Managementof Natural Resources:

The national resources that are to be

vegetation and climate .India is blessedmanaged on sustainable basis are
with vast natural resources of soil, water,
vegetation climate but with poor quality of life. They
and land, water,
can be marnaged by
Characterization and development of Sustainable land
use plans for each agro ecological
region the country
in
a) Soil and
moisture conservation
b) Integated soil fertility management
c) Inter basin transfer of surface flow which is otherwise going as
waste for
seas and oceans
d) Creation of live storage of water by constructing reservoirs
e) Integrated water management of surface and ground water sources
t) On farm irrigation water management to enhance water use efficiency
 Presence of hard layers and deep cracks: Presence of hard layers
cracks affect the crop production especially in case of (pans) in soil and deep
black soils.
3.3Cultivation practices
The existing management practices adopted by the farmers are evolved based on long
experience by the farmers. term
The traditional management practices are Ploughing along the slope
Broadcasting seeds/ sowing behind the country plough leading to pocor as well as uneven
plant stand
Monsoon sowing
Choice of crops based on rainfall
Application FYM in limited quantity
Hand weeding
Mixed cropping
Use of conventional system of harvesting
Traditional storage system
3.4 Heavy weed infestation: This is the most serious problem in dryland areas. Unfortunately the
environment congenial for crop growth is also congenial for weed growth. Weed seds
germinate earlier than crop seeds and try to suppress the crop growth. The weed problem is
high in rainfed areas because of continuous rains and acute shortage of labour. The weed
suppression in the early stage of crop growth is required to reduce the decrease in crop yields.
3.5 Lack of suitable varieties: Most of the crop varieties available for cultivation in dry lands are
meant for irigated agriculture. There are no any specialvarieties exclusively meant for dryland
areas. Hence still more efforts are required todevelop varieties in different crops exclusively
meant for dryland agriculture.
3.6 Socio -economic constraints: The economic condition of the dryland farmers is very poor
because
a. Less access to inputs
b. Non availability of credit in time
c. The risk bearing capacity of dryland farmer is very low. Hence the dryland farmers
resort to low input agriculture which results in poor yields.
 Prolonged dry spells: Breaks of monsoon for 7-10 days may ot be a seros coo Beaky
of more than 15 days duration especially at critical stages for soll olsture sties leals to
reduction in yield. Drought due to break in monsoon may adversely affet the crops in shuallow
soils than in deep soils.
iv) High atmospheric temperature: Because of high atmospherlc temperature the
atmospheric demand for moisture increases causing high evapo-transpiration losses resullng
in moisture stress.
v) Low relative humidity: Low relative humidity results in high ET losses causing moisture
stress whenever moisture is limiting.
vi) Hot dry winds: Hot dry winds causes desiccation of leaves resultng in molsture stress,
High turbulent winds especially during summer months cause soil erosion resulting in dust
storms and loss of fertile soil.

vii) High atmospheric water demand: Due to high atmospheric water demand the potential
evapotranspiration (PET) exceed the precipitation during mostpart of the year.
3.2 Soil related Constraints:

The different soil groups encountered in dryland areas are black soils, red
soils and alluvial soils. The constraints for crop production are different in different soil
groups. The predominant soil group is alluvial where the problems for crop production
are not so acute as in red and black soils .The different soil constraints for crop production
are

