Rainfed Agriculture and Watershed Management

This book provides a comprehensive explanation of rainfed farming, dryland agriculture, and watershed management concepts. Despite utilizing all available water resources for irrigation, approximately half of the cultivated land will still rely on rainfall. With limited scope for expanding cultivated areas, meeting future food demands becomes an immense challenge. It is within this context that the significance of dryland agriculture emerges.
Indian agriculture relies heavily on the monsoon, making water crucial for sustainable development. Unequal distribution of the global average rainfall (about 1000 mm) contributes to disparities in agriculture and socio-economic conditions. Around 70% of India's agriculture depends on rainfall, producing nearly 44% of the food and supporting 40% of the human and 60% of the livestock population. Even with full irrigation potential, half of cultivated land still relies on rain. Approximately 30% of the country is prone to drought and water scarcity, posing challenges for rainfed agriculture. Inefficient water use affects other inputs, emphasizing the need for resource management and indigenous systems.
This book serves as a valuable resource for farmers, students, and scholars by providing guidance on various aspects of rainfed agriculture, dryland farming, and watershed resource management techniques. It aims to optimize the use of irrigation water and foster sustainable agricultural development. Additionally, it caters to the needs of graduate and postgraduate students studying agriculture, offering specific insights relevant to their designated course on rainfed agriculture and watershed management.






Dr Sohan Singh Walia, is working as Director in the School of Organic Farming, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. He started organic farming research as a pioneer work at PAU, Ludhiana as Ph.D. student (2001-04) and then worked on organic farming and integrated farming systems in All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Integrated Farming Systems and All India Network Project on Organic Farming. Dr Walia has to his credit more than 450 research and extension publications, nine books, ten teaching manuals, seven extension folders and 22 book chapters. He has handled 24 research projects and is currently handling five research projects. The chapter on organic farming and integrated farming system in package of practices was included during 2004-05 and 2017-18, respectively. Sixty eight recommendations have been included in the package of practices for mass adoption by the Punjab Farmers especially, resource conservative cropping systems, nine organic farming based cropping systems, production technology of cultivation of direct seeded rice.In addition he was involved in technologies regarding application of consortium in sugarcane, turmeric, potato, onion, maize, wheat crops; integrated nutrient management in maize/soybean, rice residue management for the mass scale adoption under Punjab conditions. Developed Integrated Farming System Research Model comprising dairy, fishery, horticulture, vegetables, agro-forestry, vermi-composting. He has been involved in teaching of 93 courses. He has guided four Ph.D. and eleven M.Sc. students as major advisor. Dr Walia has organized 20 training programmes, delivered 62 invited lectures, 350 training lectures, and 52 TV and radio talks. He has attended ten international and 75 national conferences/seminars/workshops. He was appreciated for outstanding work on integrated (2007-2017) and organic farming during QRT review (2012-2017). Recipient of Best organic farming centre award (2019) by ICAR; Dr M S Randhawa best book award (2017); Fellow, Indian Ecological Society (2016); Gold medal from Society of Recent Development in Agriculture at International Conference (2013); ISA Best Paper Award along with cash prize of Rs 5000/- from Indian Society of Agronomy (2011) for paper entitled,'Alternate cropping systems to rice-wheat for Punjab'; ISA P. S. Deshmukh Young Agronomist Award (2005) by Indian Society of Agronomy; Fellow, Society of Environmental Sciences (2004). The AICRP on Integrated Farming System, Ludhiana centre received the Best Centre Award (2014) from ICAR- Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, Modipuram, Meerut. Received Dr. Gurbaksh Singh Gill Gold Medal, Merit Certificate for M.Sc. (Agronomy); S.S. Labh Singh Gold Medal and Merit Certificate for B.Sc. Agri. (Hons.). Dr Walia has acquired advance training in rice production systems from School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, South Australia.
Mrs Karmjeet Kaur, is working as Senior Research Fellow (2019-till date) under project entitled 'All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Integrated Farming Systems' at School of Organic Farming, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. She holds M. Sc. in Agriculture (Agronomy) from Khalsa College, Amritsar.

Miss Tamanpreet Kaur, is working as Senior Research Fellow (2018-till date) under project entitled 'All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Integrated Farming Systems' at School of Organic Farming, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. She holds M. Sc. in Agriculture from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. She has eight research papers, 13 extension articles, one booklet on integrated farming systems and three book chapters.