The document discusses farming systems as an approach to address food security challenges in India. Key points: 1) Farming systems integrate crops, livestock, fisheries and other enterprises to efficiently use resources and generate year-round income for small farmers. 2) This approach can help ensure food and nutritional security by providing a balanced diet through milk, eggs, meat and fruits in addition to grains. 3) Farming systems lead to higher productivity and farm income through synergies between enterprises and effective recycling of resources.

1. HPAU, Palampur,
Himachal Pradesh

2. Farming System Approach For Food
Security And Sustained Rural Economy
Speaker - Sandeep Singh

3. Introduction

4.  INDIAN agriculture has challenge of providing national as well as
household food and nutritional security to its teeming millions
 in a scenario of plateauing genetic potential in all major
crops.
 declining productivity in vast tracts of rainfed/ dryland areas
constituting approximately 44.2% of net cultivated area.
 Wide-spread occurrence of ill-effects of green revolution
technologies in all intensively cultivated areas is threatening the
sustainability of the important agricultural production systems and
national food security.
.

5. The human population of India has increased to 1210.2
million at a growth rate of 1.76 per cent in 2011 and is
estimated to increase further to 1530 million by 2030.
On the other hand our national food grain production for past
3-4 years is hovering around 234 million tonnes.
There are projections that demand for food grains would
increase from 234 million tonnes to 345 million tonnes in
2030.
The average size of the landholding has declined to 1.21 ha
during 2009-10 from 2.30 ha in 1970-71.

6. Declining size of landholdings without any alternative
income augmenting opportunity is resulting in fall of
farm income and causing agrarian distress.
To meet the multiple objectives of poverty reduction,
food security, competitiveness and sustainability,
several researchers have recommended the farming
systems approach to research and development.

7. Farming system
Farming system is the scientific
integration of different interdependent
and interacting farm enterprises for the
efficient use of land, labour and other
resources of a farm family which
provide year round income to the
farmers specially located in the
handicapped zone.

8. What is it
Farming system approach envisages the
integration of agroforestry, horticulture, dairy,
sheep and goat rearing, fishery, poultry, pigeon,
biogas, mushroom, sericulture and by-product
utilization of crops with the main goal of
increasing the income and standard of living of
small and marginal farmers.

9. Role of Farming System
Food security
Provide balanced food
Quality food basket
High productivity and enhanced farm income
Effective recycling of resources
Minimizing environmental pollution
Employment generation

10. Role of Farming System
Food security:
 Food security is defined as the balanced food supply and
effective demand for food.
 Ensuring food security to the individual wards off the gender-
based intra-household discrimination.
 Thus food security needs to be redefined as “livelihood
security for the household and all members within, which
ensures both physical and economic asses to balanced diet,
safe drinking water, environmental sanitation, primary
education and basic health care.

11. Table 1: Per capita availability and deficit of different
components
Food Items Per capita ICMR dietary Per capita deficit
Availability guidelines for
Indians
Milk 216 grams/day 300 milli litre/day 34 grams/day
Egg 30 eggs/annum 180 eggs/annum 150 eggs/annum
Meat 3.24 kg/annum 10.95 kg/annum 7.71 kg/annum
Food grains 444 g/day - -
GOI 2003

12. Economic and ecological access to food could be only
ensured by adopting farming system approach consisting
of:
Change from commodity-based to resource-
based planning.
Integrated use and management of land,
water and human resources to maximize
income and employment.

13. Provides Balanced Food
There is need of farming system which has several
components like dairy, poultry, goatry, fisheries etc. along
with crop production.
In this way, farming system would not meet the food for but
also cater the need of protein, fat, vitamins and minerals
required for good health.
Conjunction of horticulture and agroforestry with cropping
would ensure the seasonal access to fruits, fuel, fodder
and fibre.

14. Quality food basket
 As the living status is improved the requirement of cereals
will be decreased and supplemented by other items viz.
milk, egg, meat, fruit etc.
 Integration of allied enterprises with cropping increase the
nutritive value of the products.
 Cropping with pigeon+fish+mushroom founds to have the
highest protein of 1963 kg.
 Integration of cropping with fish + mushroom and
pigeon/poultry could result in 31 to 52 % higher protein
yield than cropping alone.

