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Drought is a periodic phenomenon in India. Almost 50% of cultivable land in the
country is considered drought-prone due to scanty or irregular monsoon. As a result, there is a
limit to increasing the irrigation potential in the country. Therefore, around 65% of arable
land in the country has to grapple with the problems of dryland agriculture (Hegde,
1989). Besides, there are wide income disparities and socioeconomic inequalities among
the farmers. The farmers of rainfed areas tend to have poor resource base, which results
in subsistence farming. They are most vulnerable to weather aberrations and suffer the
most in the event of natural calamities like drought and its related problems. These factors
lead to sluggish growth of the agricultural sector and
hinder sustainability in agriculture.
To mitigate the adverse effects of drought, the Government of India, in 1973,
introduced a plan for integrated development of drought-prone areas called `Drought-Prone Area
Program' (DPAP). Chitradurga is one of the districts in Karnataka, which is frequently affected
by drought. The program was implemented in this district to reduce the intensity of
drought through various activities. This study attempts to assess the impact of the program
on productivity and resource use efficiency of ragi cultivators of this district.
The study was conducted in Chitradurga District of Karnataka, where large numbers
of watershed programs have been implemented to mitigate dryland agricultural problems
and drought intensity. Primary data for the study was collected during 2006-07.
Multistage purposive sampling technique was adopted for selecting the sample. In the first stage,
DPAP-watershed implementing taluks, namely, Challakere, Chitradurga, Holalkere,
Hosadurga and Molakalmuru, were purposively selected out of the six taluks in the district. One
taluk in the district (i.e., Hiriyur) has more than 30% of land covered under irrigation, therefore
it was excluded. |
4,295.61) as compared to the non-beneficiaries (
