Khadin system of runoff farming for crop production

Abstract

Khadin is a low lying area surrounded by rocky catchment and is therefore site specific technique of runoff farming in hyper arid zone (rainfall < 250 mm) of India. Traditionally khadin system of runoff farming was designed and developed by the Paliwal Brahmins of Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) in 15th century. Meagre runoff generated by low rainfall from a larger catchment (usually rocky) is concentrated in a low lying smaller area to the height of 60 to 90 cm during monsoon and crops (i.e wheat, mustard and gram) are grown in rabi season on conserve moisture. Since runoff from a very large catchment belonging to many farmers is get collected in a smaller area, therefore production from khadin is shared on the basis of size of catchment of the contributing farmer. Khadins occupy about 28,400 ha area of Jaisalmer districts with more than 500 nos. of khadins. Research, was conducted to optimise the ratio of khadin to catchment area for maximising the crop production and design package-cum-guidelines, was developed for the construction of khadins. In extremely low rainfall area (e.g. Jaisalmer), khadin system of runoff farming was found very useful and promising technology for crop production on sustainable basis