Diversifying the intensive cereal cropping systems of the indo-gangetic plains through horticulture

Intensive cereal-based cropping systems are central to food security and reducing poverty in Asia, which still has the largest number of poor people in the world. Yet these irrigated and highly productive systems are subject to significant and increasing forces of change. On the supply side they face serious natural resource management problems, including the unsustainable exploitation of water and soils, inefficient chemical Inputs and emerging or worsening disease and pest problems. On the demand side they are being transformed by market forces and changing consumer demands. Both thrusts imply an Increasing role for horticulture and the present paper explore some of the implications based on on-going work in the Indo-Gangetic plains.