Technical Bulletin 2/2007 Multi-enterprise Agriculture Model for Livelihood Security in Reclaimed Sodic Land Gurbachan Singh (Agronomy), Facilitator Ashok Kumar, PI (Agronomy) S.S. Kundu (Animal Nutrition) R.S. Tripathi (Agricultural Economics) N.P.S. Yaduvanshi (Soil Science) Lalita Batra (Soil Microbiology) P.C. Sharma (Plant Physiology) R.S. Pandey (Agricultural Engineering) Central Soil Salinity Research Institute Karnal - 132 001 (INDIA)
Gurbachan Singh, Ashok Kumar, Kundu, S.S., Tripathi, R.S., Yaduvanshi, N.P.S., Batra, L., Sharma, P.C. and Pandey, R.S. 2007. Multi-enterprise agriculture model for livelihood security in reclaimed sodic land. Technical bulletin 2/2007. Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal-132001 (India) Photography : B.N. Sharma Published by : Director, Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal-132001 (India) Tel. +91-184-2290501, 2291119 Fax : +91-184-2290480 Email: director@cssri.ernet.in Website : www.cssri.org Printed at : Intech Printers & Publishers 51-A, Model Town, Karnal Tel. 0184-3292951, 4043541
CONTENTS Definition of the problem 1 Objectives 2 Benchmark information 3 Initial soil properties 3 Approach followed 4 Components of farming system model for 2 ha land holding 4 Beekeeping 8 Vermi-compost 9 Livestock (Dairy component) 9 Results so far 10 Expected long term benefits from 12 multi-enterprise agricultural research
Definition of the Problem Traditional Rice-wheat cropping system over the last four decades have caused depletion of water table and resulted in the loss of soil fertility causing multiple nutrient deficiencies. Most of shallow cavity tube wells (centrifugal pumps) in the Punjab and Haryana States have gone out of use consequently these being replaced with deep bore wells (submersible pumps) which cost now more than one lac rupees that a small farmer do not afford. Apart from these, the average size of land holdings continues to fall, making profits from these crops to decrease and thus causing unsustainability and migration of farmers to urban areas and also selling of agriculture lands. The recent National Sample Survey figures indicated that 40% farmers in India intend to quit farming. Rice-wheat cropping system provides income to farmers only twice a year when the crops are harvested during early summer or early winter but a farmer needs regular income to meet out his day-today needs. This, therefore, calls for an urgent need to reorient the present farming systems that can improve water productivity, increase use efficiency of nutrients and energy as well as provide regular income to meet their daily needs. There is also a need to reverse the natural resource degradation trend and restore the farmers confidence in agriculture. Integrated farming system with multienterprises paves the way for realizing increased productivity and profitability in small farms. Multienterprise agriculture has the potential to decrease cultivation cost by synergetic recycling of bi-products/ residues of various components within the system and also 1
a regular source of income and employment. Keeping this in view, a multi-enterprise agriculture project was initiated at the experimental farm of Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal in 2006 as a model for 2.0 ha land with interdisciplinary approach. Main theme of this project is to develop farming options/capsules, which the small farmers can adopt to earn livelihood from his one or two ha reclaimed alkali land holding. The philosophy behind multi-enterprise agriculture is that a farmer can adopt enterprises such as dairying, horticulture, floriculture, bee keeping, vegetables, mushroom, fisheries, gobar gas plant, solar heater etc. depending upon his resources, marketing and processing options to improve his family income and generate employment. Objectives Comparative evaluation of crop, commodity and enterprise diversification options in the reclaimed sodic land (options of farming capsules) To increase water, nutrient and energy use efficiency through diversified agriculture systems to moderate predicted climate changes To reduce cost of cultivation for higher returns through recycling of residues within the system Quantification of chemical, physical and biological changes in soil under different land use options/ systems for improved soil health scenario To identify profitable, sustainable and eco-friendly agriculture model for 2 ha reclaimed land holding 2
