The latest paper “Integrated farming with intercropping increases food production while reducing environmental footprint” has brought to light that small farmers in India can significantly increase food production while lowering their environmental footprint. This comes as a major revelation for a country like India, which comprises predominantly of small farmers.
The Efficacy of Relay Planting
Relay planting, where different crops are sowed one after the other in the same plot during the same season, has been found to increase yield. Small farmers in states like Telangana, Karnataka, and Maharashtra are dramatically improving their income through relay farming. They are growing various crops like onions, turmeric, chillies, ginger, garlic, and even some native fruits, thus making a commendable profit during these relay periods.
This method guarantees better distribution of labour, reduces insect spread and boosts soil fertility by adding nitrogen through legumes. However, relay cropping also presents challenges such as mechanization and higher management requirements.
Strip Cropping has Proven Beneficial
Strip cropping, often used in the US on larger fields, involves growing wheat, corn, and soybean on the same farm in alternating rows. Given the relatively smaller landholdings in India, strip cropping is adapted by dividing the land into strips with grass grown between the crop rows.
On larger farms, especially those owned by state governments and cities, strip cropping has shown promising results. Planting trees to create windbreaks has further helped stabilize desert regions in Western India.
Soil Mulching and No-Till Farming: The Significant Advantages
“Soil mulching”, i.e., using available means such as crop straw in addition to main crops like wheat or rice, along with “No-till” or reduced tillage farming, have shown to increase annual crop yield by 15.6% to 49.9% and decrease the environmental footprint by 17.3%, compared to traditional monoculture farming.
While these methods are not easy for small farmers in India, they could be practiced in larger farms owned by governments or industries. Soil mulching involves keeping bare soil covered with straw, leaves, etc., even when the land is in use. It curtails erosion, retains moisture, and fosters beneficial organisms like earthworms. Not tilling the soil offers similar benefits.
Why it Matters to India
India, with a significant population of small farmers owning less than 2 hectares of land, stands to gain tremendously from these methods. Currently, about 70%of rural households primarily depend on agriculture. Of all the farmers, 82% are small and marginal.
In 2017-18, the total production of food grains was estimated to be 275 million tons. Moreover, only 30% of farmers borrow from formal sources, and hence, farm loan waivers from state governments have proven to be beneficial.
