Potential for Enhancing Farmer Income in Semi-Arid Telangana: A Multi-model Systems Approach

This paper addresses the question: how do interventions in natural resource management, agronomy and livestock integration influence whole-farm bio-economic outcomes. The proposed interventions are modelled for farming systems in Telangana considering labour supply, consumption and market prices using the integrated analysis tool (IAT). The study is based on data collected from a random sample of 100 households in the Waddeman village of Bijinapalli mandal of Mahabubnagar district and was undertaken in 2016–2017. The study finds that simple interventions like in-situ soil moisture conservation and adoption of recommended level of nitrogen fertiliser on crops could increase whole-farm net returns by 7 per cent and 12 per cent during normal and drought years, respectively. Intensification of farming systems through replacing low-yielding cows and buffaloes with high-yielding showed increased net returns of 20–57 per cent during normal years and 35–136 per cent during drought years. These studies using system analysis tools will help researchers and extension agents to effectively evaluate a range of strategies exploring system intensification across diverse contexts for designing better livelihood improvement pathways.