Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Alfisols of Raichur/Dharwad districts in Karnataka receive more rains as com-
pared to Ferozpur (Punjab), but still have low agricultural productivity. This is because
Karnataka farmers do not have tube well irrigation which is available to Punjab farm-
ers. The scope for raising the productivity through genetic means in such environ-
ments is limited (Cassman 1999). CA practices with residue retention to improve water
supply and soil health can be more rewarding. In coarser textured soils found in the
southwestern parts of Punjab and Haryana, wheat productivity is low because of soil
salinity and saline irrigations, and vacating the fields of cotton late in the season for
wheat planting. Growing cotton in kharif in saline areas often delays wheat sowing,
and therefore, reduces yield. The recent spurt in cultivation of HD2851, a wheat vari-
ety adapted to slight delay in sowing, in these areas is indicative of both the problem
and the solution. Relay cropping of wheat in standing cotton can improve productiv-
ity of both cotton and wheat crops in the two Punjabs and in Haryana (Buttar et al.
2011). It has been observed that seed-based technologies alone have not done so well
in enhancing productivity in the lesser-endowed regions located between 78.83° and
86.13° east longitudes. These areas often have low productivity owing to the presence
of Chaur, Tal, and Diara lands; shifting river courses; droughts and floods; >4 Mha of
rice fallows; poor-quality seed systems; low fertilizer use; late planting; weak infra-
structure and technology fatigue; and little groundwater development during the kharif
season. These areas, if put to effective use, can easily produce an additional 10 Tg of
food with appropriate technology support. Not only that these risk-prone farmers do
not have worthwhile fertilizer recommendations, but also Bihar, with comparatively
higher rainfall, has low productivity, largely because of the almost negligible ground-
water development work. The northern districts (e.g., Patna, Nalanda, and Vaishali) of
Bihar located in the fluvial plains of the major rivers have higher productivity than the
southern districts (Lakhisarai, Champaran, Begusarai, Buxur, etc.). With little irriga-
tion water, many districts in south Bihar face drought like situations during the kharif
season and largely depend on rainwater to raise puddled transplanted rice crop. It is
observed that most farmers waste nearly 40% rainwater in tillage operations before
transplanting rice (Singh et al. 2001). With little groundwater development, it is better
to establish rice early before the onset of monsoons in these districts, such as to sig-
nificantly raise rice-wheat productivity in Bihar, West Bengal, and Bangladesh, where
there is some parallel between rainfall and productivity trends.
5.4 FOOD REQUIREMENTS AND ALTERNATE
SOURCES OF PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH
Easy gains from the original Green Revolution have already been realized; however,
to keep pace with the increasing population and demand for food, further increase in
production is still required. India alone needs to produce an additional 64 Tg of food
over the next decade to achieve the targeted production of 294 Tg by 2020. The impor-
tant question, therefore, is from where will these future productivity gains come from?
Will yield gain be further consolidated through germplasm improvement as done in
the past, or will some new avenues need to be exploited? Increasing the efficiency of
inputs in irrigated, semiarid, humid, and subhumid tropics through better manage-
ment of natural resources and improving the productivity in rainfed agroecosystems
