To improve rural livelihoods, increase food security and protect the environment through sustainable intensification adopting holistic participatory research for development (PR4D) to benefit small farm holders in the semi-arid tropics

1. Resilient Dryland Systems (RDS) Asia
Brief Overview
Suhas P Wani
Research Program Director (Acting)
Resilient Dryland Systems

2. Poverty
Population explosion
Water scarcity
Land degradation
Malnutrition
211 m India
142 m China
156 m Other Asia & Pacific
519 m India
211 m China
Asia: The Hot Spot of Poverty –
Our Common Challenge

3. Goal
To improve rural
livelihoods, increase food
security and protect the
environment thru
sustainable intensification
adopting holistic
participatory research for
development (PR4D) to
benefit small farm holders
in the semi-arid tropics

4. Demand Driven R4D
 Food and nutritional security
 Improved livelihoods
 Sustainable ecosystem services
 Resilience building

5. Impact Oriented R4D
 Continuum of research in rainfed
agriculture
 Strategic – Adaptive – On-farm –
Scaling-out
 Drylands – supplemental irrigation
– irrigated agricultural
intensification

6. Farmers’ Centric Watershed
as an Entry Point
Watershed as entry point for:
Increasing productivity
Enhancing profits
Improving livelihoods
Protecting environment and ESSs
Empowerment of poor
Social capital development

7. Changes in Status of Agroecological
Regions
 SA areas increased by 8.45 M ha in MP, Bihar, UP, Karnataka
and Punjab
 Dryness and wetness are increasing in different parts of the
country in the place of moderate climates existing earlier in
these regions

8. Climate Change Impacts
-99.9
-66.6
-33.3
0.0
1971
1974
1977
1980
1983
1986
1989
1992
1995
1998
2001
2004
Year
MoistureIndex(%)
Arid
Semi-arid
Dry Subhumid
Sharing LGP at Nemmikal
watershed, Nalgonda district,
AP
Warming at Gulbarga,
Karnataka

9. Increased Productivity and Carbon
Sequestration in Agriculture
 Current farmers’ yields are lower by 2 to 5 folds than
the achievable yields
 Vast potential of rainfed agriculture needs to be
harnessed

10. Biological and chemical properties of semi arid tropical Vertisols in 1998 after
24 years of cropping under improved and traditional systems in catchments at
ICRISAT Center, Patancheru, India
Properties System Soil depth SE
0-60 60-120
Soil respiration (kg C ha-1) Improved
Conventional
723
260
342
98
7.8
Microbial biomass (kg C ha-1) Improved
Conventional
2676
1462
2137
1088
48.0
Organic carbon ( t C ha-1) Improved
Conventional
27.4
21.4
19.4
18.1
0.89
Mineral N (kg N ha-1) Improved
Conventional
28.2
15.4
10.3
26.0
2.88
Net N mineralization (kg N ha-1) Improved
Conventional
- 3.3
32.6
- 6.3
15.4
4.22
Microbial biomass N (kg N ha-1) Improved
Conventional
86.4
42.1
39.2
25.8
2.3
Non-microbial organic N (kg N ha-1) Improved
Conventional
2569
2218
1879
1832
156.9
Total N (kg N ha-1) Improved
Conventional
2684
2276
1928
1884
156.6
Olsen P (kg P ha-1) Improved
Traditional
6.1
1.5
1.6
1.0
0.36

11. Biological Nitrification
Inhibition in Sorghum

12.  Twenty five institutions in consortium mode
worked together
 Watershed development programs are benefiting
rainfed areas:
 B:C ratio of 2.01
 IRR 21.43%
 Enhanced rural incomes 50%
 Increased productivity 35%
Joshi et al. 2008
CA Impact of Watershed Program in
India

13. CA Recommendations
 Watersheds need to be developed as
business model
 Promote Participatory monitoring,
management, and efficiency use of water
resources
 Effective monitoring
 One size fits all approach does not work

14. STEPs to Achieve Impact
S = Sustainability
T = Technology inputs
E = Equity
P = Participation
 Less than 1% watersheds are economically non-remunerative
 Two-thirds of watersheds’ performance can be improved

15. Seeing is Believing:
Sites of Learning
 Convergence
 Collective action
 Capacity building
 Consortium for technical backstopping

16. Use of new science tools
A holistic participatory
approach
Continuous monitoring and
evaluation
Linked on-station and Off-
station
Empowerment of community
and stakeholders
Mix of individual and community-
based interventions
Consortium for technical
backstopping
Adarsha Watershed, Kothapally, India:
A Brightspot
Integrated Watershed Management Model

17. AWM Interventions Enhanced Groundwater
Resilience in Adarsha Watershed, Kothapally
GW recharge increased by 50-80 %

18. • Convergence of WSPs under
MoRD
• Linking of Research and
Development programs
• Livelihood approach
• New institutional and governance
• Increased investments
• More emphasis on CB measures
New Watereshed Guidelines

19.  Soil health
 Improved cultivars
 Pests and disease management
 Markets, institutions and policy
support
 Need for integrated approach
Water Alone Can’t Do It

