Preface The glory of Green Revolution proved to be a turning point in improving the food situation from “begging bowl to self-sufficiency”. There has been a spectacular increase in food grain production of India from 50.8 million tons in 1950-51 to more than 275 million tons at present. Day-by-day, the agricultural scenario is changing fast and task of keeping pace with population growth is strenuous and challenging. Now days several emerging issues have been addressed to sustain the high productivity under different cropping and farming systems. The future of Indian agriculture depends on the development of appropriate farming system as applicable to resource poor farm families and as suited to different agro-ecological zones. Integrated farming system is not only a reliable way of obtaining fairly high productivity with substantial fertilizer economy, but also a concept of ecological soundness leading to sustainable agriculture. A judicious mix of cropping systems with associated enterprises like dairy, poultry, piggery, fishery, sericulture, bee keeping, mushroom production etc suited to the given agro- climatic conditions and socio-economic status of the farmers would bring prosperity to the farmer. The future of Indian agriculture depends on the development of appropriate farming system as applicable to resource poor farm families and as suited to different agro-ecological zones. Integrated farming system is not only a reliable way of obtaining fairly high productivity with substantial fertilizer economy, but also a concept of ecological soundness leading to sustainable agriculture. The book brings out in detail the agronomy course on farming systems and sustainable agriculture recommended for undergraduate students by 5th Dean’s Committee and accepted by the ICAR for uniform adoption by all SAUs. The chapters included in this book are a mixture of theoretical and applied investigation. The book is comprehensive covering all the basics of farming systems. The author acknowledges his indebtedness to author of books and research articles from which most of the material in this introductory book has been drawn. In several cases, it has not been possible to obtain permission for reproduction for which the authors and publisher offer their sincere apologies. Inspite of the best efforts, it is possible that some errors may have crept into the compilation. The readers are requested to kindly let me know the mistakes so that these can be taken care of in the further edition. I am thankful to my family especially my wife Mrs. Raj Rani for supporting me during the course of writing the book. I acknowledge with affection the love of my grandsons Shourya and Shlok which always keep me cheerful. Finally, I thank the publisher for bringing out this book so efficiently and promptly.

The prosperity of any country depends upon the prosperity of its people. Food, clothing, shelter, health, education, security, roads, electricity and drinking water are the today’s basic needs. Farmers produce food. About 70 % of Indian population is engaged in farming. Therefore, prosperity of India would depend upon the prosperity of its farmers. This in turn depends upon the adoption of improved technology and judicious allocation of resources (land, labour, capital, machinery etc). Human race depends more on farm products for their existence than anything else since food and clothing – the prime necessaries are products of farming. Even for industrial prosperity, farming forms the basic raw material. To sustain and satisfy as many as his needs, the farmers include crop production, livestock, poultry, fisheries, beekeeping etc. in their farms. Earlier subsistence was the important objective of farming. Farmers took many activities such as planting of fruit trees in their farms or on the common lands just for the welfare of mankind without expecting anything in return. The kind of farming where subsistence and welfare of mankind were the main objectives is designated as mixed farming. Farming today is also a mix of enterprises. However, higher profitability without altering ecological balance is important in farming. A set of agricultural activities organized while preserving land productivity, environmental quality and maintaining desirable level of biological diversity and ecological stability is designated as “Farming System”. Here the emphasis is mainly on a system rather than on gross output. In other words “farming system” is a resource management strategy to achieve economic and sustain agricultural production to meet diverse requirement of the farm household while preserving the resource base and maintaining high environmental quality. The farming system in its real sense will help to lift the economy of agriculture and standard of living of the farmers.

Various components of farming systems are as under 1. Cropping system A system is set of elements which depend on each other and interacting among themselves. Farming system consists of several enterprises like cropping system, dairying, piggery, poultry, fishery, bee keeping, etc. These enterprises are interrelated. The end products and wastes of one enterprise are used as inputs in other. The wastes of cow, dung used as FYM in crop production and straw is used as feeding material for cow. Bullock is used for field preparation. Cropping system is an important component of a farming system. It represents cropping pattern used on a farm and their interaction with farm resources, other farm enterprises and available technology which determine their makeup. Cropping pattern: means the proportion of area under various crops at a point of time in a unit area. It indicates the yearly sequence and spatial arrangement of crops and fallow in an area. It indicates the early sequence and spatial arrangement of crops and fallow in an area. Crop sequence and crop rotation are generally used synonymously. Crop rotation refers to recurrent succession of crops on the same piece of land either in a year or over a longer period of time. Component crops are so chosen so that soil health in not impaired.

