Precision farming for enhancing productivity and sustainab-ility of vegetable system in western Uttar Pradesh

Precision agriculture–based resource-conserving technologies (RCTs) in their version of laser-assisted land leveling, introduced at the farm level in the Western Uttar Pradesh of India in 2001, could examine the many issues of the intensive irrigated vegetable based system. We attempted to study the potential benefits and impact of laser-assisted precision land leveling (PLL) in various crops and cropping systems under different agroecologies through farmers participatory researcher-managed on-farm trials. Under on-farm trials conducted in the Western Uttar Pradesh, we found that PLL enhanced system productivity by 10%,with water savings of 22%, respectively.Land leveling is one of the few mechanical inputs in intensively irrigated farming that meets the objective of achieving better crop stand, saving irrigation water and improving the use efficiency of inputs. In recent year considerable efforts have gone in developing and promoting resource conservation technology (RCTs) i.e. Bed planting,Residue management etc. The performance of RCTs can be greatly enhanced through final land leveling.These studies suggest that, to sustain the intensive irrigated systems in general and the vegetable based system of the Western Uttar Pradesh in particular, the integration of laser-assisted precision land leveling with other RCTs could be a viable option. However, the long-term effects of these alternative technologies need to be studied under varying agroecologies. In a project supported by the UPCAR,Lucknow a number of improved land and crop management practices, often termed resource-conserving technologies (RCTs), have successfully been developed and disseminated in the Western Uttar Pradesh. Among the RCTs, the most popular are laser land leveling,bed planting and reduced-till drill-seeded vegetables, direct seeding of cabbage. The vast majority of farmers have adopted them because of increased productivity, reduced costs, and higher profitability. The use of individual technologies did improve productivity and profitability to a certain extent, but combining and simultaneously applying a number of compatible RCTs is crucial for maximizing the overall benefits to farmers. Farmers generally integrated the new technologies into the portfolio of their own technologies already being practiced on their farms. This process of integrating new RCTs into an existing portfolio of technologies can be called integrated crop and resource management (ICRM). Being highly dynamic, ICRM will accept innovations as and when they become available. A good example of ICRM is the combined use of precision land leveling and drill seeding together with a full package of crop management to maximize system efficiency, productivity, and benefit. Additionally, some RCTs under ICRM have had positive effects on resource use and environmental quality. However, the adoption rates of ICRM with new RCTs were highly variable. This is because of variations across the Western Uttar Pradesh, in vegetable system characteristics such as (1) agroclimatic conditions and land types; (2) farmers’ knowledge, skills, resource endowments, and cultivation practices; (3) the time of introduction of ICRM with new RCTs and the extent of farmers’ exposure to them; and (4) the amount of institutional and policy support to farmers. The key factors affecting the adoption of ICRM with new technologies i.e. precision farming by farmers and suggested strategies to facilitate wide adoption are discussed in this paper. The need continues to be to develop an effective program for wider evaluation, refinement, and dissemination of proven RCTs within the framework of ICRM for deprived farming communities,to realize their great impact on food security and farmers’ livelihood in Western Uttar Pradesh, India.