Strategy for managing natural resources in flood-prone eco-systems for sustainable agricultural production

Abstract

Flood-prone environments receive 50 to 400 cm water for more than a month during the wet season, depending on the amount and duration of rainfall, and the depth, time and frequency of flooding. In India, 2.5 million ha flood-prone areas are to be found, mostly in the eastern states of Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. No crops other than rice can be grown on these lands; however, rice has very poor productivity (1.0-1.5 t/ha) due to the unpredictable growing environment. There are three options to develop better production technologies for this harsh ecology: (i) rice mixed cropping, (ii) winter rice cultivation, and (iii) rice + fish farming. Each one has its merits and demerits. Adoptable technologies have been developed which have been verified in the field. Integrated farming including rice + pulses + vegetables + green manuring + fish has also been found successful with some modifications in the field. Experiments both at research stations and on farmers' fields have shown that the disadvantageous, harsh ecology of fragile flood-prone environments could be made as productive as other ecosystems through the use of adoptable technologies.