Soil and water management practices for climate resilient rainfed agriculture

Abstract

Droughts and famines are the general features of rainfed agriculture in India. Adoption of locationspecific soil and water management practices is both essential and a prerequisite to make rainfed farming more economical and sustainable under increasing frequency of droughts, decrease in number of rainy days, and extreme and untimely rainfall. Much of the research done in rainfed agriculture in India relates to conservation of soil and rainwater, and drought proofing which is an ideal strategy for adaptation to climate change. Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) and All India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture (AICRPDA) have developed several location-specific doable technologies for soil and water management in rainfed farming. There is a need to upscale these technologies through KVKs, ATMA and several national/state programmes of the Governments to cope with weather aberrations and for realizing the productivity enhancements and large scale impacts.