Bhoo chetana : A Mission - Mode Project on Rainfed Agriculture Page 1 of 1

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Background

In India, out of 142 million ha of arable lands, 60% (5.2 million ha) is rainfed. Karnataka has the second largest area under rainfed
agriculture after Rajasthan in the country. Crop yields in dryland areas are quite low (1-1.5 t ha-1), lower by two to five folds of the yield
obtained from plots managed by researchers. Current rainwater use efficiency in dryland agriculture varies between 35-45%. The vast
potential of rainfed agriculture could be unlocked by using available scientific technologies including improved cultivars, and the many
opportunities in these dryland areas can be harnessed for improving rural livelihoods.
The Government of Karnataka has taken an innovative approach through the Sujala-ICRISAT initiative, which is strongly based on
building capacities of farmers rather than on disseminating new technologies alone. The initiative that started with 13 watersheds in 2005
was scaled-up to 47 watersheds to demonstrate the productivity enhancement measures. ICRISAT has developed a stratified soil sampling
(20-25%) method to cover watersheds on farmer's fields. The learning's from the Sujala-ICRISAT initiative are:

1. The yield gap analysis undertaken by ICRISAT revealed that large yield gaps exists for all the major rainfed crops grown in these
districts of Karnataka, and that there is potential for increasing the productivity by 2 to 3-folds using available technologies in the
farmers fields.
2. Knowledge-based entry point activities enhanced the capacity of the farmers to undertake sampling by conducting the “Gram sabhas”
where representative soil samples for 13 nucleus watersheds comprising 410 farmers fields were collected by the farmers.
3. Karnataka soils are not only thirsty but are also hungry as 50-90% of the farmers fields are deficient in sulphur, zinc and boron.
4. Soil deficiency tests revealed that in the 7 targeted districts, there is no widespread deficiency of potassium. However, widespread
deficiency of nitrogen (31 to 81%), phosphorus (31 to 67%) and available sulfur (79 to 93%), available boron (39 to 91%) and available
zinc (32 to 80%) is recorded.
5. Farmers participatory action research showed increased crop yields up to 345% with sunflower, 230% with ragi, 240% with groundnut,
150% maize, 116% soybean and 27% sorghum.
6. Results from scaling-up initiatives revealed up to 58% increased crop yields even during the unfavorable year 2008.
7. Farmers selected improved varieties based on the performance in their fields of different crops such as Ragi, Groundnut, hybrids of
maize, and sunflower.
8. Along with improved cultivars, farmers also evaluated suitable land and water management practices to conserve rainwater in the soil.
9. The economic benefits because of improved management practices in case of grain crops vary from Rs 6300/- per ha in case of finger
millet (ragi) to Rs.21000/- per ha in case of sunflower.

The proposed initiative to be undertaken by the Government of Karnataka is the path breaking approach for development and inclusive
growth through enhanced productivity in dryland agriculture.

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http://www.icrisat.org/what-we-do/agro-ecosystems/Bhoo-Chetana/background.htm 4/23/2011