Climate change has exerted an unprecedented strain on the farming sector in India. Unpredictable weather, pest attacks, drought and declining soil fertility have exposed the vulnerabilities of the farming community and exposed it to severe economic distress.

The adverse effects of climate change are not easily reversable. However, resilient agriculture practices can yield rich dividends in the form of greater productivity, reduced input cost and greater livelihood security. Sustainable crop planning holds key to greater farm returns. Farmers, especially smallholder farmers, need to plan their crops better so that they can maximise production without compromising the bearing capacity of the soil. In a bid to strengthen smallholder farming systems across the country, Caritas India has been helping her partners on sustainable cropping systems and eco-friendly farm inputs.

As part of the preparations for the upcoming Rabi season, Caritas India organized a virtual training for her partners in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat on 23 October 2020. More than 40 participants including directors, coordinators and field workers of four Caritas India-supported projects – SABAL, SANJIVANI, WARM and Jeevan – attended the virtual training. Mr. OL Shekhawat, retired senior scientist of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Amravati facilitated the training.

The training covered various farming-related topics like organic farming, specific crop systems and package of practices for Rabi crop. Mr. Shekhawat shared with the participants his experience of Rabi crop planning and practical knowledge on improving the productivity of crops. He said that the crop planning should be so done as to help farmers get immediate and sustainable benefits from the Rabi crop.Partners were informed on appropriate selection of crop varieties for Rabi season which are best-suited for the local agro-climatic conditions. Mr. Shekhawat also helped the participants with knowledge on the most promising varieties of wheat, barley, mustard, sesame, gram and peas which give good returns to smallholder farmers.

Participants learned more about the importance of conserving and maintaining soil health by replacing chemical fertilizers with vermicompost. Organic manure is beneficial for both soil and the crop, as it decomposes rapidly and increases organic matter content in the soil. Organic manure improves both physical and chemical properties of the soil and provides energy to microbes that fix nitrogen.

Thus, organic manure ultimately detoxifies soil by neutralising the naturally-occurring inorganic and organic pollutants. Organic manure not only provides nutrients to standing crops but also creates a nutrient base for the next crop, Mr. Shekhawat informed.

Green manure has also been found to be very useful for preventing soil erosion. Mr. Shekhawat explained with examples how green manure increases the capacity of light and shallow soil to retain nutrients. A very effective way of controlling weeds is cultivating green manure crops. He suggested that farmers should go for soil testing at KVKs once 3-5 years as the test helps in determining the nutrient level and the pH content of soil which should be maintained for protecting soil health. Participants in the virtual training also learned about seed selection/treatment/seed germination processes, irrigation management and fertilizer management. During the training coordinators and field workers expressed confidence that the newly-learned knowledge on sustainable cropping systems will help them work more effectively with farmers, especially women farmers, to increase the yield of Rabi crops without attracting unnecessary money drain.