Benchmark Information Initial Soil Properties Chemical: On an average, the initial ph of the cropped area was 8.1 in the upper 60 cm soil layer but was more than 8.5 in the lower layers. The soil was low in the available N, but high in P and K in all the systems. The concentrations of DTPA extractable Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu were 0.85 to 2.41; 7.51 to 18.56; 5.56 to 8.40 and 0.81 to 2.18 mg kg -1, respectively. The soil on the dyke of pond towards west direction was highly alkaline with ph 10.25 and EC 4.0 dsm -1 while in east direction the ph was 8.3 and EC 1.65 dsm -1 respectively. Microbial: The initial microbial biomass carbon varied from 180 to 281.1 mg C kg -1 soil (mean 219.5), soil respiration from 46.6 to 63.2 mg CO 2 evolved g -1 dry soil (mean 54.5) and specific metabolic quotient 1.9 to 3.3 (mean 2.7). Microbial nitrogen flush and microbial phosphorus flush varied from 44.5 to 72.3 mg kg -1 (mean 57.4) and 0.6 to 2.6 mg kg -1 (mean 1.7), respectively. Dehydrogenase activity was in the range of 42.6 to 172.4 ug TPF g -1 dry soil (mean 100.1) and acid phosphatase varied from 23.3 to 52.4 ug PNP g -1 dry soil (mean 44.9). Physical: The surface layers are sandy loam and the deeper layers clay loam in texture with clay ranging from 19-25% through depth. The surface soil bulk density varies between 1.5 to 1.6 g cc -1. Overall, they behave as well drained soils with infiltration rate ranging between 5-10 cm per day. Being low in organic carbon, they however, are vulnerable 3
to dispersion and crusting especially after rain storm and thus are prone to water stagnation at times. Approach Followed This model is for 2.0 hectare land with the following enterprises Agriculture crop production on 0.8 ha area Dairy farming on 0.4 ha area for raising fodder, keeping 4 buffaloes and their followers and gobar gas plant Horticulture for raising fruit trees and vegetables on an area of 0.2 ha Vegetables on 0.2 ha Floriculture on 0.2 ha Fish farming, bee keeping, and mushroom on an area of 0.2 ha Components of Farming System Model for 2 ha land Holding A. Agriculture Crop Production: 0.8 ha cropped area with following crop rotations 0.2 ha Rice-Wheat 0.2 ha Maize -Wheat-Moong 0.2 ha Winter Maize-Soybean 0.2 ha Pigeon pea (SD) - Mustard-Fodder Maize 4
Rice Wheat Mustard Winter Maize B. Fodder Production (for 4 buffaloes and their followers): 0.4 ha Fodder requirement: 40-50 kg/day/animal (Sorghum/Maize) and 60 kg berseem/day/animal. Feeding this fodder, 7 to 8 litres milk per day per animal can be obtained from good animals. For every 2.5 to 3.0 liter milk, one kg balanced concentrate will be required. 5
Year round fodder production with staggered sowing is being maintained by adoption of forage crop rotations using berseem, maize, maize+ cowpea and multi-cut sorghum. Additional fodder and feed requirement is being met from bi-products of other crops in the model and their residues Berseem with Mustard Sorghum with Cowpea C. Horticulture : 0.2 ha Seasonal vegetables are grown in between the rows of Guava and Papaya fruit trees to generate sustained regular income. In this capsule farm holding of less than one acre has been targeted. Cauliflower with fruit trees Papaya 6
D. Vegetables : 0.2 ha The approach being followed is to have green vegetables all the year round. This farming system capsule can be adopted by a farmer having land holding between 0.2 to 2.0 ha. Cabbage E. Floriculture : 0.2 ha Bottle gourd (Ghia) Flowers like Marigold, Gladiolus and Chrysanthemums are being grown during rabi season and crops like baby corn, sweet corn etc. during kharif season. Scenarios from these interventions regarding their production, processing and marketing will emerge. Marigold & Gladiolus Baby Corn 7
F. Fish Farming, Beekeeping and Mushroom : 0.2 ha Catla, rohu, mirgal, common carp and grass carp finger lings were stocked in the pond. Raw cattle dung and urine produced in dairy component and fertilizers (Urea 5 kg + SSP 5 kg + MOP 1kg ) were applied separately in the fish pond at 15 days interval. Besides this, 5 kg groundnut cake and rice brawn is being applied daily. Slurry from the gobar gas plant is also being diverted to fish pond as fish feed. Fish pond Beekeeping Fishes Beekeeping is an economic enterprise that requires less investment and space. Investment is required only in the Honey bee boxes Extraction of Honey 8
