Crop diversification with turmeric crop for enhanced productivity, profitability and improving livelihood of North West Indian Farmers

Densely populated, intensively cropped highland areas in North West India are prone to erosion and declining soil fertility, making agriculture unsustainable. Conservation agriculture in its version of furrow irrigated raised bed planting (FIRB) has been proposed as an alternative turmeric production system for this agro-ecological zone. A three years field experiment comparing furrow irrigated raised beds and flat beds under irrigated conditions was started at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh in 2007. The objective of this study was to determine the tillage and crop establishment technique of high value crops after three years of different management practices. The water saving was 16.5 per cent to 36.8 per cent, respectively, for raised beds compared to conventionally flat beds. Profitability was highest for wide raised beds and for narrow raised beds it decreased with decreasing towards flat beds system. This system is often considered more appropriate for growing high value crops that are more sensitive to temporary water logging stress. Wide raised beds, by their very nature, encourage the concept of controlled traffic, where all vehicle wheels travel along the furrows between beds, thus limiting compaction on the majority of the paddock. Extensive research throughout Western IGP has shown significant soil structure improvements by removing vehicle compaction from the soil where the crop is grown. The research indicates that raised bed planting increases the soil quality and can be a sustainable production alternative for North West India. The incorporation of raised beds means that the complete failure of crops due to waterlogging is eliminated. Hence, more accurate budgeting of crop yields can occur and there is greater confidence in achieving good results. Due to more uniform and high value crops under situations where waterlogging would normally be a problem, higher profits can be realised. In many parts of North West India Turmeric crop yields have increase in recent years where raised bed technology has been used, considerably increasing profit for farmers. Extensive tillage with its associated high costs can be reduced by the use of permanent raised beds while at least partial surface residue retention is needed to insure production sustainability.