© Springer International Publishing AG 2016 345
M. Farooq, K.H.M. Siddique (eds.), Innovations in Dryland Agriculture,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-47928-6_13
Dryland Agriculture in South Asia:
Experiences, Challenges and Opportunities
Cherukumalli Srinivasa Rao, K.A. Gopinath, C.A. Rama Rao, B.M.K. Raju,
R. Rejani, G. Venkatesh, and V. Visha Kumari
1 Introduction
South Asia—comprising eight countries viz. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka—has a population of about 1.5
billion (22 % of the world’s population) is the most populated region in the world
but only 4.8 % of the world’s total land area (Lal 2006 ). Among different south
Asian countries, India is the largest with about two-thirds of the geographical area
and coastline, and nearly three-quarters of the population (Table 1 ). Its topography
includes a variety of mountains, plateaus, dry regions, intervening structural basins
and beaches. The elevation varies from the world’s highest point, Mount Everest, to
the world’s lowest, the sea beach. It has about 10,000 km of coastline. The region
has a largely tropical monsoon climate with two monsoon systems: the southwest
monsoon (June–September) and the northeast monsoon (December–April). The
region features large year-to-year variations in rainfall which frequently cause
severe floods and droughts over large areas. South Asia has some of the world’s
largest river systems: the River Indus flows from China to Pakistan, the Ganga
stretches for about 2525 km, and the Brahmaputra flows for about 2900 km through
Tibet, India and Bangladesh (Sharda 2011 ). Soil and water are considered the prin-
cipal natural resources of the South Asian region and the ultimate source of people’s
livelihood. However, the sustainability of these resources poses a challenge due to
land degradation. Soil erosion and landslides are critical environmental hazards in
the region.
C. Srinivasa Rao (*) • K.A. Gopinath • C.A. Rama Rao • B.M.K. Raju • R. Rejani
G. Venkatesh • V. Visha Kumari
Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Research Institute
for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad, India
e-mail: [email protected]