Bottom-Up Eco-systemic Approach to Regenerative Rural Ecosystems in India

With its diverse topographyTopography, soil and climate, India is inherently an agricultural powerhouse. The majority of India’s agricultural land is rainfed and therefore subject to greater uncertaintyUncertainties and risk. This paper highlights NABARD’s efforts to address these challenges and improve the rainfed agriculture. The unique features, and overall positive impacts of the interventions, including mainstreaming of the best practices, are elaborated, as are missing links for achieving long-term sustainabilitySustainability. This paper presents an overarching frameworkFramework for achieving holisticHolistic and sustainable rural development in India by adopting a bottom-up eco-systemic approach with watersheds or clusters of contiguous watersheds and wadis (fruit tree-based farming units) as functional units in the rainfed and vulnerable tribal areas. The regenerative agricultural transformation is achieved by converging NABARD’s multifarious actions, intensive capacity building, and farmer-led extension to enhance the efficacy of these vulnerable areas. Further, the pathways for practitioners and areas for robust research for proving the effectivenessEffectiveness of such approaches are touched upon.