This paper examines the farming systems in the Upper Sindh Basin, a tributary of Chambal River in Madhya Pradesh and discusses the strategies for sustainable livelihood. This basin falls under the semi-arid climate and is one of the poorer regions of the state. Farming system is dominated by the traditionally cultivated rainfed subsistence cereal crops. The cereal crops such as wheat, barley, sorghum, pearl millet, pulses, oilseeds mostly groundnut and mustered, are grown during the two cropping seasons of rabi and kharif. The cultivation of fruits and off-season vegetables is considerably low. Livestock farming runs parallel with agriculture, while its contribution in the inhabitant’s income is negligible. It is the main occupation and principal means of livelihood of Gujjars, a kand-less community, who live in the jungle. Livestock, mostly draught animals, play an important role in agricultural operations and providing manure as fertilizer. Two factors, considerably affect the farming system. First is low availability of water and second, the soils are infertile except along the course of the main river, the Sindh and its tributaries, where alluvial soil is found in some of the small patches. The scope of enhancing production and productivity of these crops is low, unless adequate irrigation facilities are provided. The geographical conditions are most favourable for the cultivation of groundnut, mustered, and to certain extent for the cultivation of citrus, guava, papaya, and mango fruits and off-season vegetables. The forest based non-timber products can widely be utilized as most of the area of the basin comes under ‘Madhav National Park’.
