• Dr. C.YUVARAJ
• Dr. LYDIA CHINTAGUNTA

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) avoids the lose-lose situation by integrating climate smart practices with agriculture strategies. The term was coined by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2010. CSA promises to transform agricultural systems which will decrease global food insecurity and reduce poverty. CSA practices can raise farm productivity while mitigating climate change. Indian agriculture is traditionally a system of rainfed agriculture. Out of 141 million hectares of net cropped area, about 72 per cent is rainfed production and about 45 per cent of food grains and 75 - 80 per cent of pulses and oil - seeds and a number of important industrial crops are produced in their endangered ecosystem. Considering the present rate of development of irrigation facilities and also water potentiality of the country, experts estimate that at any point of time 50 per cent of cropped area in India will remain under rainfed farming. Such vast areas as of now consume hardly 25 per cent of total fertilizer consumption of the country. Due to poor level of management, crop productivity is also very low resulting in socio - economic backwardness of the people. There is generally sufficient moisture require to plant growth during rainy season. Although, it may not necessarily be at the right time of the growing season to always achieve maximum yields and high quality crops. Additional moisture can be provided by supplemental irrigation, but producers can also greatly benefit by conserving soil moisture. This factsheet will therefore provide some fundamental information on practices to reduce water loss through conservation techniques. Better management of soil moisture, i.e. green water management, is essential in achieving higher yields from rainfed agriculture. Soil moisture is often the most unreliable and scarce resource, so the challenge is to enhance the availability and productivity of water for biomass production. There are several ways to enhance soil moisture availability, conservation tillage, mulching and compost use, in-field water conservation and improving overall soil moisture by avoiding deep drainage. The study is expected to give clear understanding of the benefits of adopting of climate smart soil moisture conservation techniques and the constraints faced by the respondents in the adoption. The suggestions given by the respondents are also documented. Thus, the study is useful to the extension workers, scientists, administrators, planners and various non-governmental organizations. Hence the study would bring out the profile variations of knowledge among farmers, which could be very helpful for the planners and administrators to up scaling the technology in dry land farming.

Climate Smart Agronomic Practices (CSAP), Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Natural Resource Management (NRM), Managerial ability of farmers and random sampling method, Neem seed kernel extract (NSKE), Soil And Water Conservation Practices (SWCP).

"“Knowledge of farmers towards climate smart soil moisture conservation techniques” ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 9, page no.e633-e638, September-2023, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2309476.pdf

"“Knowledge of farmers towards climate smart soil moisture conservation techniques” ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 9, page no. ppe633-e638, September-2023, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2309476.pdf