DRYLAND FARMING AND MODERN CONCEPTS ON CROP PRODUCTION

2. ICAR-NDRI
Dry land Farming
SUBMITTED BY: Pramod Kumar Tiwari
M.Sc.(Agronomy)
SUBMITTED TO: Dr. Hardev Ram
(Scientist NDRI Karnal)

3. INTRODUCTION
 Dry land farming is a part of dry land agriculture in
which we grown the crops in arid or semiarid regions
without artificial irrigation, by reducing evaporation and
by special methods of tillage is called as dry farming.
 Dry land farming is cultivation of crops in regions with
annual rainfall less than 750mm.The period of adequate
soil moisture is less than 75 days moisture conservation
practices are necessary for crop production.

4. Often dry farming and dry land farming are
used synonymously .

5. United Nations Economics and Social Commission
[UNESC]
United Nations Economics and Social Commission
[UNESC] distinguished dryland agriculture mainly into two
categories: Dryland farming and Rainfed farming.

6. PRESENT STATUS:
 Out of 142M ha of NSA in country,RA is practiced in 95M ha [69.5%]
which is contributes 42% of the food grain production of India.
 According to the present concept, there are 128 districts in the country
which face the problems of dry land of these 25 districts covering 18 m. ha
of net area sown with 10 % irrigation receive 375-750 mm rainfall
annually spread over Central Rajasthan, Saurashtra region of Gujarat and
rain shadow region of Western Ghats in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Twelve districts have irrigation covering 30-50% of the cropped area and
do not pose serious problems. The remaining 91 districts covering
mainly Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, parts of Haryana, Tamil Nadu etc., represent
typical dry land area. The total net sown area in these districts is estimated
to be 42 million hectares of which 5 m ha are irrigated. Rainfall in these
districts varies from 375 to 1125 mm. therefore, more and more efforts are
to be made for enhanced and stable production in these areas so that the
recurring droughts do not stand in the way of meeting the growing food
demands.

7. HISTORY OF DRYLAND AGRICULTURE :
 First systemic scientific approach to solve the problems of
dry farming areas was initiated by TAMHANE in 1923 on
small plot at Manjri
 Monograph was passed in 1926 by Kanitkar.
 ICAR launched a comprehensive project on dryland
farming at five centres:Sholapur&Bijapur in
1933,Hagari&Raichur in 1934 and Rohtak in 1935
 ICAR established eight SCRC in 1954.

8. Characters of dryland farming
 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.
 Very low crop yield.
 Poor market facility for the produce.
 Poor health of cattle as well as farmers.

9. Problems of Dryland Farming:
Vagaries of monsoon rainfall.
Soil constraints.
Lack of suitable varieties .
Heavy weed infestation.
Traditional cultivation practices.
Problem in application of mannure and fertilizers.
Socioeconomic constraints.

10. Component of effective dryland farming
Capturing and Conservation of Moisture.
Effective Use of Available moisture Soil.
Conservation Control of Inputs Costs.
Control of Input Costs.

11. Drought
 The word drought ,generally denotes scarcity of water in a region.
 Drought is considered strictly meteorological phenomenon.
 A drought or drouth is an event of prolonged shortages in the water supply,
whether atmospheric, surface water or ground water. A drought can last for
months or years, or may be declared after as few as 15 days.

12. Drought
On the basis of Duration On the basis of Use
Permanent
seasonal
contingent
Invisible
Meteorological
Hydrological
Agricultural

13. Criteria of Drought
No drought : production above 75 %of normal.
Moderate drought: production 50-75% of normal.
Severe drought :production 25-50% of normal.
Disastrous drought: production less than 25% normal.

14. Impact of Drought
Drought not only affects food production at farm level but also
national economy and overall food security as well. Besides
shortage of food and drinking water, impact of drought is also
felt due to:
 Deficit groundwater recharge.
 Non availability of quality seed.
 Reduced drought power for agricultural operations due to
distress sale of cattle.
 Land degradation.
 Fall in investment capacity of farmers for further investment in
agriculture.

15. Adoption of Drought

16. Strategies for dryland farming
Maximising production through alternate cropping
pattern.
Midseason correction to standing crops.
Crop life saving irrigation.
Build up of seed and other inputs to implement the
drought complex strategies.
Thinning the plants or rows in sole crop.
Ratooning on receipt of rain if the damage is not beyond
recovery.

17. Moisture conservation
Tillage
Mulching Fallowing

18. Crops & Cultivars
Crops and varieties ideal for drylands should have certain
characteristics which enable them to withstand harsh
environment during the crop period.
 Deeper root system with maximum branching at deeper zones
to withstand drought.
 Dwarf pant type with lesser number of erect leaves to
withstand lodging.
 Resistance to pest and diseases.
 Potential for high yield.
 Effective photosynthetic behaviour with greater sink capacity.
 Moderate tillering to minimise competition.

19. Dryland Crops
It refers to all such crops which are drought resistant and
can complete their life cycle without irrigation in areas
receives an annual rainfall less than 750mm as
Soraghum,Sunflowers and Cotton.

20. Contingency Crop planning
 Late Onset of monsoon:
 Transplanting
 Alternate crops/varieties
 Dry spells during crop periods:
 Ratooning and thinning
 Mulching
 Spraying of urea(2%)
 Weed control
 Water harvesting and life saving irrigation
 Early withdrawal of monsoon:
 Harvesting at physiological maturity
 Short duration varieties
 Strategies adopted for mitigating dry spells during crop periods can be done

21. Recommendation for dryland farming
 Deep summer ploughing should be followed by surface tillage monsoon
months and also rest of the year.
 Fertilisers should be basal placed at depth of 7.5-10cm. In the soil and the
seeds should be shown in the same furrows about 3cm. above the fertilisers.
 Soil application of BHC(10%) dust at 25-30kg/ha for termites and Thimet 20G
at 15kg/ha for white grub should be done.
 Proper crop rotation, preferably with a legume every year.
 For better seed soil contact, soil compactation should be done by running a
plank roller especially foe rabi crop.
 At the event of crop failure during Kharif, a suitable catch crop like greengram
or toria should be sown.
 Line sowing at depth of 7.5 to 10 cm or even more depending upon the
situation for better seed germination and stand establishment.

22. Dryland Systems
 International centre:-
o International Centre for Agricultural Research in The Dry Areas, Aleppo, Syria.
o International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT),Hyderabad.
o International water management Institute (IWMI), Colombo,Sri Lanka.
 National centre:-
o AICRP on Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad
o Directorate of Water Management Research,Patna,Bihar
o Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (ICRDA) Hyderabad
o Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI),Jodhpur,Rajsthan
 State research centre:-
o Main Dry Farming Research Station,JAU, Targhadiya (Rajkot)
o Dry Farming Research Station, Jam-Khambadiya,(Jamnagar)
o Dry Farming Research Station ,Vallabhipur (Bhavnagar)
o Dry Farming research Station ,Ratia (Porbandar)