Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
obviously with the ingenuity and perseverance of farmers at the core. Notwithstanding the
progress of agriculture in terms of country’s journey towards self-sufficiency and export
orientation, contributions to raising incomes, industrial growth etc., Indian agriculture,
especially the predominant rainfed agriculture, is confronting challenges such as land
degradation, climate change, rising input prices, market imperfections, international
competition, labour market changes, vulnerable livelihoods, etc. Such challenges require that
the research and adoption lags be shortened so that the impacts are realized quicker and the
returns to investments enhanced. This calls for a much more coordinated and coherent
functioning of different institutions involved in agricultural technology development and
transfer.
This paper reviews the experiences of ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture
(ICAR-CRIDA), with the mandate of contributing to more sustainable rainfed agriculture, in
adapting her approach to research and technology transfer over time in terms of institutional
innovations.
Methodology
The methodology involved tracing of major projects of ICAR-CRIDA in terms of their
emphasis on approach to technology development and transfer and participation of various
institutions over the last about thirty years.
Results
The word ‘institutions’ mean, in addition to the formal ‘organizations’, formal ad informal
norms of how different organizations function within them and with other organizations in
pursuit of (shared) mandate and goals. ICAR-CRIDA, when came into being, inherited the
concept of Operational Research Project of the All India Coordinated research Project on
Dryland Agriculture that had the responsibility of demonstrating and refining technologies in
real farm situations. The institute was one of the first when the ICAR started to emphasize on
participatory technology development in the form of the ‘Institute Village Linkage Programme’
(IVLP) where in technology development is more need based and demand driven with
emphasis on participation of farmers in problem identification as well as in evolving solutions.
Deployment of various participatory tools, which were till then rarely used, helped scientists
better appreciate the farmers’ situation and thus enabled sharpening research focus. This
emphasis on farmers’ participation took a concrete shape in one of the projects funded by the
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research wherein a number of innovative tools
were used to build awareness among farmers about the need for adoption of sustainable soil
management practices. A more visible adaptation in approach happened when the institute
started to view agricultural research in the broader context of livelihoods through a multiinstitutional
effort. This effort, in the form of a research project supported by the Department
Institutional and policy innovations for accelerated and enhanced impacts
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