Resilient Dryland Systems (RDS) Asia Brief Overview

Suhas P Wani Research Program Director (Acting)

Resilient Dryland Systems

Poverty

Population explosion

Water scarcity

Land degradation

Malnutrition

211 m India

142 m China

156 m Other Asia & Pacific

519 m India

211 m China

Asia: The Hot Spot of Poverty – Our Common Challenge

Goal

To improve rural livelihoods, increase food security and protect the environment thru sustainable intensification adopting holistic participatory research for development (PR4D) to benefit small farm holders in the semi-arid tropics

Demand Driven R4D

Food and nutritional security

Improved livelihoods

Sustainable ecosystem services

Resilience building

Impact Oriented R4D

Continuum of research in rainfed agriculture

Strategic – Adaptive – On-farm – Scaling-out

Drylands – supplemental irrigation – irrigated agricultural intensification

Farmers’ Centric Watershed as an Entry Point

Watershed as entry point for:

Increasing productivity

Enhancing profits

Improving livelihoods

Protecting environment and ESSs

Empowerment of poor

Social capital development

Changes in Status of Agroecological Regions

SA areas increased by 8.45 M ha in MP, Bihar, UP, Karnataka and Punjab

Dryness and wetness are increasing in different parts of the country in the place of moderate climates existing earlier in these regions

Climate Change Impacts

-99.9

-66.6

-33.3

0.0

19

71

19

74

19

77

19

80

19

83

19

86

19

89

19

92

19

95

19

98

20

01

20

04

Year

Mo

istu

re In

dex (

%)

Arid

Semi-arid

Dry Subhumid

Sharing LGP at Nemmikal watershed, Nalgonda district, AP

Warming at Gulbarga, Karnataka

Increased Productivity and Carbon Sequestration in Agriculture

Current farmers’ yields are lower by 2 to 5 folds than the achievable yields

Vast potential of rainfed agriculture needs to be harnessed

Biological and chemical properties of semi arid tropical Vertisols in 1998 after 24 years of cropping under improved and traditional systems in catchments at

ICRISAT Center, Patancheru, India

Properties System Soil depth SE

0-60 60-120

Soil respiration (kg C ha-1) Improved Conventional

723 260

342 98

7.8

Microbial biomass (kg C ha-1) Improved Conventional

2676 1462

2137 1088

48.0

Organic carbon ( t C ha-1) Improved Conventional

27.4 21.4

19.4 18.1

0.89

Mineral N (kg N ha-1) Improved Conventional

28.2 15.4

10.3 26.0

2.88

Net N mineralization (kg N ha-1) Improved Conventional

- 3.3 32.6

- 6.3 15.4

4.22

Microbial biomass N (kg N ha-1) Improved Conventional

86.4 42.1

39.2 25.8

2.3

Non-microbial organic N (kg N ha-1) Improved Conventional

2569 2218

1879 1832

156.9

Total N (kg N ha-1) Improved Conventional

2684 2276

1928 1884

156.6

Olsen P (kg P ha-1) Improved Traditional

6.1 1.5

1.6 1.0

0.36

Biological Nitrification Inhibition in Sorghum

Twenty five institutions in consortium mode worked together

Watershed development programs are benefiting rainfed areas:

B:C ratio of 2.01

IRR 21.43%

Enhanced rural incomes 50%

Increased productivity 35%

Joshi et al. 2008

CA Impact of Watershed Program in India

CA Recommendations

Watersheds need to be developed as business model

Promote Participatory monitoring, management, and efficiency use of water resources

Effective monitoring

One size fits all approach does not work

STEPs to Achieve Impact

S = Sustainability

T = Technology inputs

E = Equity

P = Participation

Less than 1% watersheds are economically non-remunerative

Two-thirds of watersheds’ performance can be improved

Seeing is Believing: Sites of Learning

Convergence

Collective action

Capacity building

Consortium for technical backstopping

Use of new science tools

A holistic participatory

approach

Continuous monitoring and evaluation

Linked on-station and Off-

station

Empowerment of community

and stakeholders

Mix of individual and community-

based interventions

Consortium for technical

backstopping

Adarsha Watershed, Kothapally, India: A Brightspot

Integrated Watershed Management Model

AWM Interventions Enhanced Groundwater Resilience in Adarsha Watershed, Kothapally

GW recharge increased by 50-80 %

• Convergence of WSPs under MoRD

• Linking of Research and Development programs

• Livelihood approach • New institutional and governance • Increased investments • More emphasis on CB measures

New Watereshed Guidelines

Soil health Improved cultivars Pests and disease management Markets, institutions and policy

support Need for integrated approach

Water Alone Can’t Do It

Stratified sampling method GIS-based interpolation method Soil characterization in seven districts of Karnataka

