A textbook of Rainfed Farming

Indian agriculture is a gamble of monsoon.” Out of 143 m ha of cultivated land 85 m ha is rain fed which is 60% of the cultivated land. Such land suffers from low rainfall draught and excess rainfall. Despite considerable progress in irrigation development over the FYP 85% of coarse cereals 83% pulses 42% in rice 70% in oil seeds and 65% in cotton is still cultivated as rain fed. More over 40% of food grains production comes from dry lands. India will need 308.5 m tons of food grains by 2030 to feed the population. Hence Dry Land agriculture management becomes very much significant.