Chinmoy Kumar Sarma
(The writer can be reached at drcksarma@gmail.com)
Household food and nutritional security, as well as the entire livelihood of farmers in Assam, are mainly dependent on rice-based farming systems. So, profitable rice-based systems can overcome many social and economic problems like poverty, unemployment, labour migration, and low income. There are many challenges in the rice-based cropping system. Most of the farmers are resource-poor farmers (more than 85% are small and marginal) and lack commercial approaches. Monocropping of rice is the major system, with a low yield of paddy of 2.2 tonnes per hectare against the national average of 2.9 tonnes per hectare, attributing to low agricultural profitability in the region. The majority of the rice-based systems are practised under rainfed conditions with poor management practices, and farmers often face marketing problems due to the low volume of produce.
Per capita rice consumption is declining due to a change in the food habit from staple food towards other cereals, fruit, vegetables, etc., and if the trend continues, then there is an urgent need to shift our attention toward a diversified and intensified cropping system. But, any alternation to the existing system with decline in rice area and production will neither be sustainable nor acceptable to the farmers. So, agro-ecological intensification and diversification in the existing rice-based system are the only options. There are opportunities to utilise rice-fallow areas as well as flood-affected areas for intensification and diversification. Crop substitution in an existing rice-based system with high-value crops can also be an option for raising farm profitability. But we should be very careful while selecting the component crops to harvest maximum benefit through efficient utilisation of resources. Identification of suitable rice-based cropping systems should be based on soil and climatic conditions, land situation, farm resources, other farm enterprises, available technology, and most importantly, market.
Low input requirement, availability of short-duration oilseed and pulse varieties, ability to establish a good crop stand even in standing rice fields, and availability of short- and medium-duration rice varieties make oilseeds and pulses suitable options for cultivation in rice fallow areas. Pulses are in fact soil-building crops capable of transforming our dominant cereal-based systems to an ideal and sustainable system in time to come. A shortfall in pulse production (which produces 40% of the total requirement) brings an opportunity for pulse production in rice fallow areas. Suitable pulse crops after kharif rice are lentil, lathyrus, field pea, and rajmah. Cropping sequences like rice and lentil give a system net return of Rs. 35,000 to Rs. 40,000 per hectare, and it can go up if properly managed. Oilseed production can be another area that will create more employment in the entire chain, from production to processing, branding, and marketing. Under suitable land situations, rapeseed, niger, and linseed are important rabi oilseed crops after harvesting of kharif rice, even in rainfed situations. By utilising the rice fallow with rapeseed, one can earn Rs. 18,000 to Rs. 22,000 per hectare as additional income with a system income of Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 35,000 per hectare if crops are managed properly.
With assured irrigation facilities, rice is another important cropping sequence under suitable land situations. Even early ahu rice can be incorporated as a third crop after the rabi crop if the harvesting of the rabi crop is possible in the month of January/February. In flood affected areas, selection of crops during kharif season depends on duration of submergence and time of recession of flood water. Assam Agricultural University has developed several situation-specific varieties of rice. If situation permits, rice can be grown as a kharif crop with submergence-tolerant varieties or staggered planting varieties, or with medium- or short-duration varieties, followed by rabi and summer crops. Where kharif rice cultivation is not possible due to flood, rabi oilseed, pulse, and vegetable crops can be grown early in the season, followed by early ahu rice under assured irrigation facilities.
There is a huge scope for promoting maize-based industries in Assam, which will create employment opportunities. So, maize is another important crop (more than 40,000 ha area in Assam, and the area is increasing) in the rice-based cropping system. In rice-rice double-cropped areas, replacing the dry-season rice crop with maize recorded higher system productivity along with economic efficiency. The maize crop can be accommodated in the existing rice-based system depending on the time of harvesting of kharif rice either during the rabi season or as a summer crop (February sowing), which can fetch Rs. 60,000 to Rs. 65,000 per hectare (hybrid) with a system income of Rs. 75,000 to Rs. 80,000, which is much higher than rice-oilseed and rice-pulp cropping sequences. India enjoys a key advantage of playing in global export and supply in millets. The state has favourable soil and climate for millet production. Finger millet can be cultivated as a kharif crop in the system preceding early ahu rice in suitable land from August/September. Similarly, foxtail millet can be accommodated in the system after harvesting of kharif rice from January/February. Foxtail millet and finger millet give additional income approximately in the range of Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 12,000 per hectare and Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 17,000 per hectare, respectively.
Per capita intake of cereals in India fell by 16 percent between 1993-94 and 2011-12. Over the same period, per capita consumption rose by 21 percent in the case of fruits and 14 percent in the case of vegetables (Source: NITI Policy Paper No. 1/2017). A shift from low-to-high-value crops offers an important avenue to enhancing productivity and income. With irrigation facilities, rabi vegetables like potato, cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, brinjal, garden pea, etc. are some potential rabi crops after kharif rice, depending on the soil condition, and the rice-based cropping systems with vegetables fetch much higher income than rice-oilseed and rice-pulp systems.
There is a need to create awareness among the farming community for efficient utilisation of land, labour, water, and energy resources through the adoption of intensified cropping systems for achieving livelihood security. In the above discussion, net returns, as mentioned, are subject to vary depending upon the price of the inputs and produces.