National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign-2017 Group VII

1. National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign-2017 Group VII Drought Proofing Vulnerable Districts Chairman: Dr K SatyaGopal, IAS, Govt of Tamil Nadu Co.Chair: Dr KV Rao, ICAR-CRIDA Moderator: Sri KS Srinivas, IAS, MoA&FW

2. Drought Proofing Strategies • Projects Discussed • District Action Plans for Drought Proofing - ICAR-CRIDA • Zero Budget Natural Farming- Sri T Vijaya Kumar, Govt of AP • Water Management Strategies for Tree based systems- Dr K SatyaGopal • Participants include: Representatives of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, NRAA & Agri. Ministry

3. District Action Plan for Drought Proofing An Initiative of DAC &FW Process facilitated by ICAR Districts covered : 24 (Karnataka: 16, Andhra Pradesh -4, Rajsthan 4) Plan development is through collaborative efforts of CRIDA and Line Departments of selected states/ districts Nodal office: Disaster Management Department- AP and Karnatana Agriculture Dept- Rajasthan Committees have been formed involving different line departments, KVKs

4. Departments include: • Agriculture, • Animal Husbandry, • Horticulture, • Irrigation, • Groundwater , • Rural Development, • Sericulture (wherever applicable) etc

5. Drought Proofing plan needs Identification of suitable interventions after thorough assessment of Resource Available vsPrevailing Farming Systems Scale for consideration: District/ Block/ Basin Decentralized Plan is the key

6. Connecting the Dots • Agricultural Systems Sources of Water • Rainfall • Moisture based • Groundwater • Tank Based • Canal (assured?)-External source

7. Supply side management orDemand side management If available rainfall is more than the systems requirement Management of available resource is the main option If available resource is less than the systems requirement • Management of all resources becomes important • Systems perspective • Efficiency measures • Priority for systems • Governance issues • Participatory management

8. Plan process consists of • Assessments are made for • Dependable rainfall/ Effective rainfall, Crop water requirements,Potential of excess water (runoff) for in-situ/ex-situ conservation • Need for additional water requirement and sources of water available • Rainfall and surface availability (canals) is considered for supplementation. • Groundwater to be considered only if the extraction less than 50% of net availability

9. Sustainable use of groundwater • High water consuming crops are to be dissuaded • Improved application methods are to be provided for groundwater use – A must practice • Bridging the gap between potential created and utilized in canal systems is a priority • Saving of water by practicing irrigated dry crops in canal commands • Additional water accrued through savings to be made available for rainfed areas (with in district or neighbouring districts which are hydrologically connected)

10. Template- Block wise and district • Rainfall Information, drought frequency information (monthly, seasonal and annual) • Land Use Pattern, Farm Holdings details • Soils based farming systems Information and the extent of their distribution Area (‘000 ha) • Water resources information (rainfall, canal water, groundwater-availability and utilisation) and water uise • Area treated for water conservation through IWMP/MGNREGS programs etc (the information may pertain to last 10 years including storage created

11. 9.0 Strategy for drought proofing in the district 9.1 Prioritized systems for intervention To cover all combination of systems prevailing in the area

12. 9.2 Prioritized options for drought proofing various systems listed above

13. 10.0 Strategy wise details 10.1 Better use of ground water through improved application systems • Priority: • Duration: Short term/ medium/ long term • Crops identified for introduction of improved systems • Acreage to be covered for each crop • Systems to be promoted: Drip/Sprinkler/ Rainguns etc • Area under each system for every crop identified: As an example Drip systems for Cotton in area of 30% cotton cultivated area to be covered in 2 years at an estimated cost of ….. crores. Funding to be met through PMKSY- • Target to be achieved by (No.of years and estimated cost, department responsible for achieving the target):

14. Natural Farming Practices for Drought Proofing • Enhances soil fertility, plant nutrition and seedling protection through Ghana Jeevamrutam, Drava Jeevamrutam and and Beejamrutam prepared by farmer himself (cow dung and urine used as microbial inoculants to enhance soil biology) • Enhances nutrient and water use efficiency through ground cover by polycropping, intercropping, multi layer farming, cover crops, crop residue mulching and horticultural interventions (trees) • Pest management using indigenous botanical resources such as Nema, Agni and Brhama Ashtras by farmer himself. • Climate resilience exhibited - long drought spells (26d days) • In 2016-17: 40000 Farmers , 704 input shops, 4000 Master Farmers as Community Resource Persons and 4000 men SHGs formed saving > 2 crores

15. Benefits & Challenges • Benefits: Climate resilience, higher average yields (Paddy- 10%; Groundnut 29%, Blackgram-27%, Maize 28%, Chillies- 32% ), reduced cost of cultivation recorded from Crop Cutting Experiments in 13 districts of AP • Challenges: Food security to feed millions; Doubling the farm income, without addition of fertilizers and pesticides sustaining soil fertility and pest management, in dwindling animal population availability of large quantities of cow dung and urine, non availability of labour and how to mechanise agriculture in poly cropping situations • Global Concerns:soil erosion and eroding soil fertility and sustaining/ improving soil health/ quality

16. Recommendations (ZBNF) In view of success of ZBNF widespread in Andhra Pradesh and in certain locations of Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka : • Other State departments of agriculture and horticulture shall have opportunity to have field visits and interaction with more than >48K farmers of Andhra Pradesh • Enhance NF practices by scientifically validated Ecological engineering practices (solar light traps, mycorhizha cultures, biological control (entomopathogenicnematodes) etc. • Scientific evidences for enhanced fertility, climate resilience, reduction in GHGs and enhanced carbon sequestration be built by involving national and international research organsiations • ZBNF practices will be focused as an option for drought proofing mechanism in areas having proven benefits

17. Issues discussed • Acceptability of technological interventions by farmers • Policy support • Funding for implementation of action plans • A digital database generation for frequent updation • Use of available information on Length of crop growing period • ZBNF Promotion across regions

18. Thanks