ICRISAT Archival Report 2006 - The seedlings of success in the ...

Citrulus lanatus Watermelon Malali Drought tolerant, big
seeds
Moringa oleifera Moringa PKM-1 Leafy vegetable. Higher
leaves and pod yields.
Leaves are tastier than
local varieties
Specific goal 1: Identify key species for research and assess their factor and product markets in Asia
Specific goal 2c: Enhance production of selected fruit, vegetables and plant products through improvement of
farming systems in Asia
Output 7B New approaches and technological options to create a strategy to diversify SAT systems using
available water resources efficiently to grow high-value commodities that increase incomes for disadvantaged
households identified and promoted by consortium partners to Government agencies, donors, NGOs, and
CBOs in four countries in Asia by 2008.
Output target 2007: Exemplar watershed studies completed in four Asian countries and reports published
7B.1: Cultivation of vegetables and other high-value crops at benchmark watersheds in China and India. Yin
Dixin, RA Sharma, Somnath Roy, P Pathak and SP Wani
To increase income of the farmers, the cultivation of vegetables and other high-value crops were evaluated by
farmers at the benchmark watersheds in India, Thailand, Vietnam and China. Over the past two years farmers at the
benchmark watersheds in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have expanded areas under high-value
crops like turmeric, ginger, coriander, onion, tomato, chillies, papaya, greenpeas, cabbage, cauliflower and carrot
with the assured water availability. With the shift from low-value to high-value crops not only have farmers incomes
increased, but it also improved family nutrition as farmer’s consumption of vegetables and fruit increased.
Results from two sites are discussed:
i. Vegetable and water melon cultivation at Lucheba watershed, Guizhou province, China: In China farmers are
adopting a range of rainwater conservation and harvesting techniques and storing the harvested rainwater in
underground cisterns. This stored water is now being increasingly used by farmers to grow high-value crops such as
vegetables (two to three crops per year) and fruit trees,that can provide rural households with high incomes. The
crops grown in the Lucheba watershed in Guizhau Province are chillies, tomato, chinese cabbage. In 2003, at the
start of the project the total vegetable area in the watershed was 25.3 ha. By 2004, after twelve months of project
interventions the area had increased to 37.3 ha, with accompanying increases in vegetable production and yield
(Table 7B1). The increase in production enabled participating farmers to increase the proportion of their harvest
that was sent to the local market. However, transport costs between the village and the market was a problem due
to poor road connections between the village and the main road. The collective action that had been introduced by
the project to the participating villages in the construction of rain water harvesting structures now gave additional
benefits, as the villagers came together to resolve this problem. The villagers approached the project and the local
government with a formula to share the cost of road improvements with collaborating farmers providing the labour.
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