Integrated Farming Systems: A Viable Option for Doubling Farm Income of Small and Marginal Farmers

Abstract

Crop and livestock cannot be separated for small holder agriculture in India as crop + livestock is the pre-dominant farming system existing in the country and livelihood of 117 million marginal and small farm holdings revolves around this system. Small categories of farms are often subjected to weather vagaries like flood, drought and other natural calamities and farming remains risky. Vertical expansion in small farms is possible by integrating appropriate farming system components requiring less space and time and ensuring periodic income to the farmers. Integrated Farming System (IFS) is considered to be powerful tool and holds the key for ensuring income, employment, livelihood and nutritional security in a sustainable mode for small and marginal farmers who constitute 84.97% of total operational holdings and operated 44.31% of area. Integrated system meets the above goals through multiple uses of natural resources such as land, water, nutrients and energy in a complimentary way thus giving scope for round the year sustainable income from various enterprises.