Terms associated with cropping and farming systems are: Cropping system: is an important component of a farming system. It represents cropping pattern used on a farm and their interaction with farm resources, other farm enterprises and available technology which determine their makeup. Cropping pattern: means the proportion of area under various crops at a point of time in a unit area. It indicates the yearly sequence and spatial arrangement of crops and fallow in an area. Cropping scheme is a plan according to which crops are grown on individual plot of a farm during a given period of time with the object of obtaining maximum return from each crop without impairing soil fertility. Thus a cropping scheme is related to the most profitable use of resources, land, labour, capital, and management. Multiple cropping: Growing two or more crops on the same piece of land in one calendar year is known as multiple cropping. It is intensification of cropping in space and time dimensions. It includes intercropping, mixed cropping and sequence cropping. Quadruple cropping: Growing of four crops in a year in sequence. Competition effect: Competition of intercropped spp. For light, nutrients, water, carbon dioxide, and other growth factors. Complementary effect: Effect of one component on another which enhances growth and productivity.

The basic points that are to be considered while choosing appropriate enterprise in IFS are: Soil and climatic features of an area/locality. Social status of the family and social customs prevailing in the locality. Economic condition of the farmer (Return/income from the existing farming system). Resource availability at farm and present level of utilization of resources. Economics of proposed IFS and credit facilities. Farmer’s managerial skill. Household demand. Institutional infrastructure and technological knowhow. Market facilities.

Agriculture has been the base of subsistence for human settlements on the planet earth. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), people in the developing world where the population increase is very rapid, may face hunger if the global food production does not increase by 50–60%. Contribution from developing countries and developed countries to world production in 1975 was about 38% and 62%, respectively. If yield increase is keeping pace with increasing population, mass hunger can escape. In the preindependence period, Indian agriculture was usually described as a gamble with monsoons and their failures resulted in widespread famine and misery. In the last few decades, Indian agriculture has made a remarkable progress even with increased population and decreased per capita availability of agricultural land. World population is projected to be over 8 billion by 2025 and nearly 10.5 billion by the end of next century. To maintain the status quo, food production needs to be doubled. Estimates by the FAO and WHO (1992) and the Hunger Project (1991) suggest that around 1 billion people in the world have diets that are ‘too poor to abstain the energy required for healthy growth of children and minimal activity of adults’. The causes are complex and it is not entirely the fault of overall availability of food. Modern agriculture begins on the research farm, where researchers have access to all types of inputs for crops at all the appropriate times. But, even the best performing farms cannot match the yields of researchers. For high productivity, farmers need to have access to the whole package – improved seeds, water, labour, capital or credit, fertilizers, pesticides and other developed technology. Many poorer farming households simply cannot adopt the whole package. Very often delivery systems are unable to supply them on time.

Conservation agriculture (CA) defined as minimal soil disturbance (no-till) and permanent soil cover (mulch) combined with rotations is a recent agricultural management system that is gaining popularity in many parts of the world. Cultivation is defined by the Oxford English dictionary as “the tilling of land”, “the raising of a crop by tillage” or “to loosen or break up soil”. Other terms used in this dictionary include “improvement or increase in (soil) fertility”. All these definitions indicate that cultivation is synonymous with tillage or ploughing. The other important definition that has been debated and defined in many papers is the word “sustainable”. The Oxford dictionary defines this term as “capable of being borne or endured, upheld, defended, maintainable”. Something that is sustained is “kept up without intermission or flagging, maintained over a long period”. This is an important concept in today’s agriculture since the human race will not want to compromise the ability of its future offspring to produce their food needs by damaging the natural resources used to feed the population today.