Inadequate soil moisture availability: The moisture holding capacity of soils in dry
regions is low due to shallow depth especially in alfisols (red soils),low rainfalland low
organic matter content.
Poor organic matter content: The organic matter content in most of the soils under
dryland conditions is very low (< 1%) due to high temperature and low addition of
organic manures. Poor organic matter content adversely affects soil physical properties
related to moisture storage.
Poor soil fertility: Due to low accumulation of organic matter and loss of fertile top
soil
by soil erosion the dry land soils are poor in fertilitystatus. Most of the dry land
deficient in nitrogern and zinc. soils are
Soil deterioration due to erosion (wind, water): In India nearly 175
m.ha of land is
subjected to different land degradations, among them the soil erosion is very
The erosion causes loss of top fertile soil leaving poor sub predominant.
soilfor crop cultivation.
Soil crust problem: In case of red soils,the
formation of
the emergence of seedlings which ultimately affect hard surface soil layers hinders
soilsurface after rainfall reduces infiltration and the plant population. Crusting of
storage of rainfall, due to high run off.
3.1Climatic constraints:
1. Rainfall characteristics: Among the different climatlc paraneters rainfallis an important
factor influencing the crop production in dry regios are:
() Variable rainfall: Rain fall varles both in time and space dimension. Annual
rainfall varies greatly from yearto year and naturally its coefficient of variation is very
high. Generally. higher the rainfall less is the coefficlent of varlation. In other words.
crop fallures due to uncertain rains are more frequent in regions with lesser rainfal.
The average annual rainfallof India is 1192 mm where as in Andhra Pradesh it is 890
mm. Based on the average annual rainfall, the India can be divided into four zones.
More than one third of total geographical area in India receive rainfall less than 750
mm

Table: CIlassification of India into different zones based on rainfall

Zone Average annual rainfall Per cent of geographical

(mm) area

Zone I < 350 13

(very low rainfall area)

Zone II 350 to 750 22

(low rainfall area)

Zone iII 750to 1125 36

(Medium rainfall area)
Zone IV > 1125 29
(High rainfall area)

(ii) Intensity and distribution:

In general, more than 50 per cent of total rainfall is usually received in 3 to 5 rainy days.
Such intensive rainfall results in substantial loss of water due to surface runoff. This process
alsoaccelerates soil erosion. Distribution of rainfall during the crop growing season is more
important than total rainfallin dryland agriculture.
ii) Aberrations or variations in monsoon behavior:
Late onset of monsoon: If the onset of monsoon is delayed, crops/varieties
recommended
to the region cannot be sown in time. Delayed sowing lead to uneconomical crop yields.
Early withdrawal of monsoon: This situation is equally or more dangerous than late onset of
monsoon. Rainy season crops will be subjected to terminal stress leading to poor yields.
Similarly. post-rainy season crops fail due to inadequate available soil moisture, especially
during reproductive and maturity phases.
 Lecture 3
DRYLANDS
PROBLEMS OF CROP PRODUCTION IN

climatic variations and

The land degradation in rainfed areas has resulted from
and increasing
unplanned over-exploitation of natural resources by human activities, cultivate even
pressure of human and livestock population. It has become unavoidable to
the marginal lands. The pasturelands are degraded due to overgrazing caused by both
increase in livestock population and decrease in area under grazing due to encroachment
for cultivation and urbanization.

As aresult more and more forests are being used for grazing purpose. At present
nearly 70% of rainfed area is affected by wind erosion and sand deposition. Out of an
estimated 142 million ha net cultivated area, about 86 million ha (60%) is rainfed. Even
after reaching the full irrigation potential, nearly 50% of the cultivated area will remain
rainfed.

At present about 60% of India's population as also 60% of livestock depends on

agriculture. By 2025 AD, it is likely to reduce to 40% due to continued migration of rural
people to semi urban/urban areas out of the projected population of 1.5 billion. The average
land holding is likely to be 0.08 ha from the present 0.15 ha, which would be
for farming. Rainfed farmers are economically weak with little ability to uneconomical
Out of the 97 million farm holdings, 76 per cent are small. withstand risk.
Most of the cropping in the arid and semiarid regions
conditions. continues to be under rainfed
A majority of the farmers are small
farmers with meagre resources.
The poor resource base permits only low input
Crop yields. subsistence farming with low and unstable
The low productivity of agriculture in dry
of many constraints for crop farming regions is due to the cumulative effect
production.
The constraints can be broadly grouped in to
Climatic constraints,
Soil related constraints,

Traditional cultivation practices

Heavy weed problem
Lack of suitable
varieties and
Socio economic constraints.