Paradigm for Holistic Development of Agriculture in Rural India

Currently, about 69% (833 million) of India's population live in the villages. But by 2050, 50% Indians will reside in the urban areas. For a balanced regional growth, villages need to be transformed into economically sustainable spaces so as to discourage migration to the cities. Further, in population rich agrarian nation like India, the food, livelihood & economic security can only be safeguarded through sustainability & prosperity in agriculture. Thus, the present study puts forward a holistic & scientific approach for development of agriculture in India.

To begin with, the administrative boundaries, habitations, demography, elevation profiles, landuse, soils, land records, infrastructure, amenities, etc. should be extensively captured & then disseminated on a Village Information System to facilitate easy storage, retrieval & accessibility of the available information. Afterwards, natural hydrology & water balance of the area should be assessed for virgin, baseline & future scenarios of development & accordingly, the available water should be allocated to the different sectors/uses. The stage of groundwater utilization should also be carefully monitored by estimating the net recharge & draft in the area. Additionally, the health of the water (Surface as well as groundwater), soil & the crop should be regularly observed for necessary remedial actions. Efforts should be made to enhance the irrigation efficiencies in order to maximize the crop intensity & ensuing profit. Further, the villagers should be trained in wetland development, water harvesting methods, ponds/wells rejuvenation, etc. to improve the water storages.

With growing climate uncertainties, farmers can no longer rely on their conventional climate understanding to devise their cropping strategies. Thus, it is proposed to couple India Meteorological Department's agro-meteorological forecasts with state-of-the-art GIS & Remote Sensing technologies, to provide farm advisories for climate change adaptation. The suggested strategy can thereby go a long way towards judicious management of land, water & farms in our villages.