Rice-fallow system: Opportunities for pulse production in Assam

Dr Chinmoy Kumar Sarma

(drcksarma@gmail.com)

One of the greatest challenges for humanity today is the urgent need to provide nutritious food to over 9 billion people around the globe. This challenge is two-fold because it not only requires expanding and intensifying food production but also, it must do so in a way that does not compromise the very ecosystem services that are necessary for life on earth. During the last few decades, agricultural strategy in the country has been focusing primarily on raising agricultural output and our country has witnessed a 45 per cent increase in food production per person which has made India's food self-sufficient at the aggregate level. But low and highly fluctuating farm income affects the interest of the people in farming and is also forcing more and more cultivators, particularly younger age groups to leave farming. This will call for more efficient and sustainable use of increasingly scarce land, water and germplasm resources and technological solutions need to be more location specific and should match huge agro-ecological/climatic diversity.

Rice is the most important cereal crop grown over an area of 2.5 million ha in Assam, out of which 1.8 million ha area is occupied by Kharif rice. Although Kharif rice occupies a major portion of the rice-growing areas in Assam, a large portion of this area remains fallow during the rabi season. About 82 % of the total rice fallow area in the country is mostly concentrated in the eastern states which are mostly distributed in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, UP and Assam. Rice–fallow areas are extensively spread in the rain-fed ecology of the regions and as per the Expert Group on Pulses, the potential pulse area under the rice fallows is 2.46 million ha in these states. The main reasons for leaving the lands fallow during the winter season are lack of irrigation, late harvesting of long–duration high yielding rice varieties, moisture stress at sowing due to early withdrawal of monsoon, waterlogging and excessive moistures in November/December and nuisance like stray cattle, etc. These rice fallows offer good scope for area expansion of various rabi crops and crop intensification and their productive utilization can overcome many social and economic problems of the region like unemployment, labour migration and low income. Although different programmes have been initiated to popularize pulses and oilseeds in the country, however, due to the spread of resources over larger areas and change of beneficiaries year after year, the impact of different programmes is not very much visible.

Among different north-eastern states, Assam had the highest pulses area of about 1.54 lakh hectares with a total production of 1.15 lakh tonnes, but the productivity is the least (748 kg/ha) among all northeastern states. Although the area and total production of pulses in the north-eastern region increased over the years, however, this region is still deficient in pulse production and needs to depend on other regions or countries to meet the requirement. In Assam deficit is 81%, while the region as a whole has a deficit of 80.59 % in pulses ranging from 4.09 % in Nagaland to 93.1 % deficit in Meghalaya. In Assam, rice-fallow areas are suitable for short-season, low water-requiring grain legumes which can utilize residual soil moisture left in the field after harvest of Kharif rice. As per the estimates of the Expert Group on Pulses, out of the total 0.54 Mha rice fallow area in Assam, the potential pulse area under the rice fallows is 0.16 million ha in Assam covering Morigaon, Naogaon, Lakhimpur, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Nalbari, Kamrup, Barpeta, Darrang, Cachar, Goalaghat, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Sonitpur.

Despite the immense scope, extensive use of rice – fallows for the cultivation of pulse crops is mostly restricted because of the several biotic, abiotic and socio-economic constraints. Cultivation of long duration rice varieties often delays the sowing of rabi crops up to 1st week of December and crops suffer from moisture stress situations. Lack of irrigation facilities and poor soil moisture constitute the main limiting factor for the production of pulses in rice–fallows. Rabi crops in rice fallows are considered bonus crops. Farmers do not pay much attention to scientific crop management. Rice fallows are generally invaded by stray cattle and wild animals which are a potential threat to Rice fallows. Moreover, poor-economic conditions and low-purchasing capability induce farmers to leave the field unused after the rice harvest. Besides, shortage of labour, non-availability of inputs, limited access to institutional credit, lack of market, and poor extension service directly or indirectly discourages the farmers from taking the second crop.

Rice fallow areas are endowed with many strengths and opportunities. These are again constrained by several weaknesses and threats that again hinder in scaling up of productive potential. Constraint analysis reveals the diverse nature of constraints or issues that need to be addressed properly in a time-bound manner. To utilize residual soil moistures efficiently and maximize the system productivity in rice–fallows, long-duration rice varieties need to be replaced with medium duration varieties for early harvesting and timely sowing of succeeding crops. High-yielding varieties play important role in increasing the productivity of crops and ultimately the income of the farmers. In Assam, the adoption of HYVs of pulses is very poor and the majority of small and marginal farmers grow rabi pulses on small scale with local varieties kept from the previous year's harvest. So there are need to develop some early maturing high yielding varieties of pulse crops so that they can escape drought in rice fallow situations. Similarly, some late sown varieties well adapted to moisture deficit conditions and low temperature will also help in overcoming the problem of late sown crops. Accessibility to superior seed is at a regular basis is an important limitation for late sowing and reduced yield of winter crops in rice– fallow. Therefore, a community-based seed multiplication plan needs to be launched with suitable dispensation and storeroom facilities, not only for pulse crops but also for the production of quality seeds of medium duration rice varieties. Soil moisture deficit and the stress associated with pulses grown in rice fallow areas are solely responsible for instability in yield. Life-saving irrigation once during a critical stage could save the crop. Construction of farm-pond or community water reservoirs to harvest excess rainwater during the rainy season is a feasible strategy to provide life-saving irrigation. In rice–fallows, effective moisture conservation practice can mitigate the moisture-related stress and terminal drought. A zero or reduced soil disturbance tillage system with retention of rice crop residue has been found effec¬tive in the soil moisture conservation and increasing the crop yields and monitory returns in rice–fallows. Sowing of pulses in standing rice crops can mitigate moisture-related stress in addition to the benefits of sowing in time, better utilization of residual soil moisture and reducing the cost of production.

Rice fallows offer good scope for area expansion of pulses through crop intensification to utilize the residual soil moisture retained in the soil. Under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM), considerable efforts have been made to expand the area under pulses and also to improve the productivity of crops through the introduction of high-yielding varieties and other improved crop management practices like integrated nutrient management, integrated pest management, irrigation management at critical stages etc. Along with the State Department of Agriculture, Krishi Vigyan Kendras has been organizing Cluster Front Line Demonstration programmes in the farmers' field to popularize pulse production technology in rice fallow areas with support from ICAR.