15. Higher productivity and enhanced farm income
• Integration of fish in rice system decreasing the rice
grain yield due to presence of fish trenches occupying
10% of the rice area, however, additional income
increased.
• The profit can be increased more when fish, vegetable
system and livestock include in rice – rice farming
system.

16. Table 2: Economics of rice-poultry-fish-mushroom
system of Integrated Farming System
Component Integrated farming system Conventional cropping system Additional
(0.40 ha) (0.40 ha) net income
from IFS
over CCS
Gross Cost of Net Gross Cost of Net (Rs)
income production income income production income
(Rs) (Rs) (Rs) (Rs) (Rs) (Rs)
Crop 19076 11398 7678 13536 7202 6334 1344
Poultry 2861 1944 917 - - - 917
Fisheries 3568 1486 2082 - - - 2082
mushroom 6156 5078 1078 - - - 1078
Total 31661 19906 11755 13536 7202 6334 5421
Tamil Nadu Rangasamy et al. 1996

17. Table 3: Productivity (rice equivalent yield) and profitability of different
components under integrated farming system
Treatments Productivity kg-1 Cost of Net returns (Rs) B:C ratio
Area(ha) ha-1year) Cultivation
(Rs)
Integrated farming system
Rice-rice system 0.33 2175 8683 7387 1.84
Hybrid maize- 0.20 908 3697 3540 1.96
sunflower
Vegetables 0.20 2136 4712 3673 2.00
Fodder + goat 0.21 1339 6289 7060 2.75
Fish 0.06 203 515 926 2.23
Poultry (0.005) 327 2145 300 1.13
Total 1.00 7088 18225 22887 1.97
Conventional 1.00 5611 25503 17293 1.64
Rice-rice
Karnataka Channabasavanna et al. 2009

18. Effective recycling of resources
The effective recycling of farm resources is possible by
adoption of farming system research.
Crop by-product is utilized as fodder for animals, and
animal by-product i.e. milk, and dung may be utilized for
increasing income and soil fertility, respectively.

19. Resource recycling with productivity linkages in lowland
farming systems

20. Table 4: Nutrient value of recycled poultry manure
Particulars Content ( per cent ) Nutrient added (kg)
N P K N P K
Raw poultry manure 4.81 3.06 1.44 33.7 21.4 10.1
Settled silt of the pond in 3.52 1.38 1.06 158.4 62.1 47.7
which poultry dropping is
used as source of fish feed
Integration of poultry + fish + mushroom + cropping applied
with recycled poultry manure sustained the productivity of soil
through addition of bio-resource residue with better NPK
nutrient supply potential.
Tamil Nadu Rangasamy (1996)

21. Poultry and fish in lowland of Tamil Nadu

22. Resource flow in crop+dairy+biogas+spawn+siliviculture in
integrated farming system

23. Minimize environmental pollution
• In Punjab, Haryana and western Utter Pradesh, burning
of rice residue is common practice, which increased the
concentration of green house gases in atmosphere, in
addition to huge amount of nutrient loss.
• Such situation could be avoided by introduction of some
more enterprises like animal husbandry on the farm.
• Rice straw may be used as animal feed.

24. Employment generation
• Since crop based agriculture is highly season
specific and time bond, the intensity of labour
requirement increases during sowing and
harvesting time of crops.
• For rest of the time farmers sitting idle if they do
not have off-farm activities. This leisure time
could be utilized effectively by adoption of
farming system, which keeps the whole family
busy throughout the year.

25. Table 5 : Cost return and employment potential under
different mixed farming (MF) system
Gross Net Employment
Farming system Expenditure income returns man days
(Rs. ha-1) (Rs. ha-1) year-1
Arable 14,171 38,264 24,093 257
MF with 2 cows 34,972 72,640 37,668 374
MF with 2 buffalo 47,257 71,545 24,288 390
MF with 2 cow + fish 35,170 76,064 40,894 374
MF with 2 buffaloes +fish 47,455 74,969 27,514 390
MF with 2 cows + 15 goats +10 43,311 88,222 44,911 380
poultry + 10 ducks + fish
MF with 2 buffaloes +15 goats + 55,596 87,127 31,531 396
10 poultry + 10 ducks + fish
Madhya Pradesh MF= Mixed Farming Tiwari et al. 1998

26. Farming System Research
Farming System Concept was developed in 1970.
It is designed to understand farmer priorities, strategies and resource
allocation decisions.
Used in conjunction with on-farm research to identify and adopt
technologies useful to location specific problems of farmers.
Farming systems research and development approach associated with
small farmers and focuses on their conditions and aspirations.
Its goal to develop sustainable land use system which will optimize
resource use and increase income and employment for farm families.

