Livelihood Augmentation in Rainfed Areas - Development Support ...

Official estimates place rainfed areas between 60 to 70 per cent. According to the Union
Ministry of Agriculture, rainfed regions account for 68 per cent of the total net sown area
in the country. An assessment by S M Jharwal, Principal Advisor to the Government of
India, shows that 86 million ha out of a net sown area of 141 million ha (61 per cent),
is rainfed. State-wise assessment shows that 13 states account for about 92 per cent
of the total rainfed area. The main rainfed include states Maharashtra (14.49 million
ha), Madhya Pradesh (9.31 million ha), Rajasthan (12.15 million ha), Karnataka (7.46
million ha), Uttar Pradesh (4.42 million ha), Andhra Pradesh (6.48 million ha), Gujarat
(6.58 million ha) and West Bengal (2.54 million ha). (CSE, July 2007)
The extent of rainfed areas could be even larger if one takes a critical look at the
sources of irrigation. Of the 54.56 million ha of the net irrigated area, 69.7 per cent
is dependent on tanks, wells, and traditional water bodies. Barring the wells under
command area, the rest, along with other sources, are also dependent on rain. This
means that in reality rainfed areas could well be in the vicinity of around 80 per cent
(CSE, July 2007).
According to the Central Ground Water Board, in 100 districts excessive ground water
use has led to major economic and sustainability problems. These districts are termed
‘critical’ as far as ground water scenario is concerned. Eighty-five of these districts are
in the rainfed regions. These areas happen to have the highest concentration of dugwells
in the country. Here falling water tables have had the most disastrous impact of
drying up of wells, forcing farmers to revert to rainfed farming. The working group on
rainfed farming constituted by the Planning Commission to prepare the 11th Five-Year
Plan pointed out that the areas where ground water is stressed, should also be treated
as rainfed areas and be covered under related programmes. This is because ground
water is recharged by surface rainwater.
Scientists and research institutions have looked at rainfed regions somewhat differently.
In the Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, S L Bapna (1981) categorizes regions
with less than 25 per cent of its gross cropped area under irrigation and having average
annual rainfall in the range of 500-1,500 mm as rainfed areas. N S Jodha, an eminent
scientist working on the problems of rainfed areas has endorsed this view. According
to scientists with the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, those areas,
which receive an annual rainfall of 750-800 mm, and have less than 30 per cent irrigated
land, are rainfed (Bapna, 1981).
The experience of the authors and contributors is limited to arid and semi-arid regions,
(also referred to as drylands) accounting for almost 60 per cent of the geographical
area and more than 70 per cent of rainfed areas. Experiences and insights are drawn
mainly from the six states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
The Untapped Potential of Rainfed Areas
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