Farmers Participatory Research: An effective way to sustain rural livelihood in the rice-wheat cropping areas of North Eastern Plains Zone of India

A.K. Joshi

Abstract

The vast North East Plains Zone (NEPZ) having rice-wheat as the major cropping system is far behind the North West Plains Zone in agricultural productivity. Consequently, the economic prosperity in the rural sector of NEPZ is significantly inferior than the developed regions of our country. There is an urgent need for the development and dissemination of appropriate agricultural technology taking care of the specific need of the location and the farmer. This work can be facilitated through appropriate scientist-farmers interaction. Through farmers participatory approach, the average yield of wheat in many villages has increased substantially in the past five years making rice-wheat cropping system more profitable. This work needs to be extended to all the nearby districts of Varanasi including those from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. By this approach, the time lag between agricultural research and its dissemination could be reduced and thereby may enable us to attain the food target of the future.

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