How Farmers Struggle to Survive in the SAT ?

The Semi-Arid Tropics (SAT) account for 37% of the area and 37% of the population of India. They have a share of 46% of the gross cultivated area of the country but only 32% of the gross irrigated area. The mean normal rainfall in these regions is 965 mm as against the country’s average of 1212 mm. As per the National Sample Survey for 1999-2000, monthly per capita expenditure in the Indian SAT is the lowest (Rs 472) and their poverty head count (24.3%) the highest among the different agroclimatic regions of the country. Low and variable rainfall, moderate population density, inadequate irrigation cover an