Agronomic approaches
The major objective of dry farming programme
is to conserve the soil and moisture and to
achieve maximum production from the dry
farn1ing areas. In the past two decades, we have
been able to' solve many hurdles in the aforesaid
areas but there had been no break through as in
case of irrigated crop production. Now we have
the promising crop varieties and technology
available with us about the maximum soil and
water conservation. Theagronomic
approaches can be dealt with under the
following four heads based on land types.
Agronomic approaches for highly
undulating lands
These lands are confined to the hills of the
locations which have suffered serious soil erosion
problems and have been divided into various
gullies. The soils of these areas are more prone to
further erosion if they are not properly managed.
Therefore, in this category, the crop management
practices are entirely different from other areas.
The object of soil andcrop management under
such situation should be :
a. to stabilize the soil by forestry and pasture
management with a regulated grazing or no
grazing at all.
b. to level the land gradually through contour
bunding, terracing, etc.
c. to practise strip cropping and pitcher farn1ing.
Agronomical approaches for marginal lands
Generally, marginal lands are very poor in fertility.
The crop management in these lands is carried
out in lines of crop management for leveled lands
or flat lands which will be discussed later in this
chapter.
Agronomical approaches for diara lands
Diara lands are located on either side of rivers or
between two rivers and are often flooded by
these rivers. These diara lands are formed due to
flood and may have deposition of fine to coarse
sands.
These areas often lack irrigation and need a
careful crop management. Since the land of this
areas is highly susceptible to floods, kharif
cropping is practically impossible. But certain
fodder crops can easily be grown soon after the
onset of monsoon and harvested depending
upon position of floods. The harvesting or cutting
of crops is started from close to the river beds
and as the water spreads the harvesting is also
advanced. The life saving irrigations can be given
by lifting water from the river or by drilling cavity
wells orbamboo borings. However, in most of
the cases these wells go out of order after a flood
occurs. Therefore, the cavity wells or bamboo
borings are made at a distant location from river
stream.
Agronomical approaches for plain lands
Plain lands form the main dry land tracts of the
country. There has been major emphasis on
finding out ways and means through which the
totalsoil productivity could be increased.
Following recommendations should be followed
on plain lands for an improved crop productivity
and an efficient soil and water conservation.
a. Tillage requirements of the crops
Tillage starts with the seed red preparation and
ends with mulching and control of weeds. Deep
ploughing during summer helps in destroying
weeds and suppressing insect pests and
diseases. It also helps in an efficient root
penetration very deep into soil Placement of seed
at 5 cm and fertilizers at 7.5 cm in the same
furrow followed by soil compaction have resulted
in better germination, plant vigour, extensive root
development and higher crop yields.
b. Selection or crops and varieties
There are a number of improved varieties of
different crops which are drought tolerant or
resistant to water stress. The most commonly
grown crops in dry lands are rice, maize,
sorghum, pearl millet. finger millet, wheat, barley,
pulses, oilseeds, etc. The improved varieties of
these crops have already been described area-
wise.
c. Sowing of crops
Sowing of crops deals with several associated
factors namely sowing time, method of sowing,
depth of sowing etc. It is important in the sense
that once the ideal plant population is achieved.
the crop is bound to give yield.
Sowing time can markedly influence the
production and productivity of dry land crops.
Early sowing of kharif crops results in early crop
maturity and thereby it facilitates early sowing of
succeeding rabi crops. Early sowing of rabi crops
helps in overcoming the moisture stress at later
stages of plant growth, particularly at grain filling
stage.
Broadcasting of seeds should be avoided as it
involves several losses and seed does not
properly come in contact with moisture. Placing
the seeds at about 5 cm depth through pora or
seed drill is desirable.
To get an ideal plant population it is necessary
that about 25% higher than required seed rate
should be applied. Care must be taken to reduce
plant competition for moisture by removing
excess plant population about 2-3 weeks after the
sowing depending upon the crops.
d. Fertilizer management
Use of fertilizers in dry lands is limited as
compared to irrigated areas. Today we use on 'an
average only 60kg/ha fertilizers in dry fanning
areas as against 60 kg/ha national average.
Reasons for application of fertilizers in dry fanning
are as follows: i. poor response because of faulty
method of application; ii. poor financial condition
of fanners to purchase fertilizer; iii. wrong concept
of the fanners that fertilizers will burn the
seedlings, and harm to the soil; and iv.
application of organic manure only, which
can not meet the total nutrient requirement of the
crop.
There are different Schools of thoughts about the
application of fertilizers in thedry lands. Some
people think that application of fertilizers in dry
lands results in a better crop yield than that in
irrigated areas because in the latter case the soil
becomes very poor in residual fertility due to high
intensity of cropping, whereas, the dry lands still
preserve nutrients as they are not depleted badly
due to low cropping intensity. Some people think
that fertilizer application in dry lands aggravates
the moisture problem, but truly speaking deep
placement of fertilizers followed by foliar
application results in extensive rooting up to
deeper soil layers where the plants extract
moisture to meet their demands.
Next :Cropping systems for dryland
agriculture
Previous : Water harvesting systems
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