27. Farming System Research For Different Agro
Climatic Zones In India
• Pastures with forestry, goats,
High altitude cold rabbits, and settled agricultural
deserts crops like millets, wheat, barley, and
fodders.
• Animal husbandry with the camels,
Arid and desert sheep and goats, and growing with
region fodder and field crops.
• Horticultural crops as a major
Western and component and agriculture mainly
central Himalayas on the hill terraces and slopes with
maize, rice, wheat, pulses and
fodder crops.

28. • Primitive crop husbandry with rice,
Eastern millets, pulses etc. Agro forestry
Himalayas system are also common. Piggery and
poultry are the chief livestock activity.
• Intensive crop husbandry like rice-
Indo-Gangetic wheat-maize/mustard/pulses and
Plains livestock, dairy, cattle and buffaloes.
Central And • Cotton-sorghum-millets/pulses with
Southern dairy cattle, sheep and goats and
Highlands poultry are the secondary livestock
and animal husbandry enterprises.

29. • Major activity on plantation crops,
cultivating rice and pulses are the
secondary agricultural activity. Cattle,
Western Ghats sheep and goats are the livestock
components which in most parts, are
maintained as large herds.
• Rice cultivation with other enterprises
Delta And Coastal like fishery, poultry and piggery, etc.,
Plains capture fisheries of marine ecosystem is
a specialized enterprise.

30. Table-6. Economics of different components of F.S.R. unit
Total labour Total Gross return Net return Return per
(man days) expenditure (Rs. ha-1) (Rs. ha-1) rupee
Components (Rs) invested (Rs)
Field crops 98.2 3,315 8,954 5,638 2.70
Multi-storeyed cropping 87.0 3,831 12,920 9,089 3.37
Pomology 18.4 900 2,366 1,466 2.63
Olericulture 96.4 3,812 12,114 8,302 3.18
Floriculture 4.0 125 225 100 1.80
Pisciculture 31.0 3,722 20,325 16603 5.46
Poultry 23.0 9,240 10,221 981 1.11
Duckery 23.0 5,387 6,100 713 1.13
Mushroom 180.0 18,184 31,040 12,856 1.70
Apiary 1.0 170 1,350 1,180 7.94
Biogas 11.0 600 2031 1,431 3.38
Total 573.0 49,286 107,646 58,360 2.18
Bhubaneshwar Behera and Mahapatra (1999)

31. Table 7: Major zone and livelihood production systems in the Himachal Pradesh
Zones Climate Altitude Livelihood production Himachal Pradesh
(m amsl) system
Zone I Sub-tropical Agri- Livestock Una,Bilaspur,Hamirpur,
200-800 Fish-Horticulture And parts of
Subordinate Sirmaur,Kangra Solan
and low hills and Chamba district
Zone II Sub-humid Agri-horti-Livestock- Tehsils of Palampur and
801-1800 fishery Kangra of Kangra
Mid-Hills District, Rampur tehsil of
Shimla District and parts
of Mandi
,Solan,Kullu,Chamba,Sir
maur and Shimla Districts
Zone III Temperate Hort. -Livestock-pasture- Shimla district(except
1801-2200 agriculture- fishery Rampur tehsil)and parts
High hills of
Kullu,Solan,Chamba,Man
di,Kangra and Sirmaur
districts
Zone IV Dry Temperate - Alpine, Livestock-silvipasture- Kinnaur,Lahaul and
>2200 agriculture- hort. Spiti,and pangi and
Very high hills Bharmour tehsils of
Chamba district

32. Integrated farming system
• Integrated Farming Systems a
component of farming system
research introduces a change in
farming techniques for maximum
production in a cropping pattern
and take care of optimal
utilization of resources.
• It focused round a few selected,
inter-dependent, inter-related and
often inter-linking production
systems based on few crops,
animals and related subsidiary
professions.

