Development initiatives implemented at the watershed site in Wanaparthy district, Telangana, India, drew appreciation from the state’s Agriculture Minister Mr S Niranjan Reddy. The minister lauded the holistic and integrated approach that focused on improving livelihoods of women, the self-sustaining model of farm-machinery renting centers and farm-level water conservation measures. […]
A farm machine-hiring center set up in two villages in South India is showing how research-led interventions, based on a clear understanding of on the ground realities, can result in saving time, cost and labor for dryland farmers while creating jobs for rurally-based youth. ICRISAT studies show that besides improving […]
Originally published on In the semi-arid tropics water is a precious resource that often does not trickle down to small farms. Farmers who can afford borewells, save their crops during dry spells in the cropping season whilst others watch crops and investment dry up. Now, a CSR project led by […]
As one of the key activities undertaken by our watershed projects to improve household nutrition in rural Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, India, encouraging women farmers to start small vegetable gardens in their backyards has been very successful. These ‘nutri-gardens’ also help augment household incomes, especially during times of job losses […]
Continued efforts, via public-private partnerships, to build resilience in dryland farmers are yielding multi-faceted benefits – about 100 farm ponds with 20,000 cubic meter capacity for better access to water, 21-44% higher crop yields, better nutrition and incomes through fruit and vegetable gardens, and greater awareness of technologies – for […]
This cropping season, observing all safety measures amidst the COVID pandemic (see box), more than a 1,000 farmers will be participating in demonstrations on growing improved groundnut, pigeonpea and vegetables with balanced application of fertilizers and planting orchards at two learning sites of a successful watershed initiative in southern India. […]
For Indian farmers reeling under deficit rainfall in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharging structures bring all the relief they can get. The dryland district registered 212.6 mm rainfall this year, a huge deficit of 38.6%. Despite the deficit, smallholder farmers, using integrated water resource management techniques, are […]
