Cropping Pattern

A two-day workshop was held on “Success Stories Under Watershed Programmes ” from 2nd -3^rd Feb 2011 by the Department of Land Resources (DoLR) at New Delhi. The workshop was structured in two sections. Research papers were presented from research institutes such as Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Central Soil & Water Conservation Research and Training Institute (CSWRTI), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), National Research Centre for Agroforestry (NRCAF), National Institute for Rural Development (NIRD) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). This was followed by presentation of success stories by various States.

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The following article is based on a field experiment in International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), where low cost farming systems that involve use of biological inputs obtained from the field is compared with conventional farming.

The researchers here discuss the experiences gained from this experiment and those gathered from organic farmers. Further, the authors offer suggestions for future demonstration and verification experiments, to study the virtues of organic  farming.Read More

This paper reports on a field experiment conducted at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Patancheru, where four crop-husbandry systems were studied.

Two of the four systems are low-cost farming methods which are based on traditional and scientific knowledge on using crop residues, farm-waste, compost, Gliricidia lopping, bacterial inoculants, and herbal extracts as nutrients to nourish the soil, and as biopesticides to manage pests.

The third system is conventional agriculture which is the "control" and receives chemical input as suggested by research institutions depending on crop type. The fourth is a combination of the  first three.Read More

This paper discusses the need to shift from chemical intensive agriculture to organic farming. The authors in their vision for a chemical-free agriculture also stress that organic agriculture is a way to achieve food security.Read More

The authors begin with the current crisis in Indian agriculture. Stating that though the Green Revolution made India self-sufficient in food production in the shortest time it also resulted in a host of problems. The indiscriminate use of fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides and herbicides has created problems of decline in the soil fertility, pollution of water resources, and chemical contamination of food grains, amongst the many similar issues now linked to the Green Revolution.