33. Different component of Integrated Farming System
Field crops
Crop production
Vegetables
Fruit cultivation
Poultry farming
Livestock integration
Duckery
Aquaculture
Agroforestry
Bee- keeping
Mushroom cultivation
Bio-gas plant

34. Integrated approach in wetland situation
• Rice based cropping with
poultry-cum-fish culture
• Crop-poultry-fishery
• Cropping with dairy
• Cropping with goat rearing
• Cropping with aquaculture

35. Integrated farming systems for
irrigated areas
Cropping with dairy, biogas and
siliviculture
Integrated farming system for
rainfed areas
Cropping with goat and silivpasture
Integrated farming systems for
hill regions
Majority of the farmers in the region
are maintaining fruit tree like apple,
dairy cattle and the major source of
green fodder comes from lopping of
the fodder trees and locally available
grasses.

36. Objectives of Integrated farming
systems
To identify existing farming systems in specific area and assess
their relative viability.
To formulate farming system models involving main and allied
enterprises for different farming situations.
To ensure optional utilization and conservation of available
resources and effective recycling of farm residues within system.
To maintain sustainable production system without damaging
resources base environment.
To raise overall profitability of farm household by complementing
main allied enterprises with each other.

37. Analysis of existing farming systems in terms of resource use
efficiency, production and productivity, income, employment
and sustainability across different agro-climatic zones.
Evaluation and identification of farming system through
participatory approach that ensures threshold level of income
for the livelihood security.
Developing appropriate institutional and market linkage
including value addition for enhancing sustainability.
Imparting training and capacity building of various
stakeholders on IFS.

38. Goal of Integrated Farming Systems
Maximization of yield of all
component enterprises
Provide steady and stable In-come
Rejuvenation of system’s
productivity
Achieve agro-ecological equilibrium

39. Advantages of Integrated Farming
System
• Increased Productivity
• Profitability
• Sustainability
• Balanced Food
• Environmental safety
• Recycling of resources
• Income round the Year

40.  Adoption of New Technology
 Meeting fodder crisis
 Solving Fuel and Timber crisis
 Employment generation
 Improves literacy
 Increasing the standard of living of the farmer

41. Integrated crop-livestock farming system Key aspects
Integrated Crop-
Livestock
Farming System

42. Table 8: Income and employment generation under
different farming systems
Farming system Human Net returns Additional Additional net
labour (Rs.) employment returns over
(MWDs) over agriculture
agriculture (Rs.)
(MWDs)
Agriculture + 521 35293 359 27842
dairy
Agriculture + 528 26830 366 19379
poultry
Agriculture+ 486 14665 324 7214
sheep rearing
Agriculture alone 162 7451 - -
Telengana MWD: man working day Radha et al. ( 2000)

43. Table 9: System productivity (sorghum grain-equivalent yield), employment
generation and economic in integrated farming systems
Farming system Productivity Employment Cost of
t/ha Man days/ha System Net
productio
product returns
n
ivity (×
2000-01 2001-02 2000-01 2001-02 (103Rs/ha 3/ha)
t/ha 10
)
FS1 cropping alone 0.69 1.84 28 32 1.27 5.520 1.17
FS2 crop +pigeon+ goat+ 4.23 5.21 110 116 4.72 18.90 1.49
agroforestry +
farm pond
FS3 crop+pigeon+Buffalo 11.20 10.79 140 142 10.99 43.65 22.67
+agroforestry+farm pond
FS4 crop+pigeon+goat+
Buffalo+agroforestry 12.18 12.59 160 166 12.39 52.85 21.82
+farm pond
Tamil Nadu Shekinah and Sankaran (2007)

44. Table 10: Gross and net income from different IFS
models
IFS model Gross income Net income B:C ratio Employment
(Rs. ha-1) (Rs. ha-1) generation
(man days
year-1)
Crop Alone 28,196 6,171 1.28 185
Crop + Goat+ Poultry 51,771 24,821 1.92 297
Crop + Goat+ Poultry + Dairy 1,02,083 42,625 1.72 343
Crop +Goat+ Poultry + Sheep 67,776 21,796 1.47 343
Crop +Goat+ Poultry +Sheep +Dairy 1,22,921 52,794 1.75 389
Mean 74,549 29,641 1.63 311
Sd± 38,116 18,305 0.25 78
CV% 51.1 61.8 15.5 25
Kovilpatti U.Solaiappan et al. 2007

