interaction with ecosystems, the articulation of production problems — and solutions — is biased towards individual crops and their isolated outputs. This leaves system components and relationships and overall system productivity ignored, with no relevant data collected, and hampers the wider understanding of rainfed agriculture. Local expertise: more valuable than inputs Agricultural practices designed for irrigated cereal production tracts include the adaptation and application of modern knowledge and Issue date August 2015 | 297 | relationship | 0.970 | https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/pdf/India%27s%20Rainfed%20farming%20Variability%20and%20Diversity.pdf | While evidence is available on the many roles of a rainfed system and its interaction with ecosystems, the articulation of production problems — and solutions — is biased towards individual crops and their isolated outputs. |
| What can communities achieve with support tailored to the variable nature of rainfed farming areas? | improve farm productivity and sustainability | Rainfed agriculture needs decentralised integrated planning and implementation at the Block level; attempting to control its variability and diversity through vertical hierarchies results in unsustainable agriculture and food insecurity. Reviving knowledge: India’s rainfed farming, variability and diversity More than two thirds of India’s arable land is under rainfed farming. Local and national authorities, public sector agricultural research and extension, and commercial ventures are designed to supply ‘one-size-fits-all’ technologies, inputs and advice through uniform administrative apparatus or market protocols. This approach limits their capacity to work with the diversity and variability of rainfed agriculture. But with support that complements the variable nature of rainfed farming tracts, communities can improve farm productivity and sustainability. | 823 | relationship | 0.970 | https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/pdf/India%27s%20Rainfed%20farming%20Variability%20and%20Diversity.pdf | But with support that complements the variable nature of rainfed farming tracts, communities can improve farm productivity and sustainability. |
| What caused disruptions to the bio-physical and socio-economic balances of Indian agriculture? | the uniform monocultures of HYVs, irrigation and chemicals | With the onset of chemical-based agriculture in the late 1950s and the ‘green revolution’ in the 1960s, agricultural knowledge turned towards genetics and chemical-based research. Since then, Indian agriculture — which had evolved in diverse agro-ecological terrains with economically specific production cultures (from spice producers to wetland rice producers) — saw its bio-physical and socio-economic balances disrupted by the uniform monocultures of HYVs, irrigation and chemicals. At the same time, agricultural administration moved from being area based and integrated towards single crop/commodity-based investments and approaches. The research that articulated and appreciated the diversity of rainfed agriculture has now largely been forgotten. | 427 | relationship | 0.970 | https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/pdf/India%27s%20Rainfed%20farming%20Variability%20and%20Diversity.pdf | Since then, Indian agriculture — which had evolved in diverse agro-ecological terrains with economically specific production cultures (from spice producers to wetland rice producers) — saw its bio-physical and socio-economic balances disrupted by the uniform monocultures of HYVs, irrigation and chemicals. |
| What caused the farmers in Mallapoor to make a good profit during the poor monsoon season? | the regional crop loss and inflation pushed up the price of their cotton, soya, millets, vegetables and milk | The village’s food secure status was proven in the poor and erratic monsoon season of 2013–14. Farmers in three surrounding mandals (a sub-division of the Block) faced massive crop loss; but fields in Mallapoor faced only a minor yield decline and the farmers made a good profit because the regional crop loss and inflation pushed up the price of their cotton, soya, millets, vegetables and milk. The farmers noted that the recently introduced changes in practice had taken them back to traditional ways of managing risk. Their wellbeing, marketing strategies (decided by Village Development Committee and the farmers), and mixed crops for higher and more sustainable yields are all elements of a system that understands and works with local diversity. | 287 | relationship | 0.970 | https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/pdf/India%27s%20Rainfed%20farming%20Variability%20and%20Diversity.pdf | Farmers in three surrounding mandals (a sub-division of the Block) faced massive crop loss; but fields in Mallapoor faced only a minor yield decline and the farmers made a good profit because the regional crop loss and inflation pushed up the price of their cotton, soya, millets, vegetables and milk. |
| What difficulties did Mallapoor farmers encounter due to their dependence on cotton farming? | poverty and debt at the hands of a cotton-trading middleman | “We understand our land; we have rules and norms that you may think unreasonable or harsh. But they are our rules that help us and our communities, our lands, water systems, our animals and the wildlife around us.” — rainfed farmers, Mallapoor village Today, all 82 households of Mallapoor village, in the semi-arid Adilabad district of Telangana State, are food and nutrition secure. But since the early 1990s this rainfed farming community was in crisis. Having given up their traditional food crops to almost exclusively grow cotton, farmers were facing poverty and debt at the hands of a cotton-trading middleman. Food security was compromised: on over 300 acres of arable land, the only food crop for household consumption was less than five acres of red gram. | 557 | relationship | 0.970 | https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/pdf/India%27s%20Rainfed%20farming%20Variability%20and%20Diversity.pdf | Having given up their traditional food crops to almost exclusively grow cotton, farmers were facing poverty and debt at the hands of a cotton-trading middleman. | 3 | page=3,block=9 |
| What does agronomic knowledge oppose in the context of rainfed agriculture? | uniform input (of it seeds, tubewells, diesel, pesticides, fertilisers or tractors) | Alongside this, agronomic knowledge or location-specific understanding of how natural resources, plants and humans interact, makes a case against uniform input (of it seeds, tubewells, diesel, pesticides, fertilisers or tractors). But mass-supply responses are easier and cheaper for corporate capital and public sector organisations, which are subsidised by the state to deliver. It has not always been this way. Agricultural research on India’s rainfed farming conducted in the early 20th century1 and agricultural education (early colleges of agriculture with syllabi catering to local agro-climatic and soil features) paid specific attention to the diversity and inherent variability of farming systems. The immense opportunities that diversity offers for adaptation and shared learning at the village or community level were widely appreciated. | 146 | relationship | 0.970 | https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/pdf/India%27s%20Rainfed%20farming%20Variability%20and%20Diversity.pdf | Alongside this, agronomic knowledge or location-specific understanding of how natural resources, plants and humans interact, makes a case against uniform input (of it seeds, tubewells, diesel, pesticides, fertilisers or tractors). |