Low External Input Agriculture (LEIA) It is a form of agriculture wherein the use of external inputs including chemical inputs is minimized and production is kept sustainable. It uses synthetic fertilizers or chemical pesticides below rates commonly recommended by the Extension workers. There is no elimination of these materials. Any system that reduces purchased chemical inputs can be called low-input farming. Yields are maintained through greater emphasis on crop rotation, crop residues, animal manures, biofertilizers, IPM, IWM and utilization of on-farm resources and management. Locally available resources are used by maximizing the complementary and synergistic effects of different components of the farming systems. There is use of external inputs in a complementary way. Main advantages of this type of agriculture are:

What is a system? A group of interacting components, operating together for a common purpose, capable of reacting as a whole to external stimuli is called a system. It is not affected directly by its own outputs, having a specified boundary based on inclusion of all significant feedbacks. Human body is a system with a boundary (e.g., the skin) enclosing a number of components (heart, lungs) that interact (the heart pumps blood to the lungs) for a common purpose (to maintain and operate the living body). Collection of unrelated items does not constitute a system. A bag of pebbles is not a system because with addition or removal of a pebble, a bag of pebbles remains and is almost not affected completely by that change. Pebbles behave as a whole if the whole bag is influenced, for example by dropping it; the constituent parts go their own ways with its bursting. It is the property of the system that mainly matters and it may be summarized in the phrase ‘behaviour as a whole in response to stimuli to any portion’.

Integration of Enterprises In agriculture, crop husbandry is the main activity. The income obtained from cropping is hardily sufficient to sustain the farm family throughout year. Activities such as dairying, poultry, fish- culture, sericulture, biogas production, edible mushroom cultivation, agro- forestry, agri- horticulture etc. assume critical importance in supplementing their farm income. Assumed regular cash flow is possible when cropping is combined with other enterprises. Judicious combination of enterprises keeping in view of the environment condition of a locality will pay grater dividends. At the same time it will promote effective recycling of residues/ wastes. Integrated farming system seems to be the answer to the problems of increasing food production. For increasing income and for improving nutrition of the small scale farmers with limited resources without any adverse effect on environment and agro- eco-system. In a cropping system the amount of by products can be as high as or higher than marketable produce. This may go to waste if not utilized in an animal waste component and to reduce the cost of production of the economic produce of component two and finally to entrance the net income of the farm is whole. Livestock is the best complementary enterprises with cropping, especially during the adverse years. Installation of a biogas plant in crop- livestock system will make use of the wastes, at the same time provides valuable manure and gas for cooking and lighting.

The classification of the farming systems of developing regions may be based on the following criteria: Available natural resource base, including water, land, grazing areas and forest; climate, of which altitude is one important determinant; landscape, including slope; farm size, tenure and organization; and Dominant pattern of farm activities and household livelihoods, including field crops, livestock, trees, aquaculture, hunting and gathering, processing and off-farm activities; and taking into account the main technologies used, which determine the intensity of production and integration of crops, livestock and other activities.

Resource use efficiency in Indian agriculture Resource use efficiency in agriculture is defined to include the concepts of technical efficiency, allocative efficiency and environmental efficiency. Public investment, subsidies and credit for agriculture are used in an efficient manner. There are large scale inter regional as well as inter farm variations in factor productivity due to varying influence of different factors in different regions. A number of management factors such as timeliness and method of sowing, transplanting, irrigation and application of right doses of inputs and input mix play an important role in influencing inter-farm variation in crop productivity. Growing marginalization and fragmentation of land holdings coupled with rising incidence of informal tenancies and poor rural infrastructure such as road, electricity, markets and education affect factor productivity. The availability of good quality irrigation water coupled with flexibility of irrigation and drainage system and appropriate methods of application as well as pricing of irrigation water is crucial for sustainable use of land and water resources. The stochastic frontier production function to analyse the resource use efficiency of urban farmers in Uyo, Southeastern Nigeria was done. The result shows that 65% of urban farmers were 70% technology efficient; maximum efficiency is 0.91, while minimum efficiency in urban farm is 0.43.