45. Table 11: Productivity, profitability and employment generation in
integrated farming system
Gross Expenditure Net returns Employment
System income (Rs ha-1) (Rs ha-1) generated
(Rs ha-1) (man days)
Crops + Cattle +
Poultry + Fish 5,75,214 1,34,049 4,41,165 346
Crop Cultivation
Alone 4,53,819 96,053 3,57,766 225
Additional Benefit
1,21,395 - 83,399 121
Andaman and Nicobar Ravisankar et al. (2007)

46. Table 12: Fodder, fuel-wood and protein yields of tree species in sole and
agroforestry system during different years
treatment Fodder Fuel-wood Crude protein
( dry weight, kg/ha) (dry weight, kg/ha) (kg/ha)
1999- 2000- 2001-02 1999- 2000-01 2001-02 1999- 2000-01 2001-02
2000 01 2000 2000
Agroforestry
Albizia Lebbeck + chickpea 21 159 158 17 213 324 5.0 30.0 28.2
Azadirachta indica + chickpea 32 299 310 47 361 428 5.4 39.5 52.0
Dalbergia sisso + chickpea 242 358 446 377 743 1104 41.6 54.8 69.0
Acacia nilotica + chickpea 241 302 423 1044 1361 1724 35.9 39.9 70.3
SOLE TREES
Albizia lebbeck 31 203 249 47 109 487 7.1 40.6 44.8
Azadirachta indica 46 198 185 104 255 298 7.4 25.7 31.0
Dalbergia sisso 191 191 455 559 313 942 1112 33.6 68.3
Acacia nilotica 139 390 494 676 1761 1894 20.3 50.7 80.6
CD (p = 0.05) 74 171 244 207 410 516 13.1 26.2 36.3
Uttar Pradesh Prasad et al. 2008

47. Table 13: Benefit : cost ratio, net present worth (NPW) and pay back period
(PBP) of various systems
Treatment At 12 % discount rate At 18 % discount rate
NPV B:C PBP NPV B:C PBP
(x 103 Rs) ratio (years) (x 103 Rs) ratio (years)
Agroforestry
Albizia lebbeck 27.24 1.42 1 20.34 1.40 1
Azadirachta 26.46 1.40 1 19.48 1.38 1
indica
Dalbergia sisso 35.40 1.55 1 25.86 1.50 1
Acacia nilotica 37.34 1.58 1 28.38 1.55 1
Sole crop 48.68 1.99 36.88 1.95
SOLE TREES
Albizia lebbeck 4.62 1.46 7 1.68 1.20 10
Azadirachta 4.53 1.38 8 1.27 1.12 10
indica
Dalbergia sisso 15.62 2.31 6 9.28 1.92 6
Acacia nilotica 23.43 3.17 5 15.17 2.81 5
Uttar Pradesh Prasad et al. 2008

48. Constraints and Opportunities
• Lack of appropriate technology
1.
• Lack of farmers participatory research
2.
• Inadequate Training
3.
• Lack of rural infrastructure
4.

49. • Policy implication
5.
• Inadvertent avoidance of farm women
6.
• Socio-economic constraints
7.
• Inadequate institutional support
8.

50. Future research thrust
 Need to study the sustainability of the identified systems
under different topographical situations in the long run
including high value crops.
 Need to study the nutrient dynamics of soil with continuous
cropping and recycling of manurial resources with different
systems over time.
 Modeling of the identified farming system options to suit a
given agro-climatic and socio-economic situation.
 Need to identify the constraints in adoption of identified
farming systems by the farmers for further refinement.

51. Conclusion
Efficient utilization of scarce and costly resources is the need of the hour to
make crop production a viable proposition in the present day competitive
scenario.
Following the concept of Integrated farming systems through supplementation
of allied agro-enterprises by recycling the waste of one enterprise in another is
a right step in this direction.
It provides alternate and sustainable avocation to marginal and sub-marginal
farmers. Fruit, mushroom, apiary, animal production and poultry have been
more viable with them.

52. The crop residues and biomass available in plenty in the crop
production system need to be properly managed to harness full
benefits.
Improving the integrated approach not only enhances farm
income but also overcomes environmental pollution.
A better planning and utilization of the available resources will
usher in bright prospects for the farm economy as a whole.