Mechanization of dryland agriculture in India scope and importance

Abstract

Dry land farming is an agricultural technique for non-irrigated cultivation of land. It may be defined as: “a practice of growing profitable crops without irrigation in areas which receive an annual rainfall of 500 mm or even less”. India has about 108 million hectares of rain fed area which constitutes nearly 75% of the total 143 million hectares of arable land. In India, dry land agriculture accounts for nearly two-thirds of total cropped area and generates nearly half of the total value of agricultural output. Rain fed agriculture encounters several constraints on account of climatic, edaphic, and social factors. Out of the 97 million farm holdings in India, about 76% come under marginal and small categories. The productivity levels of these areas have remained lower across years because of frequent droughts occurring due to high variability in the quantum and distribution of rainfall, poor soil, low fertilizer use, imbalanced fertilization, small farm size and poor mechanization, poor socio-economic conditions and low risk-bearing capacity, low credit availability and infrastructure constraints. Consequently, farmers are distracted from agriculture and tend to migrate to cities to look for alternative jobs. Hence, there is a great need to increase the productivity of rain fed crops and overall net returns to keep the farmers in agriculture. A paradigm shift in rain fed agriculture can be expected through technological thrusts and policy changes. India has about 47 million hectares of dry lands out of 108 million hectares of total rain fed area. Dry lands contribute 42% of the total food grain production of the country. These areas produce 75% of pulses and more than 90% of sorghum, millet, groundnut and pulses from arid and semi-arid regions. Thus, dry lands and rainfed farming will continue to play a dominant role in agricultural production.