first year when the system is installed. 25 boxes have been placed in the farming system model area. Vermi-compost Vermi-compost is being prepared from farm waste including crop residues and cattle dung (50:50) by earth worms, Eisenia foetida. Prepared compost is recycled as nutrient source in horticulture and vegetable components. All fruits and vegetable crops in the fish pond dykes are grown as organic agriculture. Earth worns Livestock (Dairy Component) Vermi-compost Four buffaloes were purchased from the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal on book value. Daily Cattle shed Gobar gas plant 9
Urine being collected through channel in pit to transfer to fish pond through under ground pipe fodder consumption, milk production and excreta generated by the animals is monitored. Fortnightly samples are analyzed for chemical composition to work out input : output relationships. The milk is sold daily to the CSSRI residents on first come first serve basis at Rs. 17 per kg. Results So Far Net profit from Rice-wheat rotation was Rs. 39,400 per ha with B:C ratio of 1.70 Vegetable based crop rotations gave maximum profits. Net profit of Rs. 80,000 per ha was obtained with bottle gourd (ghia)-cauliflower rotation with B:C ratio of 1.90 Forage based crop rotations like maize-maizeberseem and sorghum-berseem/oat provided net profit of Rs. 59,000 and Rs.40,000 per ha respectively with B:C ratio of 2.98 and 2.91, respectively. The profitability from fodder production can be further improved with the introduction of livestock. The 10
dung from 4 buffaloes is sufficient to produce gobar gas that can be used for cooking food for 7-8 family members. During a period of three months, sale of milk fetched Rs. 35,000 i.e. daily income of about Rs. 400 only Floriculture (gladiolus and marigold) seemed to be promising enterprise. However, benefits will be governed by processing and marketing facilities Baby corn was also promising cash crop and becomes ready for sale within 60 days. After removing baby corn-cobs, the plant can be used as palatable fodder. There is marketing problem in small towns like Karnal but is in great demand in big towns having bigger hotels and restaurants Bee keeping proved a good enterprise as total revenue generated from honey production from 25 boxes was Rs.40,000, in six months period. This enterprise can be blended with any other farming capsule A profit of Rs. 15,000 was obtained in a year from the sale of fish raised in 0.2 ha fish pond. The dykes of fishpond were planted with fruit trees like banana, guava, amla and karonda. Vegetables like bottle gourd, bitter gourd, lady s finger and palak etc were planted in the interspaces amongst fruit trees. Vegetables worth Rs 200-300 were sold weekly. Seasonal flowers like gladiolus, marigold and chrysanthemum can also be raised Gobar gas plant and solar heater are also being blended in the system 11
During the period of 4 months 91 q dung was produced that supplied nutrients equivalent to 73 kg N, 46 kg P, 109 kg K, 7.41 kg Zn, 1.32 kg Cu and 7.99 kg Mn. During this period the buffaloes consumed 21.6 tonnes green fodder. Of the total dung produced 12 q was used to yield more than 10 q vermi-compost By adopting multi-enterprise system and synergetic blending of different components, regular and sustainable income can be generated and the risk of failure of one crop is covered with other component Expected Long Term Benefits from Multienterprise Agricultural Research Better soil quality for sustainable agriculture Halting of ground water depletion through the enterprises requiring less water Better livelihoods of small farmers through enhanced regular income and year round employment Safe environment as the burning of rice straw can be stopped and used for composting to establish organic agriculture Eco-friendly recycling of agriculture residues/ bi-products/wastes of various kinds available within the system Opportunities to study problems and prospectus of production, processing, value addition and marketing of varied farming capsules 12