Higher yields for Indian smallholders

The purpose of Resilience project was to contribute knowledge and capacity building that can make the agricultural production of Indian smallholders more sustainable and resilient to climate change. The project, ongoing since 2018, is being implemented in the states of Odisha and Assam, located in the east and northeast of India, respectively.

Various types of climate-smart agricultural technologies have been demonstrated from the project. For instance, a rice variant called Ranjith sub-1, which is resistant to climate change and flood-tolerant, is now cultivated and produced by thousands of farmers in Assam state. Climate smart seed production systems, led by smallholders through a public-private partnership model, has been successful with the support from Assam Agricultural University and project partners including NIBIO.

“So far, the smallholders trained in the project have produced more than 2000 tonnes of flood-tolerant rice seeds,” says Dr Udaya Sekhar Nagothu.

“They have also produced the purple rice variant, which has high market value and is easily marketable due to its high nutritional content.”

He adds that alternate wetting and drying irrigation and direct-seeded rice systems has yielded good results in terms of increased water productivity and reduced methane emissions compared to conventional paddy rice systems where seedlings are planted in water-saturated soil.

In addition to cultivating new rice varieties, smallholders have received assistance in growing legumes, fruits, and vegetables, either in rotation or parallel to rice production. To promote precision agriculture, several digital tools have been developed in the. Additionally, locally run Village Knowledge Centres ensure that information ranging from weather conditions to plant diseases is conveyed to farmers via smartphones and social media.