Biodiverse Farming System for Dryland Agriculture

Biodiverse farming (BF) system is a whole farm management system which aims to deliver more sustainable agriculture. It includes farming of livestock, aquaculture, horticulture and other allied activities. Biodiverse systems are about bringing crops and livestock into an interactive relationship with the expectation that together as opposed to alone they will generate positive effects on outcomes of interest such as profitability overall productivity and conservation of non-renewable resources. It is however much more than this. Dryland agriculture refers to growing of crops entirely under rainfed conditions receiving rainfall between 750-1150 mm with growing period between 75-120 days. Biodiverse farming system improves soil health by addition of organic carbon and organic matter, increase the amount of available nutrients in soil and microbial population. It also gives higher yield, system productivity and net returns over conventional farming systems.