Concepts and Principles of Rainfed Agriculture and Watershed Management

Contents: 1. Rainfed agriculture: Principles and scope. 2. History of dryland agriculture. 3. Indian climate. 4. Soils of rainfed/dryland areas. 5. Aberrant weather situations and contingency crop planning. 6. Soil and water conservation. 7. Water harvesting structures. 8. Crop adaptation and mitigation mechanism to drought. 9. Sustainable crop production in rainfed areas. 10. Principles of watershed management. 11. Water management for sustainable agriculture. 12. Mulching and its impact on agricultural production.

Agriculture is a backbone of Indian economy as nearly 60% rural population is engaged in agricultural activities. Though the contribution of agriculture in GDP is declining mainly due to increasing contribution of other activities, it is still the main occupation of our rural masses and its significance is related to food and nutritional security of our country. It is again true that the income of farmers is not increasing as compared to other industrial sectors, so the government has recently launched many farmer's friendly programs for increasing farmer's income.

The course, 'Rainfed Agriculture and Watershed Management' is one of the important courses of B Sc Agriculture degree program. This book is written covering all aspects of syllabus.