Real Time Contingency Planning under Major Rainfed Production Systems in India Annual Report 2011-12

Not AvailableIt is now evident that climate change and its consequences are beginning to impact agriculture and allied sectors in India. In agriculture, rainfed agriculture is more vulnerable to climate change and variability. To make the Indian agriculture more climate resilient, there is an urgent need to demonstrate and disseminate already available best bet practices on farmers’ fields in specially vulnerable regions, in addition to long term strategies research. In this context, there is a need to evolve innovative institutional mechanisms, like Village Level Climate Risk Management Committee, Custom Hiring Centers, etc. for successful adoption, ownership and upscaling of proven practices. Since 2010-11, the technology demonstration component of National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) is being implemented across 23 network centers of All India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture (AICRPDA), both on-station and on-farm, under 4 Sub-projects, viz., (i) Real time contingency plan implementation in a participatory mode, (ii) Rainwater harvesting (in-situ and ex-situ) and efficient use, (iii) Efficient energy use and management, and (iv) Alternate land use. The focus was on participatory demonstration of location specific climate resilient agricultural technologies / package of practices developed by 23 AICRPDA Network Centers (including voluntary Center, IGFRI, Jhansi). The on-farm program is being operational in 15,793.75 ha in 36 adopted villages in 26 districts and 15 States in the country. I compliment Dr.GR. Maruthi Sankar, Incharge Project Coordinator (Dryland Research), Dr.G. Ravindrana Chary, Principal Scientist (Agronomy), Er.R.Nagarjuna Kumar, Scientist (Computer App) and Dr.PK. Mishra, former Project Coordinator (Dryland Research) for their efforts in program development, implementation and monitoring. The contribution of scientists and staff of AICRPDA and ORP centers for successfully undertaking the program in target areas is acknowledged. This report presents the details on demonstration of real time contingency planning of both on-station and on-farm along with the achievements in other thematic areas by AICRPDA Network Centers. I thank Dr.S. Ayyappan, Director General, ICAR, Dr.AK. Sikka, DDG (NRM), Dr.AK. Singh, former DDG (NRM), Dr.B. Mohan Kumar, ADG (Agron & AF) for providing guidance and support to AICRPDA from time to time.Not Availabl