ANNUAL REPORT 2017-18

Abstract

Rainfed agriculture is practiced in about 73 Mha in India and contributes to about 40% of country’s food basket. The climate change/variability, poor operational resource base, bridging yield gaps and soil health pose challenges in sustainability and environmental protection in rainfed agriculture. The All India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture (AICRPDA) since inception has the mandate to generate technologies to address agroecology speciϐic problems in rained agriculture. The prioritized research is being undertaken at network Centres in the thematic areas of rainwater management, cropping syst ems, contingency crop planning, nutrient management, energy management including farm mechanization, identifying drought tolerant varieties, alternate land use and integrated farming systems. Self evaluation through Operational Research Project (ORP) centres and other outreach programmes of the project for technology assessment under real farm situations is unique to the project.