Agriculture Development in Rajasthan :

The State occupies 10 percent of the total geographical area of the country, but the vast geographical area commands only 1 percent of the total water resources in the country. Agriculture is mainly rain fed but it is inadequate and aberrant.

Focus of cropping pattern in rain fed areas is to meet the food requirement of the people and fodder requirement of the animals. The crops are grown under high risk. In normal years, farmers face price fall due to glut in the market while drought years have yield risk due to total or partial failure of crops.

Land Use Pattern And Land Holdings :

 Out of the total geographical area in the State, even 50 percent is not cultivable and within cultivable land, soil fertility varies considerably across districts. The wide differences in land productivity indicate the variation in soil health across districts in the State. A relatively large average size of holdings of 3.07 hectare of land is again a manifestation of the less fertile land and soil structure in most of the arid and semi-arid zones in the state. Small and marginal farmers in the state constituted more than 58.40 percent share in total area. On the other hand, farmers with holding size of 10 hectares but held 33.33 percent of the total area. This highly skewed distribution of land itself is a major barrier to make effective intervention in the advancement of agriculture.

Soil Health In Rajasthan :

Rajasthan being geographically the largest state in the country has a varied topography where Soils differ in quality depending on the organic matter present in them, their physical structure, local climatic variation, the crop rotation cycle that is followed, availability of moisture etc. The nutrient carrying capacity of soils varies not only within the district but also village to village and even farm to farm. Soils of the state have low microbial activities and poor soil organic carbon due to which more than 75% soils of the state are not in good health. Deficiencies of Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Sulphur, Zinc and Iron are quite common. Different soil types are found in the different districts of Rajasthan. Based on the type of the soil found in different districts in Rajasthan, broadly the soils can be classified under 14 categories.

The least fertile desert soil is found in Sri Ganganagar, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Nagaur, Barmer, part of Jodhpur and Sikar. The productivity in those districts for all varieties of crops is much on a lower side than other districts in the State.

With the launch of a new Soil health card scheme by Hon'ble Prime Minister, Government of India on 19 February, 2015 at Suratgarh, District Sriganganagar, the State of Rajasthan has geared itself to provide Soil Health Cards to every farmer of the state in a period of three years. Total 23.69 lakhs soil samples are proposed to be analysed and around 70 lakhs soil health cards will be issued to the farmers of the state during these three years.

 Water Resource Management :

a. Rainfall Pattern in Rajasthan : Rajasthan is known for its aberrant and uncertain nature of rainfall. As more than 60 percent of the gross sown area in the state falls under arid or semi-arid zones in the state, agriculture in the state continues to be largely rain fed.

 1. The department is promoting use of short duration varieties of crops suitable for rain fed areas. Diversification of crops from more to less water requiring crops, is also encouraged. Water efficient cropping systems like millet-Gram, millet-mustard, Fallow-Taramira, soybean- coriander etc are popular among farmers.

2. Cultivation of wheat and Barley requiring high water are put in lesser area.

 3.Use of organic manures before rains to conserve water in soil is popular.

b. Ground Water : Rajasthan is a deficit state with respect to groundwater as well as available irrigation water. It contains about 11 percent of total land resource of the country but the availability of the total water resource of the country is hardly 1 percent. Maximum utilization/ exploitation of these water resources has resulted in the irrigation of 32 percent of the area in the state. For optimum utilization of available water, water storage structures like construction of farm ponds, water storage tanks, construction of doggies and pipeline are being promoted under various schemes.

Major Crops :

The diversity of land, soil and climate in Rajasthan makes the state a distinctly different one in India. In two major seasons, viz., Kharif and Rabi, cultivation in the state under normal conditions of rainfall grow mostly cereals, oil seeds and pulses. However, prospects of a normal crop year is often marred by intermittent drought as the probability of every other year turning out to be a drought year has been estimated as high as 0.5. Moreover, Rajasthan accounts for 70 percent of the total arid and semi arid zone in India and these arid zones are concentrated mostly in the western part of the state. A notable difference between Kharif and Rabi crops is that Bajra is the major crop in Kharif while Wheat takes on other crops in area during Rabi season.

Crop Insurance :

The State has been implementing Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) in 20 districts and Modified National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) in 13 districts. Crop Insurance Scheme is compulsory for all loanee Farmers whereas it is optional for non-loanee Farmers. This Scheme is being implemented in state through Insurance Companies empanelled by Government of India. Under this Scheme, all important Kharif and Rabi Crops are notified.

Organic Farming :

 Organic Farming has been one of the priority areas of the State Government in Agriculture Sector. Organic farming promotional activities are taken up under state plan. It has relevance as it reduces cost of production. Organic farming demonstrations are laid out to demonstrate use of organic inputs on farmer's field. Assistance of 50% of cost or Rs 2000 per demonstration is provided along with training camps at successful sites.

Research Activities :

Adaptive Trial Centres (ATC) were established with the objective to have advance verification / modification of existing incoming research recommendations given by SAUs for particular region for maximum economic returns. After 3 years of successive trials at ATCs, if the results are found significant and parallel with the SAUs, it is recommended in Package of Practices (POP) for adoption at farmer's level. 10 ATC’s are engaged for taking experiments in Kharif and Rabi season on various problems of different agro climatic zones, training, IPM, testing of private company seed material, etc.

Seed Development  :

Rajasthan State Seeds Corporation is a major contributor (i.e. 25%) in production, processing and marketing of certified and foundation seed of different state specific crops in the State. In order to meet the enhanced availability of quality seeds, Rajasthan State Seeds Corporation has following infrastructure, achievements and plan for next five years.

Infrastructure Development :

(i) Seed Extension Centre:- RSSC will open 9 seed extension centers, for which approximately RS. 14 Crore's will be required. This financial assistance will be provided either by Central Government schemes or State Government schemes.

(ii) Q.C. Lab:- To maintain the seed quality RSSC will establish quality control Lab in Udaipur. For this approximately Rs. 50 Lacs will be required which will be provided either by Central Government schemes or State Government schemes.

(iii) Processing and Storage:- In coming five years we propose to increase storage capacity by 5.60 lacs qtls and processing capacity by 10.10 lacs qtls per annum in phased manner. For these activities a request for financial assistance for Rs. 57.34 Crores is submitted to Government of India for consideration under CSS.

      Rajasthan is the largest producer of barley, mustard, pearl millet, coriander, fenugreek and guar in India. Rajasthan produces over 72% of guar of the world and 60% of India's barley. Rajasthan is major producer of aloe vera, amla, oranges leading producer of maize, groundnut.