Rainfed farming

Also called: Barani farming, Rain-fed agriculture · Topic: Land Use, Farming Systems and Cropping Seasons in India · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 3 "Landforms and Life"; Class 7, Ch 1 "The Story of Indian Farming"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Land Resources and Agriculture"

Meaning

Rainfed farming (called barani in north-west India) is farming where the crop gets its water only from rain, with no planned irrigation from canals, wells, tubewells or tanks. It matters because it covers nearly 60% of net sown area and gives about 40% of total food production [2]. It also grows most of India's pulses, millets, oilseeds and cotton, so a weak monsoon hits these crops first.

Explanation

How it works: rain is the only source of water

• Indian farming is grouped by its main source of moisture (the water that reaches the crop's roots).
• Irrigated farming: people bring water to the field.

• Rainfed farming: the field gets only the water that falls as rain.

• Chain of risk:

• The crop depends fully on the monsoon.
• Erratic monsoons (rain that comes late, stops early or falls unevenly) and droughts directly cut the harvest.
• So farmers have always relied on drought-resistant crops and traditional water harvesting, which means catching rain and storing it.

Types: dryland and wetland farming

• Rainfed farming is split by how much moisture the soil holds.
• Dryland farming: rainfed farming mainly in areas with less than 75 cm of annual rainfall.
• Main problem: too little water, and drought.

• Crops: hardy, drought-resistant crops such as ragi, bajra, moong, gram and guar (grown for fodder).

• Wetland farming: rainfed farming where the rainy-season rain is more than the crops need.

• Main problem: too much water, which brings floods and soil erosion (topsoil washed away by heavy rain and runoff).
• Crops: water-hungry rice, jute and sugarcane, plus freshwater aquaculture (fish farming in ponds and tanks).

Feature	Dryland farming	Wetland farming
Rainfall	Under 75 cm a year	More than the crop needs in the rainy season
Main problem	Drought	Floods and erosion
Crops	Ragi, bajra, moong, gram, guar	Rice, jute, sugarcane, freshwater fish
Key practice	Saving moisture and harvesting rainwater	Drainage and flood control

Methods that make rainfed farming work

• Soil-moisture conservation keeps rainwater in the soil for longer:
• mulching (covering the soil to slow drying)
• bunding (low earth walls around fields)

• deep ploughing

• Rainwater harvesting: storing rain in ponds, tanks or the soil.

• Watershed development: a watershed is the whole area that drains into one stream. Treating it as one unit means using check dams, contour bunds and tree planting to hold rainwater in the soil.
• Traditional structures show the same idea. Each region has its own words for them: kul, kund, ahar, pokhar, khadin, arakere, kolam, surangam, tadagam, eri.

How large is it? Reading the figures correctly

• Rainfed agriculture covers nearly 60% of net sown area [2].
• Land-use data for 2018-19 show net un-irrigated area at about 48.65% of net sown area, so about 51% was irrigated [3].
• The two figures use different measures. Both show that roughly half or more of India's farmland depends on rain.
• (NCERT: irrigation covers about 33% of the cultivated area, which means about two-thirds is rainfed.)

Where it occurs

• Dryland (rainfed) areas, under 75 cm of rain:
• western Rajasthan
• Gujarat (Kachchh and Saurashtra)
• the rain-shadow interior of Maharashtra and Karnataka, east of the Western Ghats. A rain-shadow area is the dry side of a mountain that the moist wind has already crossed.

• Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (Rayalaseema)

• Wetland (rainfed) areas, with surplus rain:

• Assam, West Bengal, coastal Odisha
• the west coast (Konkan, Kerala)

• the north-eastern states

• Barani lands: the local name for rain-dependent land in north-west India.

• Policy body: the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA).
• It was set up by an order of 3 November 2006. Its first Governing Board meeting was held on 12 February 2007 in New Delhi [4].
• It is an expert body that gives knowledge inputs for upgrading and managing dryland and rainfed agriculture [4].

• It has two tiers: a Governing Board, chaired by the Union Agriculture Minister and co-chaired by the Union Rural Development Minister, and an Executive Committee of technical experts and ministry representatives [4].

• Traditional rain-harvesting examples:

• Phad: community-run canals in Maharashtra
• Bamboo drip irrigation: north-east India
• Khadin, ahar, eri: regional water-harvesting structures

Don't confuse with

• Protective irrigation: this is still irrigated farming. It adds a little water to rainfall over the largest possible area so crops do not die, as in Indira Gandhi Canal Stage I. Rainfed farming gets no planned irrigation at all.
• Productive irrigation: this gives assured water through the whole season for high yield, as in Green Revolution Punjab. It is the opposite of rain-dependent farming.
• Dryland vs wetland farming: both are types of rainfed farming. They are split by soil moisture: dryland gets under 75 cm of rain, while wetland gets more rain than the crops need. Irrigated farming, by contrast, is split by purpose (protective or productive).
• Wetland farming vs wetlands (ecosystems): "wetland farming" means rain-fed cropping in high-rainfall areas, such as rice and jute in Assam. It is not about marshes or lakes protected as natural wetlands.

Prelims Hooks

• Rainfed farming is split by soil moisture into dryland and wetland. Irrigated farming is split by purpose into protective and productive.
• Dryland farming is mainly found where annual rainfall is below 75 cm. Its crops are ragi, bajra, moong, gram and guar.
• Trap: sugarcane is NOT a dryland crop. It is grown under wetland farming, along with rice and jute.
• Rainfed agriculture covers nearly 60% of net sown area and gives about 40% of food production [2]. Net un-irrigated area was about 48.65% of net sown area in 2018-19 [3].
• NRAA: set up by an order of 3 November 2006 and chaired by the Union Agriculture Minister [4].
• Barani is the term for rain-dependent land in north-west India.

Mains Points

• Rainfed areas are central to food and nutrition security (GS-III):
• They cover nearly 60% of net sown area [2] and grow most pulses, millets, oilseeds and cotton.
• A poor monsoon in these areas can raise India's dependence on imported edible oil and pulses.

• Policy responses include the NRAA (2006) [4], watershed development and PMKSY's "Har Khet Ko Pani" [5].

• Two different hazards need region-specific strategies (GS-I/III):

• Dryland areas (western Rajasthan, Kachchh, Rayalaseema) face drought. They need moisture conservation (mulching, bunding), rainwater harvesting and drought-hardy millets and pulses.

• Wetland areas (Assam, West Bengal, coastal Odisha) face floods and soil erosion. They need drainage, embankments and flood-tolerant rice varieties.

• Traditional water systems are a low-cost model for climate adaptation:

• Phad, khadin, ahar and eri tanks show how communities managed rainwater on their own, at low cost.
• Reviving them through Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of water bodies under HKKP [5] links this heritage to water security in rainfed areas.

Related concepts

• Irrigated farming
• Protective irrigation
• Productive irrigation
• Dryland farming
• Wetland farming

Read more

• Irrigated and rainfed farming: protective, productive, dryland and wetland