Expectations from Investments in Agricultural Research and Innovation- An NGO PerspectiveKamal Kishore

Coordinator, Rainfed Livestock Network

Anchored by the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)

Trends in agricultural research funding• Increasing number of institutes• Marginal increase in Ag R&D investment• Reduction in number of researchers since 2001• Continuing emphasis on food grains research- almost 70% of the

budget• Livestock contributes more than 40% to Ag GDP in dryland areas• Research spending only between 14 to 16%

Neglected Drylands

Drylands are going to remain 50% of arable land even after all irrigation projects are in placeVery low investmentNeed to move away from the green revolution templateA need to work with variability rather than trying to straight jacket itEngagement needs to be opportunistic and calls for real time management

Commons and fodderAlmost 70% of the milk and 98% of small ruminant meat and a sizeable amount of large ruminant meat comes from commons and crop residueSheep, goat and indigenous and cattle depend almost 41 to 84% on commons for feedBuffaloes and crossbred cattle 11 to 65% on commons For feed 86 to 99% dependence on sheep and goats dependentAlmost 200m cattle and buffaloes and 190m small ruminants depend on the commons and crop residueImpossible task to covert to farm based systemNeeds to be researched to enhance feed availability and develop a commons policy

Watersheds

Properly managed watersheds show 2 to 3 times increase in biomassIncrease in water table and water tanks.Need for watershed plantation regime focusing on livestock and keeping local biodiversity intactA package of practices around water management needs to be developed keeping farmer aspirations in mindSCI/SRI showing promising results- research and implementation strategies required

Extension and land reforms• Top down approach - Lab to land needs to be reversed to land to lab• Farming/ livestock needs to be treated as an entrepreneurship/

enterprise• Agricultural extension weakest link• Need to find ways to improve co-ordination between research and

development• 80% small and marginal farmers and further fragmenting• Policies around land contracting, bank credit and agri-insurance need

to be put in place

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