Qualitative Evaluation of Cropping System Intensification in Coastal Saline Zone of West Bengal, India

Abstract

Agricultural research and extension projects aimed at socio-economic and ecological development in the coastal saline zone (CSZ) often face serious operational challenges. Crop management practices in these stressed ecosystems confront stiff climatic (cyclonic storms, extreme high and extreme low rainfall, prolonged hot dry spells), edaphic (soil salinity during winter and summer months, excess soil moisture in rainy season and lack of soil moisture in summer season), production (growing long duration rainy season paddy varieties and consequent delay in sowing dry season crops) and socio-economic (resource-poor farmers, lack of credit and market infrastructure, migration of human labour) constraints. Any intervention in such systems, thus, needs critical empirical examination, not only in terms of concrete numbers but in terms of human experience for whom the interventions are made. During 2016 to 2020, a team of researchers and development workers, as part of a donor-supported project, aimed at standardizing and disseminating a suite of climate-smart, farmer-friendly technologies in Rangabelia and Jatirampur villages under the Gosaba Block of South 24 Parganas district, which comes under the CSZ of West Bengal. The interventions envisaged were - sowing date alteration of rainy-season rice to fetch good return from post-monsoon relay-sown lathyrus, intensification of rice-fallow areas with green gram, implementing water-saving technologies like drip irrigation with straw mulching for higher profit in tomato cultivation, and growing potato and onion under zero tillage and straw mulching conditions. The present study qualitatively examined the outcomes of these cropping system intensification interventions to capture the experience of the adopters of these technologies. Our thematic analysis identified field management, farmers’ difficulties in coping with adverse agro-climatic and edaphic situations, barriers and drivers of technology adoption, and women’s participation in agriculture as core areas of concern. Among the technologies introduced, zero tillage potato cultivation was the most adopted technology, followed by relay sowing of lathyrus and drip irrigation technology in tomato. Problem of salinity and water scarcity was widely reported, where higher crop yield was the predominant driver of technology adoption. Notably, women farmers received benefits from several technological interventions. Outcomes of the study provide a first-hand knowledge of farming situations, the problems associated with adopting innovations, and major factors that shape their adoption in the study areas. These qualitative insights can be amalgamated with formal quantitative studies and inform extension workers for sustainable implementation of future projects.