Book Description

Agriculture in India is practiced under a wide variety of agro-climatic zones and rainfall pattern. In India out of total net cultivated area of 142 million hectares about 81.8 million hectares (57.6%) is rain fed. This rain fed area has a vital role to play for food security of the country. Nearly 44 per cent of food requirement comes from the rain fed regions besides support to 40 per cent of human population and 60 per cent of livestock population. At the global level also the rain fed regions account for 1.75 billion hectares and this area is about 5 to 6 times the irrigated areas of the world. The country has the distinction of being at the top with respect to the rain fed agricultural countries of the world in terms of both extent of area and value of produce. The state of Jammu and Kashmir has a varied topography with agriculture being the backbone of the economy of the state. About 65 percent of its population depends on agriculture and allied sectors directly or indirectly. Of the total geographical area of the state, about 3.3% is under cultivation. Of this 3.3 per cent, the rain fed area accounts for about 58 per cent. The state has four agro-climatic zones viz subtropical, intermediate, temperate and cold arid. The climate during the Kharif season is governed by the Southwest monsoon while the climate during the rabi season is governed by the western disturbances. The major limitation of the agriculture sector in the state is a large area under rain fed agriculture and the size of holdings. More than eighty percent of the farmers are marginal and small with holdings size varying from one to two hectares. The nature and constraints of rain fed agriculture are pecuilar to the region. The purpose of this publication is to document the extent of rain fed area in different districts, prevalent crops/ cropping patterns in the rain fed areas, the land use pattern of different districts of the Jammu region, the size of operational holdings in each district and other relevant information regarding rain fed agriculture in the region. The authors do hope that this publication would be a ready reference for the researchers, students the policy makers with special reference to rain fed agriculture in Jammu region. We also extend our thanks to scientific and technical staff of Advanced Centre for Rainfed Agriculture (ACRA) Rakh Dhiansar who contributed by whatever way they could in bringing this publication. The cooperation extended by Dr. J.P. Sharma, Director Research, SKUAST-Jammu is also duly acknowledged.