Contents

ABSTRACT 1
1. INTRODUCTION 2
2. OBJECTIVES OF THIS PAPER 3
3. RAINFED AGRICULTURE AND TYPOLOGIES 3
4. IMPORTANCE OF RAINFED AGRICULTURE IN OVERALL
SECTOR PERFORMANCE 4
5. TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGES IN RAINFED SYSTEMS 4
5.1. Issues in technology development 4
5.1.1. Seed Technology 4
5.1.2. Fertilizer Use 5
5.1.3. Soil and Water Management 5
5.1.4. Protective Irrigation and Water Harvesting 5
6. APPROACHES TO RESEARCH 5
6.1. Tapping existing potential vs. developing new potential 5
6.2. Need for farmer-based research 6
6.3. Package vs. gradient approach to technology transfer 7
6.4. Breeding strategies for rainfed environments 7
6.5. Watershed management project 7
6.5.1. Technology choice 8
6.5.2. Village-level institution building 8
6.6. Natural Resource degradation and rainfed agriculture 9
6.6.1. Waterlogging, Salinization and Alkalinization of Irrigated Lands 9
6.6.2. Groundwater Degradation 9
6.7. Risk and rainfed agriculture 10
6.8. Instability of rainfed vs. irrigated agriculture 10
6.9. Effect of Risk on Technology Adoption 10
7. STRATEGIES FOR RAINFED AGRICULTURE 11
7.1. Agricultural Research and Extension 11
7.2. Irrigation 11
7.3. Sustainable Use of Fragile Lands 13
7.4. Infrastructure 14

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 7.5. Decentralization and Local Institutional Development 15
7.6. Steps toward Increased Participation of Rural People 16
8. CONCLUSIONS 17
9. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 17
10. REFERENCES 17

List of Tables

Table 1 Various criteria’s for identification of rainfed area 20

Table 2 Aagroclimatic zones based on soils and climate 21
Table 3 Share of rainfed agriculture in area and production of
major Crops, India 22
Table 4 Yield differentials among the selected rainfed and irrigated
crops 23

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