20.  Stratified sampling method
 GIS-based interpolation method
 Soil characterization in seven districts of Karnataka
Sahrawat et al. 2007, Tina Geisler 2007
Soil Sampling Method at Micro-
watershed and District Level Developed

21.  Documented widespread deficiency of micronutrients
Percentage of farmers’ fields deficient in soil nutrients in different states of India
State
No. of
farmers’
fields
Org.C
%
Av.P
ppm
K
Ppm
S
ppm
B
ppm
Zn
ppm
Andhra Pradesh 1927 84 39 12 87 88 81
Karnataka 1260 58 49 18 85 76 72
Madhya Pradesh 73 9 86 1 96 65 93
Rajasthan 179 22 40 9 64 43 24
Gujarat 82 12 60 10 46 100 82
Tamilnadu 119 57 51 24 71 89 61
Kerala 28 11 21 7 96 100 18
Sahrawat et al. 2007, Rego et al. 2007, Wani et al. 2007, and Srinivasa Rao et al. 2008
Balanced Nutrient Management

22. To innovate resource recovery from domestic
and industrial wastewater and safe reuse
in agriculture
Water4Crops: Safe Reuse of
wastewater in Agriculture

23. W4C Indian Consortium Partners

24. Bhoochetana: GoK-ICRISAT Innovative
Scaling-up Initiative to Bridge Yield Gaps

25. Holistic Consortium Approach

26. Bhoo Chetana: A Novel Initiative
4.4 million farmers
3.7 million ha

27. Increased Crop Yields by 23 to 66 per cent
for Small Farmholders
Mean yields of ragi, maize and soybean from farmers’ fields
in different districts of Karnataka during kharif season 2009
36
%
39%
34%
23%
38%
26%
42
%
53%
Increased oil seed crop yields with improved management practices
under Bhoochetana over farmers’ practice in different districts, rainy
season 2011
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
2009 2010 2011 2012 Maize 4
Years
2009 2010 2011 G.nut 3
Years
Grain/Podyield(kgha-1)
Farmers' practice
Improved practice
Haveri District Maize and Kolar District Groundnut crop yield data
31%
43%41%
33%
37%33%
33%
29%
44%
Haveri Maize Kolar Groundnut
Increased yields of maize in Haveri and groundnut in Kolar districts
with improved management during 2009-2012

28. Bhoochetana: Improving Livelihoods
2066% yield increase
5% rise in agriculture growth annually
$ 230 million in four years
$ 1 invested = $ 314 return

29. Bhoochetana Benefits in Karnataka
Year
Area
under Imp
Mgmt
(m ha)
Production
of Crops with
Imp Mgmt
(m t)
Production of
Crops with
Farmers'
Mgmt (m t)
Increased
Production
with Imp
Mgmt (mt)
Value of
Additional
Production with
Imp Mgmt
(Million $)
Cost of
Inputs
(Million $)
Net
Income
(Million $)
2012 0.49 1.44 1.12 0.33 94.0 12.0 82.1
2011 0.58 2.14 1.61 0.54 119.0 9.6 109.0
2010 0.18 0.41 0.34 0.12 41.2 4.1 37.2
2009 0.02 0.05 0.03 0.015 2.5 0.5 2.1
Total 1.27 4.10 3.10 1.01 256.7 26.2 230.4

30. 4 Cs 4 Es
 Consortium Efficiency
 Convergence Equity
 Capacity building Environment
 Collective action/ Economic gain
Cooperation
Important Pillars of Bhoochetana

31. Bhoochetana Plus:
GoK-CGIAR Initiative
The overall goal is to improve livelihoods thru
sustainable intensification of farming systems
holistically by building partnerships and inclusive
market oriented development

32. Bhoochetana Plus:
Consortium
 Convergence of seven CG
centers, GoK Departments
and SAUs.
 Applying new innovations
selected from the world
 Building partnership and
developing scaling-up model
in four different revenue
divisions comprising 10
Agro-Climatic Zones (ACZs)
 Orientation of Task Force of
CG centers and GoK
departments led by
Development Commissioner
as Chair and Economic
Advisor to Hon’ble Chief
Minister as Co-chair

33. Bhoochetana Plus:
Pilot and Innovations Sites
Four Revenue Divisions
& Pilot Districts
1. Bengaluru
Tumkur
2. Mysore
Chikamangluru
3. Raichur
Raichur
4. Belgaum
Bijapur

34. South-South Partnerships
 With ASARECA (nine countries in the areas of watershed management)
 Exposure-cum-training visits by the senior researchers and policymakers
from the ASARECA countries
 Two international workshops in the area of watershed management in
India and Kenya
 Deputation of experts from India to Rwanda for consultation
 Sharing of knowledge and expertise
 New initiative with AGRA for piloting Bhoochetana
 Experience sharing workshop between India, ICRISAT and SEA in IWMI

35. India-SSA Initative in Eight
Countries for Scaling-up Model
Sustainable Intensification to bridge
the Yield Gaps in Africa through Soil
Test-based Nutrient Amendments
with Micronutrients (Bhoochetana)

36. ICRISAT is a member of the CGIAR Consortium
Thank you!