Rainfed Agriculture, Integrated Water Mangement

Abstract

I. History of Rainfed Agriculture A. Pre-Independence period From time immemorial, the chief form of agriculture in the dryland tracts of India was cultivation of drought resistant crops viz., millets for food and fodder. It used to be a gamble with rainfall. During good rainfall years, the hardships of farmers seem to have been mitigated, as surplus grain and fodder were available. But, as water is the most important single factor of crop production, the inadequacy (200-800 mm/year) and extremely uncertainty (cv: 60-70%) of rainfall often caused partial or complete failure of crops leading to periodic food scarcities and famines. Drought was a frequent phenomenon. These factors made the economic life of the dryland cultivator extremely difficult and insecure. To address these issues, the Government of India appointed the First Famine Commission in 1880. The Commission recommended creation of protective irrigation projects in the dry tracts. However, irrigation in scarcity tracts of Madras, Bombay, Mysore and Hyderabad provinces was possible only to a limited extent. Thus, most of the scarcity tracts of south and some in north India had to depend on rainfall for crop production (Kanitkar et al., 1968). The first systematic and scientific approach to the problem of dry farming was attempted only in 1923 to eradicate drought related problems. Dr H.H.Mann, the then Director of Agriculture, in consultation with Shri C.V.Mehta, the then Minister for Agriculture, Bombay Province, initiated research on dry farming on a small plot at Manjari Farm, near Pune, under the leadership of Shri V.A.Tamhane, the then Soil Physicist to the Government of Bombay. After the transfer of Shri Tamhane in 1926, Dr N.V.Kanitkar took up the responsibility. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------