Integrated Watershed Management in Rainfed Agriculture

The incentive of watershed programs is to increase the return on investment with over 20% for 65% of the projects that are currently underperforming. This book provides a comprehensive presentation of the realization of improved rain fed agriculture yield in semi-arid and dry land areas. Besides techniques to improve the livelihood of the many small-scale farmers in developing countries, it includes examples and case studies for further support. The methods discussed have recently shown to be successful and economically remunerative in India and in various African countries. Intended for professionals (investors, policy makers), researchers and (post)graduate students working on dry land and sustainable agriculture and water and natural resources management. Suited for courses in dry land agriculture, soil and water management and watershed development.

The contents of this book include: Rain-fed agriculture - Past trend and future prospects, Zooming in on a global hotspots, Water resource implications - green and blue water trade-offs, Land degradation implications, Determinants of yield growth and constraints (including Hydro - climatic determinants), Yield gap analysis - Modeling achievable yields at the farm level, Opportunities of upgrading rain-fed agriculture - a systems analysis, Opportunities for improving crop-water productivity through genetic enhancement of dryland crops, Opportunities for water harvesting in arid areas for improving rain-fed agriculture through supplemental irrigation, Opportunities for water harvesting in semi-arid areas for improving rain-fed agriculture through supplemental irrigation, Integrated farm management practices and up scaling the impact for increased productivity of rainfed systems, Challenges of adoption and adaptive management (building on case studies), Up scaling socioeconomic impacts of rain-fed agriculture, Synthesis - how far can rain-fed agriculture go in securing food in 2025?