Advertisement
Improving Agricultural Productivity of Central India through Participatory Research-cum-Demonstrations and Knowledge Sharing-Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT)
Upcoming SlideShare
Options for intensifying cereal-legume cropping systems in West Africa Options for intensifying cereal-legume cropping systems in West Africa
Loading in ... 3
1 of 1
Advertisement

More Related Content

Slideshows for you(19)

Viewers also liked(20)

Advertisement

Similar to Improving Agricultural Productivity of Central India through Participatory Research-cum-Demonstrations and Knowledge Sharing-Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT)(20)

More from ICRISAT(20)

Advertisement

Improving Agricultural Productivity of Central India through Participatory Research-cum-Demonstrations and Knowledge Sharing-Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT)

  1. Improving Agricultural Productivity of Central India through Participatory Research-cum-Demonstrations and Knowledge Sharing – Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) Sep 2014Ministry of Agriculture Government of India Project goal • The overall objective of this initiative is to increase agricultural productivity and livelihood opportunities of the selected target regions in Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh via sustainable use of natural resources. • The specific objectives of this technical assistance program are: –– To establish a holistic participatory IGNRM model for the convergence of activities in 4 nucleus clusters for enhancing agricultural productivity and crop-livestock management systems to alleviate poverty; and –– To provide technical know-how to farmers, landless rural people in the target districts, and partner NGOs supported by the SRTT in the region through empowerment by bringing together learnings from national and international experience. Project Activities: • Building partnerships with stakeholders for improving livelihoods. • Soil nutrient status assessment by participatory field soil sampling in different villages and fertilizer recommendations • Improving crop yields with balanced nutrient management along with application of deficient secondary and micronutrients. • Evaluation of improved and diversified crops and their varieties for drought, disease, pest resistance and higher yields and adoptability. • Cultivating rice fallow areas by growing chickpea crop with seed priming technique on residual soil moisture and with 1 to 2 supplemental irrigation. • Growing green manure plants Glyricidia on field bunds as N source and applying lopping in crop row 3-4 times in a year. • Enhancing livelihood of farmers by promoting micro enterprises e.g. vermi-composting, NPV virus production, and nursery raising etc • Construction of runoff water ponds for supplemental irrigation to vegetables and also promoting fish rearing. • Mechanization through introduction of improved agricultural equipments selected through participatory mode viz, Tropicultor, two row weeders etc. • Capacity building of all the stakeholders Chemical analysis of soil samples The results of soil samples collected from targeted region and analyzed at ICRISAT, Hyderabad (Table 1) clearly showed wide spread deficiencies of secondary and micro-nutrients viz, S, B and Zn apart from deficiency of major nutrients viz, NPK. Based on these results, recommendation were developed for balanced nutrition including deficient secondary and micro nutrients viz, S, B and Zn Table 1. Chemical properties of soils in targeted regions of Jharkand and Madhya Pradesh. Location pH EC ds/m Org-C % Ols-P ppm Exch-K ppm Aval-S ppm Aval-B Ppm Aval-Zn Ppm 1. Sarikela-kharswan- Jharkhand 5.2-6.8   0.0-0.2   0.2-1.0 (77)* 0.0-5.7 (97) 13-119 (73) 1.3-20.9 (83) 0.1-0.3 (100) 0.2-1.3 (87) 2. Gumla - Jharkand 5.0-7.1 0.0-0.6 0.3-1.1 (47) 1.4-72.4 (23) 29-247 (27) 2-9.6 (100) 0.1-0.3 (100) 0.3-2.9 (73) 3. Jhabua- MP 6.4-7.4 0.0-0.3 0.6-1.5 (0) 10-42.2 (45) 88-506 (0) 2.7-28.2 (95) 0.3-0.8 (91) 0.7-3.2 (5) 4. Mandla- MP 5.9-7.2 0.0-0.3 0.4-1.3 (14) 1.0-7.2 (90) 82-287 (0) 2-13.2 (90) 0.06-0.38 (100) 0.48-1.14 (52) * Figures in parenthesis indicate per cent deficient fields Results • Introduction of improved crop varieties along with balanced nutrient management including secondary and micro nutrients resulted in significant improvement of crop productivity (Fig 1.) • Crop diversification with high value crops resulted in significant economic returns • Promoting chickpea in rice fallows improved cropping intensity to 200 per cent and thereby increased systems crop productivity by 16-25 per cent • Cultivation of off season vegetable cultivation under drip irrigation has resulted in 27-59 per cent increase in net profit compared to traditional way of flood irrigation (Table 2) • The market linkages are developed at local level which helped the farmers to get additional value of their produce viz, selling of green pods/cobs resulted in additional monetary returns • Promoting micro enterprises viz, nursery raising, dal making, poultry, fishery etc resulted in additional income to farmers Conclusion • The initiative involving technical backstopping and capacity building of all the stakeholders including farmers resulted in improved agricultural productivity and significantly opened up other livelihood income generating options to the farmers and landless labors on sustainable basis. Table 2: Yield advantage and economics of vegetable cultivation under drip compared to flood irrigation at Teleya village in Gumla Dist., Jharkhand (Avg. 2010-12). Sl No Vegetable crop Yield Kg ha-1 Income in Rupee’s Drip Irrigation Flood irrigation % increase Drip Irrigation Flood irrigation % increase 1 Brinjal 26400 18200 31 1E+05 88800 38 2 Tomato 19205 15417 25 2E+05 2E+05 27 3 Cabbage 14442 8118 78 2E+05 1E+05 59 Target eco-region of Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand: AESR and districts Fig. 1. Average crop productivity of important crops in Jharkhand with improved crop management practices (2009-2012) Encouraging farmers for farm pond constructions and to use gravity drip irrigation system for growing profitable vegetable crops during off season to get higher market price Excellent crop vigor of maize and chickpea grown in rice fallows Diversification with green gram, blackgram and vegetables etc Introducing and popularizing vermi-compost units and new improved agricultural implements. Establishing Automatic weather station This initiative is supported by Sir Ratan Tata Trust
Advertisement