Sustainability, Livelihood Security and Resilience to Climate Variability of Small Holders through Small Onion and Jasmine Cropping in NICRA Village of Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

In Vadavathur & Jambumadai village, small onion is the major vegetable crop cultivated as an annual crop in more than 400 acres and it is the only source of income. In scarce rainfall situations in National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture NICRA village of Vadavathur and Jambumadai, practice of sole cropping (Small onion) is predominant but it is risky and often results in low yields or sometimes even in crop failure due to erratic monsoon rainfall and skewed distribution. To alleviate these problems in such areas of drought villages of Namakkal district crop diversification with perennial crop is a feasible option to minimize risk in crop production, ensure reasonable returns with limited care. Additional crop of onion with Jasmine is more profitable and is a key drought coping strategy especially for small and marginal farmers. Hence jasmine (20 cent) + small onion (80 cent) cultivation model is demonstrated in crop component mode in NICRA village instead of cultivating small onion as a sole crop in an area of 1 acre/ 0.4 ha. Considering the yield, jasmine flower yield was obtained in the range of 545 to 747 kg/ 20 cent and in case of small onion, the bulb yield of 4800 kg was harvested from 80 cent/season. Highest net returns of Rs.134622 / 20 cent was obtained from Jasmine cultivation compared to small onion of Rs.48,810 / 80 cent /season.