Sahrawat et al. 2007, Tina Geisler 2007

Soil Sampling Method at Micro-watershed and District Level Developed

Documented widespread deficiency of micronutrients

Percentage of farmers’ fields deficient in soil nutrients in different states of India

State No. of

farmers’ fields

Org.C %

Av.P ppm

K Ppm

S ppm

B ppm

Zn ppm

Andhra Pradesh 1927 84 39 12 87 88 81

Karnataka 1260 58 49 18 85 76 72

Madhya Pradesh 73 9 86 1 96 65 93

Rajasthan 179 22 40 9 64 43 24

Gujarat 82 12 60 10 46 100 82

Tamilnadu 119 57 51 24 71 89 61

Kerala 28 11 21 7 96 100 18

Sahrawat et al. 2007, Rego et al. 2007, Wani et al. 2007, and Srinivasa Rao et al. 2008

Balanced Nutrient Management

To innovate resource recovery from domestic and industrial wastewater and safe reuse

in agriculture

Water4Crops: Safe Reuse of wastewater in Agriculture

W4C Indian Consortium Partners

Bhoochetana: GoK-ICRISAT Innovative Scaling-up Initiative to Bridge Yield Gaps

Holistic Consortium Approach

Bhoo Chetana: A Novel Initiative

4.4 million farmers

3.7 million ha

Increased Crop Yields by 23 to 66 per cent for Small Farmholders

Mean yields of ragi, maize and soybean from farmers’ fields in different districts of Karnataka during kharif season 2009

36

%

39%

34%

23%

38%

26% 42

%

53%

Increased oil seed crop yields with improved management practices under Bhoochetana over farmers’ practice in different districts, rainy

season 2011

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

2009 2010 2011 2012 Maize 4Years

2009 2010 2011 G.nut 3Years

Gra

in /

Pod

yie

ld (k

g ha

-1)

Farmers' practice

Improved practice

Haveri District Maize and Kolar District Groundnut crop yield data

31%

43%41%

33%

37%33%

33%

29%

44%

Haveri Maize Kolar Groundnut

Increased yields of maize in Haveri and groundnut in Kolar districts with improved management during 2009-2012

Bhoochetana: Improving Livelihoods

2066% yield increase

5% rise in agriculture growth annually

$ 230 million in four years

$ 1 invested = $ 314 return

Bhoochetana Benefits in Karnataka

Year

Area under Imp

Mgmt (m ha)

Production of Crops with

Imp Mgmt (m t)

Production of Crops with Farmers'

Mgmt (m t)

Increased Production with Imp

Mgmt (mt)

Value of Additional

Production with Imp Mgmt (Million $)

Cost of Inputs

(Million $)

Net Income

(Million $)

2012 0.49 1.44 1.12 0.33 94.0 12.0 82.1

2011 0.58 2.14 1.61 0.54 119.0 9.6 109.0

2010 0.18 0.41 0.34 0.12 41.2 4.1 37.2

2009 0.02 0.05 0.03 0.015 2.5 0.5 2.1

Total 1.27 4.10 3.10 1.01 256.7 26.2 230.4

4 Cs 4 Es

Consortium Efficiency

Convergence Equity

Capacity building Environment

Collective action/ Economic gain Cooperation

Important Pillars of Bhoochetana

Bhoochetana Plus: GoK-CGIAR Initiative

The overall goal is to improve livelihoods thru sustainable intensification of farming systems holistically by building partnerships and inclusive market oriented development

Bhoochetana Plus: Consortium

Convergence of seven CG centers, GoK Departments and SAUs.

Applying new innovations selected from the world

Building partnership and developing scaling-up model in four different revenue divisions comprising 10 Agro-Climatic Zones (ACZs)

Orientation of Task Force of CG centers and GoK departments led by Development Commissioner as Chair and Economic Advisor to Hon’ble Chief Minister as Co-chair

Bhoochetana Plus: Pilot and Innovations Sites

Four Revenue Divisions & Pilot Districts 1. Bengaluru

Tumkur

2. Mysore

Chikamangluru

3. Raichur

Raichur

4. Belgaum

Bijapur

South-South Partnerships

With ASARECA (nine countries in the areas of watershed management)

Exposure-cum-training visits by the senior researchers and policymakers from the ASARECA countries

Two international workshops in the area of watershed management in India and Kenya

Deputation of experts from India to Rwanda for consultation

Sharing of knowledge and expertise

New initiative with AGRA for piloting Bhoochetana

Experience sharing workshop between India, ICRISAT and SEA in IWMI

India-SSA Initative in Eight Countries for Scaling-up Model

Sustainable Intensification to bridge

the Yield Gaps in Africa through Soil

Test-based Nutrient Amendments

with Micronutrients (Bhoochetana)

ICRISAT is a member of the CGIAR Consortium

Thank you!