The Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture Network (RRA Network) has developed a framework for implementing an action research program for evolving and pilot testing robust support systems to stimulate inclusive growth in sustainable and integrated agriculture, livestock, fisheries and other production systems in rainfed areas. The pilots will be conducted in representative locations across India.
The representative nature of these locations derives partly from the typology of rainfed agriculture, which broadly includes geography (rainfall, soils, hydrology), agro-ecology (cropping systems, state of watersheds, specific ecological factors) and socio-economics (productivity, impact on rural life and livelihoods, including incomes). It also depends upon ongoing programs pertaining to agriculture, natural resources management and rural livelihoods, at scale. The program aims at integrating natural resources management, food security and livelihoods with special reference to rainfed areas and rainfed agriculture.
Call for Proposals
The RRA Network invites action research proposals for evolving and pilot testing robust support systems to stimulate inclusive growth in sustainable agriculture, livestock, fisheries and other production systems in rainfed areas.
The proposed pilot initiatives must have a sizeable scale of impact and be embedded into ongoing government programs such as RKVY, BRGF, IWMP, MGNREGS, NRLM and others. Innovative collaboration with these mainstream programs to demonstrate a relevant paradigm of rainfed agriculture is desired.
Scale of impact and policy relevance are the important criteria for selection.
The field-level pilot will complement the mainstream program of the partner organization, by building in action-research and analytical capacity. A budget of not more than Rs 1 crore must accompany each proposal.
Action Research on Support Systems
1. The background for each pilot is rainfed agriculture. The focus of a pilot will be on integrated management of soils (primarily the sustained fertility of soils), seeds, water resources (protective irrigation and management of soil moisture), livestock management and diversified cropping systems. The inputs from each of these disciplines should result in improved rural livelihoods (again with agriculture and allied activities as the primary focus), nutrition (rural household focus) and better risk mitigation (externalities, including Climate Change).
2. Each comprehensive pilot will attempt to bring a ‘multidisciplinary perspective’ to rainfed farming, bearing in mind the specifics of a location. These specifics will have a clear reference to eco-geography, units of land (watersheds / landscapes) and scales (river basins to microwatersheds to farms). Diversity in rainfed lands and variability in conditions that define each eco-geography will be considered in this process.
3. The comprehensive pilots will have two basic dimensions:
i) Robust practices that improve conditions of rainfed lands and farmers dependent on rainfed agriculture.
ii) An upward linkage to the domain of policy, with a view to drive home reforms in agricultural investments.
Last date for submission of proposals is October 15, 2011
For more information and details, you can visit this link.
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