Rain fed Agriculture – Problems

Rain fed agriculture is defined as “areas with less than 25% of assured irrigation and with annual rainfall of 500-1500mm.

Following are the Problems of Rain fed agriculture:

1.     Low gross cropped area: Due to inadequate irrigation facilities and low rainfall, most of the area under rain fed cultivation kept fallow. Only 66% of the area is cultivated every year.

2.     Risk: As the agriculture is depended heavily on rains, risk is increasing. Amount rainfall, frequency of rainfall and untimely rains increases risk in rain fed areas

3.     Crust formation: One of the biggest challenges in rain fed agriculture is crust formation. As there is little or no moisture in the soil coupled with low organic carbon make the top soil become hard for cultivation

4.     Soil erosion: Wind and water are the common factors contributing for soil erosion. Lack of proper erosion control measures leads to loss of top soil. A study in Ananthapur reveals that on average every year 4tons of top soil is eroded due to wind erosion.

5.     Low organic carbon content: All most all rain fed soils are poor in organic carbon content, which is the important factor minimizing the productivity.

6.     Depletion of ground water: Over exploitation of ground water to irrigate crops particularly Paddy is another problem. Absence of ground water recharging aggravates the problem.

7.     Salinity and alkalinity:  Salinity and alkalinity due to accumulation of slats is another factor limiting the productivity levels.