Designing a productive, profitable integrated farming system model with low water footprints for small and marginal farmers of Telangana Show others and affiliations
2024 (English) In: Scientific Reports, E-ISSN 2045-2322, Vol. 14, article id 17066Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
In the years 2021–2022 and 2022–2023, an experiment was carried out at the IFS Unit, College of Agriculture, PJTSAU, Rajendranagar in order to determine the best one-acre integrated farming system model for Telangana's small and marginal farmers. Seven farm models among which six models were developed by combining the various components i.e., cropping systems, fruit cropfodder crops and livestock components, in different proportions, and compared with rice-groundnut system which is a major farming approach in Telangana using randomized block design. The seven models were as follows: M1: Rice–Groundnut; M2: Rice–Groundnut, Pigeonpea + Sweetcorn (1:3)—Bajra, Bt cotton + Greengram (1:2)—Maize; M3: Rice–Groundnut, Pigeonpea + Sweetcorn (1:3)—Bajra, Pigeonpea + Maize (1:3)—Sunhemp; Napier grass, Sheep (5 + 1); M4: Rice–Groundnut, Pigeonpea + Sweetcorn (1:3)—Bajra, Bt cotton + Greengram (1:2)—Maize, Pigeonpea + Maize (1:3)—Sunhemp, Poultry unit; M5: Guava, Hedge Lucerne, Napier grass, Bt cotton + Greengram (1:2)—Maize, Sheep (5 + 1); M6: Guava, Bt cotton + Greengram (1:2)—Maize, Rice–Groundnut, Poultry; M7: Rice–Groundnut, Pigeonpea + Sweetcorn (1:3)—Bajra, Pigeonpea + Maize (1:3)—Sunhemp; Napier grass, Hedge lucerne, Poultry (100), Sheep (5 + 1). Based on a 2-year average, the Model M7 system produced 9980 Rice Grain Equivalent Yield(RGEY)kg of output per acre, with gross and net returns of ₹210,439 and ₹124,953 respectively, and recovered a B:C ratio of 2.46. It has recorded highest sustainable yield index (SYI) of 0.673 and value index of 0.772 with the lowest water footprint of 259.0 L/kg. This study reveals that adopting an integrated farming system is the optimal approach for effectively combining productive, financially rewarding, and diversified enterprises within a single acre of land.d. This system should be recommended for maximum benefits to smallto small and marginal farmers in Telangana's southern hills and plateau.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages Springer Nature, 2024. Vol. 14, article id 17066
Keywords [en]
Integrated farming system, Small and marginal farmers, Sustainable yield index, Telangana, Water footprint
National Category
Agricultural Science
Research subject Soil Mechanics
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-108508 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-66696-5 ISI: 001276798400042 PubMedID: 39048579 Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85199391366 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-108508 DiVA, id: diva2:1887801
Note Validerad;2024;Nivå 2;2024-08-09 (hanlid);
Funder: King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (RSPD2023R952);
Full text license: CC BY
2024-08-092024-08-092025-10-21 Bibliographically approved