This document discusses dry land agriculture in India. It defines dry land agriculture as farming in areas receiving less than 750mm of rainfall annually, and notes that 60% of India's cultivated land falls under dry land agriculture. The document outlines the types of dry land farming based on rainfall amounts, characteristics of dry farming in India, importance of dry land agriculture for food production and rural livelihoods, challenges faced, and approaches to management including engineering, physiological and genetic methods. Effective management of dry land agriculture is critical for India's food security and reducing land degradation, according to the conclusion.

2. Contents
 Introduction
 Types of Dry Land Agriculture
 Characteristics of Dry Farming
 Importance of Dry Land Agriculture
 Challenges of Dry Land Agriculture
 Management of Dry Land Agriculture
Conclusion

3. Introduction
“Indian agriculture is a gamble of monsoon.”
Out of 143 m ha of cultivated land 85 m ha is
rain fed*, which is 60% of the cultivated land.
Such land suffer from low rainfall , draught and
excess rainfall. Despite considerable progress
in irrigation development over the FYP , 85%
of coarse cereals, 83% pulses,42% in rice, 70%
in oil seeds and 65% in cotton is still cultivated
as rain fed.

4. Introduction
More over 40% of food grains production comes
from dry lands. India will need 308.5 m tons of
food grains by 2030 to feed the population.
Hence Dry Land agriculture management
becomes very much significant.

5. Types of Dry Land Agriculture
Depending on the amount of rainfall received
Dry land agriculture can be classified into three
categories:
I. Dry Farming
Amount of rainfall received is less than 750
mm.
These are arid regions with growing period of
75 days.

6. II. Dry land farming
Amount of rainfall received is more than 750 mm per
annum.
These are semi arid tract with growing period of 75
to120 days.
Crop failure is relatively less.
III. Rain fed farming
Amount of rainfall is more than 1150 mm.
No stress of water, rather requirement of its disposal.
These are humid regions and growing period is more
than 120 days.
Note: UNESC define two types Dry Farming [less than
800mm] Rain Fed Farming [more than 800mm]

7. Dry Land area in different region of India
States % of rain
fed area
Jammu and Kashmir , Uttaranchal and
Himachal Pradesh
60 to 81
Rajasthan and Gujarat 66 to 88
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Andhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka ,Tamilnadu
76 to 82
Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,
Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal
33 to 73

8. Characteristics of Dry Farming in India
 Uncertain, ill-.distributed and limited annual
rainfall;
 Occurrence of extensive climatic hazards like
drought, flood etc;
 Undulating soil surface
 Practice of extensive agriculture i.e. prevalence
of mono cropping etc;
 Relatively large size of fields;

9. Characteristics of Dry Farming in India
 Similarity in types of crops raised by almost all
the farmers of a particular region;
 Very low crop yield;
 Poor market facility for the produce;
 Poor economy of the farmers; and
 Poor health of cattle as well as farmers.

10. Importance of Dry Land Agriculture
 About 70% of rural population lives in dry
farming areas and their livelihood depend on
success or failure of the crops
 Dry land agriculture occupy 60% of cultivated
area and supports 40% of human population
and 60 % livestock population.
 At present, 3 ha of dry land crop produce
cereal grain equivalent to that produced in one
ha irrigated crop.

11.  Since regions under irrigated agriculture are already
facing problem due to nutrient exhaustion, salinity
build up and over use of fertilizers. So it is imperative
to produce more from dry land while conserving
existing resources.
 Dry lands offer good scope for development of agro
forestry, social forestry, Horti - sylvi-pasture and such
other similar systems which will not only supply
food, fuel to the village people and fodder to the
cattle but forms a suitable vegetative cover for
ecological maintenance.

12. Relative characteristics of rain fed vs irrigated regions
Parameter Rainfed Irrigated
Poverty ratio % 37 33
Proportion of agricultural labour % 30 28
Land productivity, Rs./ha 5716 8017
Per capita consumption (kg/year) of
Cereals
Pulses
Total food grains
240
20
260
459
12
471
Cooperative credit, Rs./ha 816 1038
Bank Credit, Rs./ha 1050 1650
Infrastructure development index 0.30 0.40
Social development index 0.43 0.44

13. Challenges of Dry Land Agriculture
 Moisture stress and uncertain rainfall
 Inefficient storage of rain water
 Disposal of dry farming produce
 Use of limited crop varieties
 Problem in application of manure and
fertilizers
 Inferior quality of farm produce
 Socio-economic constraints of farmers

14. Compound annual growth rate in area, production and yield of major crops
in India, 1998-99 to 2008-09 (Raju et al., 2010)
Yield of major rain fed crops

15. Management of Dry Land Agriculture
 Engineering approach:
It is aimed at soil and moisture conservation.
- Contouring
- Scooping
- Compartmental bunding
- Water harvesting


16.  Physiological approach:
It used to check evapo-transpiration from plants.
 Mulches
 Shelterbelt
 Wind break
 Antitranspirants
Phenyl mercuric Acetate (PMA)
Genetic approach
It is focus on use of HYV seeds with high
tolerance, draught resistant, deep roots, resistant
to disease, dwarf growth etc. ICAR is working
with ICRISAT to develop such hybrid seeds.

17.  Other measures:
 Enabling rural institution and forming
policies for dry land agriculture though
capacity building and knowledge sharing.
 Practicing animal husbandry along with
agriculture.
 Providing crop insurance and credit linkage.
 Growing crops with short maturation period
like . in sorghum growing areas millet can
be planted.

18. Conclusion
With climate change likely to exacerbate. The
water scarcity is threatening the scope of dry
land agriculture. More over to meet the food
security of over billion Indian population and
check the extent of land degradation, Dry Land
Agriculture Mgt. has become critically
significant. Day by day the area under
cultivation is contracting to meet the
developmental need of nation. So the future
will depend on how efficiently Dry Land
Agriculture is managed.

19. References:
www.crida.in
www.icar.org.in
www.fao.org
www.icrisat.org
www.agrtech.tnau.ac.in