Rainfed agriculture - Meeting the challenges of food security in India – A paper in Current Science

The paper notes that there are large opportunities for gains from adaptation and new investments in water management for meeting the targets under the proposed National Food Security Act.

Therefore, upgrading rainfed agriculture promises large social, economic and environmental paybacks, particularly in poverty reduction and economic development. India ranks first among the countries that practice rainfed agriculture both in terms of extent and value of production.

Yet the state of rainfed agriculture is precarious and the problems associated with it are multifarious. To name the more striking ones: low cropping intensity, high cost of cultivation, poor adoption of modern technology, uncertainty in output, low productivity, increasing number of suicides among farmers, lack of institutional credit, inadequate public investment and high incidence of rural poverty.

There is growing evidence on the importance of water investments in rainfed agriculture and of the gradual redirection of policy, market strategies, governance, institutional support and management towards upgrading rainfed agriculture as a key strategy for reducing poverty and increasing agricultural production.

It is further becoming clear that water resources management for rainfed agriculture requires a landscape perspective and involves cross-scale interactions from farm households to watersheds, to national and regional levels. Therefore, broader knowledge is needed for investments at national, regional, local and district levels.

Investments are required in local institutions for water management. Farmer organizations, small-scale credit schemes, private banking partnerships and other institutional arrangements need to go hand in hand with policy advances. Microcredit schemes for water resources management investments are especially important. Rainfed farmers generally cannot afford the large initial investments required even for small-scale water resources management systems, despite high benefit to cost ratio and the positive impact on long-term risk reduction. Improved water resources management needs to be supported by investments in infrastructure, transport, markets, communication, roads and land tenure.

Institutional reform is required at the national level to bridge the divide in governance of water resources. Relevant departments and ministries need to be more closely connected in legal, policy and management issues. Further, enabling environments are important. Finally, well-targeted economic support is essential in the context of the impending and inevitable climate change for sustainable rainfed agriculture in India.

Download the paper here -