RAINFED AGRICULTURE IN INDIA: Perspectives and Challenges

India’s agriculture growth after independence has moved the country from the severe food crisis of the sixties to aggregate food surplus today and rainfed agriculture has played an important role in this. In India about two-third of total net sown area comes under rainfed lands. Rainfed crops account for 48 per cent area under food crops and 68 per cent under non-food crops. One of the major challenges facing rainfed agriculture in India today is its sustainable development through conserving and enhancing the inherent capacity of its land and other natural resources to sustain it. Any erosion of this capacity will threaten country’s food security and agriculture substantially. In order to constantly address this concern, along with increasing production of food grains and other agricultural products, it is necessary to enhance and conserve the stock of available land, water and other natural resources and develop improved technologies, which maintain and improve the productive capacity of natural resources. The papers in this volume touch upon important aspects relating to rainfed agriculture such as crop husbandry, conserving land and water, livestock development, livelihood options in rural non-farm sector and policies, initiatives and institutional changes necessary for rejuvenating rainfed agriculture. The analysis and issues raised in the contributions would go a long way to put the much-neglected agriculture in rainfed areas in true perspective and provide space for better policy options.