Pre-dominant farming systems in various regions of India The quick survey conducted as a part of characterization of existing farming systems throughout the country indicates existence of 19 pre-dominant farming systems with majority as crop + livestock (85%). Although crop + livestock system is dominating in the country, based on the per cent contribution to net income, the systems are classified as crop, horticulture, livestock, fisheries dominant systems where in dominant component contributes more than 50% of the total net returns. Accordingly, it was found that crop dominant farming systems are existing in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, NorthEast, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal while livestock dominant systems are present in Rajasthan and Parts of Gujarat. West Bengal, parts of Odisha and Assam states have the fisheries as a major source of income to the existing farming systems. The scope for promotion of horticulture (fruit) based systems exists in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, parts of Uttar Pradesh and in Sikkim while plantation dominant systems are available in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Kerala. In selected states and locations, highly diversified systems also exists where in none of the component contributes for 50% or more to the returns. The characterization survey data of existing farming systems in different states/zones are being interpreted and brought out in the form of National Atlas on Farming Systems. Though the various farming systems exists in the country, integration of input and output within the system is either completely lacking or at partial integration. Competition exists within and outside the farm for various byproducts generated. Cow dung is the best example as dung is required for improving the fertility of soil and meeting the household fuel. Hence, synergy needs to be made by appropriate allocation for making farming as a profitable option. Sustainable farming systems should aim for long term productivity, profitability, recycling of resources and employment generation. The monetary returns under different farming systems practiced in different parts of the country are given in Fig 1. Among the various existing systems in the country, coconut +banana+ cocoa +pineapple + nutmeg (FS9) gives the higher return of Rs 1.27 lakhs/annum.

Agriculture has under gone drastic changes from the mid 1960s through the introduction and application of various newly developed techniques in agro science such as crop and water management practices, Emphasis has been given to be integrated system approach in crop production. It is essential to plan and implement rational policies to minimize the regional imbalances of agricultural production. The present growth in crop production has to be sustained considering ecological and economic factors. The existing as well as emerging frontiers must be examined to enhance agricultural growth on a sustainable basis. The understanding of agroclimatic relationship through crop weather conditions, soil fertility, water use efficiency, rain water management and appropriate cropping patterns based on regional resources potential must be emphasized more over agro forestry, integrated crop management, biotechnology and use of renewable energy must be emphasized for use in environmentally harmonious agriculture. Training of farmers has to be adapted to be changing technological environment. The forest affects soil and water in many ways. Leaves and branches decreases wind strength, alter the absorption of solar radiation, and increase the surface area for evaporation. The root growth and the decomposition of plant organic matter by soil fauna and microbes, modify soil texture and structure, affecting water penetration and drainage. Changes in vegetation cover can therefore have a significance influence on the hydrological cycle and climate system. The study area consists of the state of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. On the basis of physiographic and soil resources, this zone is clearly divisible into two sub zones; the plains of Punjab and Haryana and the highlands. Based on altitude soil type, geology, and rainfall each of these two sub zones may be further subdivided. Major sources of water in the region, in addition to rainfall and river, are lakes and ice crops of glaciers and undergrounds springs. Under ground water is largely concentrated in the plains of Punjab and Haryana. The region covers a varied land use, from highly intensive monocultures through rotational and intercropping to grazed rangeland and near natural forests.

The increasing awareness of the deleterious effects of indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture has led to the adoption of organic farming as an alternative method for conventional farming world-wide. It is gaining gradual momentum across the world and the growing awareness of organic food which is emerging as an attractive source of rural income generation especially in integrated farming systems. In north west India where rice-wheat, cotton-wheat and pearl millet-wheat cropping systems are most prevalent. But now, these cropping systems are not proving farmers’ friendly due to higher water requirement, declining yield, susceptibility to insects and pests and adverse effect on soil health. Moreover, in the new millennium with the growing demand of agricultural commodities in national as well as international market due to ever increasing population and globalization, Indian farmers are forced to produce higher quantum of quality agricultural commodities at low cost from shrinking land and natural resources. Mungbean - wheat cropping system requires less water and hence, can be grown in areas where water availability is limited in addition to beneficial effect of mungbean to supply N to the succeeding wheat crop which are favorable for organic farming. Wheat (desi) also known as tall wheat requires less water and is very responsive to low doses of nutrients. The dwarf wheat grown by farmers with the application of chemicals in the form of fertilizers, weedicides, insecticides and pesticides is not preferred by people and therefore, the demand of organic wheat is rising fast in national and international market. This cropping system can be taken successfully in farming systems for higher monetary returns. There is need to shift a portion of cultivable land with organic farming as an alternate practice technique. Organic farming gives emphasis on sustainability, environmental safety and low cost production techniques over chemical farming. Keeping the issues of 21st century agriculture in view following aspects also shows importance of organic farming: Reduce the toxic load; keep chemicals out of the air, water, soil and our bodies; reduce if not eliminate off farm pollution; protect future generations; build healthy soil; taste better and truer flavor; assist farmers of all sizes; promote biodiversity; celebrate the culture of agriculture etc.

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