The RRA Network

The Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture network believes that prosperous, productive and secure rainfed agriculture is critical for inclusive, climate resilient growth. The Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture Network (RRAN) is a pan-Indian network of academics, civil society organizations, development bankers, and others, working to enhance public investments in support of rainfed agriculture. It works towards prosperous, productive and secure rainfed agriculture.

At its core, the RRAN believes that existing public investments in Indian agriculture work in the specific context of assured availability of water, a condition that does not exist for more than half of Indian agriculture. As a result, rainfed agriculture has remained less-viable, and rainfed areas continue to house the core of India's rural poor. The RRA network articulates for a differentiated and decentralised public investment regime that is necessary to make rainfed agriculture more productive and more secure, considering critical elements of more inclusive, climate-resilient growth.

Visualizing Trends

To better understand the characterization and patterns of rainfed-ness in India, the RRA Network is collaborating with Gramener by leveraging the Gramener Visualization Product Suite. The aim of this collaboration is to uncover deeper insights through smart analytics and present better to all stakeholders through unconventional, intuitive visualizations.

EXPLORATORY VISUALIZATION TOOLS

A set of exploratory data visualization tools has been created with a preset list of metrics covering Land Use & Irrigation, Livestock, Crops & Population to enable users to interactively explore and identify patterns.

Geo Analysis

Map Tool

Scatterplot

Treemap

Sunburst

RAINFED ATLAS - ANALYTICAL INSIGHTS

These analyses - as stories accompanied by visualizations are being evolved jointly with the RRA Network as part of the creation of a Rainfed Atlas.

Land Use & Irrigation

Current fallow Land

As current fallow land increases there is an increase in the share of small ruminants.
Net Sown Area

Large cropped areas in Rainfed districts have lesser cropping intensity than similar areas in Irrigated districts.
Net Sown Area

Areas with less net sown area receive most of the annual rainfall. Chart shows relation between quantum of rainfall and agro-climatic zone.

Net Irrigated Area

Relationship between Net Sown Area & Net Irrigated Area

Livestock

Dairy Animals

The share of dairy animals is very high in irrigated districts.
Dairy Animals

Rainfed Districts of Kerala, Gujarat, Tamilnadu & Himachal Pradesh have a reasonably high share of Dairy Animals
Meat Animals

As the % of urban population increases the share of meat animals increases slightly in rainfed & irrigated districts.

Meat Animals

Arid & Dry Semi Arid Rainfed areas have a high share of meat animals.

Exotic Cattle

With the increase in % of urban population the spread of Exotic & Cross-bred increases to an extent.
Exotic Cattle

Irrigated districts account for a high share of exotic cattle.
Indigenous Cattle

Irrigated districts account for a high share of Exotic cattle.
Indigenous Cattle

Rainfed districts have more Indigenous cattle and use them as work animals, whereas Irrigated districts with biggest share of Indigenous cattle don't use them for this purpose.
Work Animals

With the increase in the % of rural population the share of work animals increases in rainfed and irrigated districts.
Work Animals

Humid rainfed regions have a high %share of work animals.
Work Animals

As share of paddy area increases the share of work animals increases in rainfed areas. Bigger paddy fields in Rainfed areas employ more of work animals.
Small Ruminants

Arid and Dry Semi Arid Rainfed areas have a high share of small ruminants. Generally bigger fallow lands have more density of small ruminants.

Crops

Maize

Rainfed Districts of Himachal & Arunachal Pradesh, J&K, & Nagaland have a high share of maize area overall though the Production Sum is high in irrigated districts.
Wheat

Irrigated Districts hold the major pie of the Share of Wheat Area where the yield too is high. The high yield comes at the expense of high ground water exploitation.
Paddy

The share of paddy area increases with the increase in Annual Avg Rainfall in Rainfed districts. Most of the paddy growing rainfed districts fall under 'safe' ground water stage.
Pulses

Amongst Rainfed districts Andhra Pradesh has a high yield of pulses. Though Rajasthan holds a large Area Sum the yield is at the lowest.
Coarse Cereals

The yield in the rainfed districts of Maharashtra is slightly higher than that of the irrigated districts of Maharashtra.
Coarse Cereals & Pulses

Relationship between Coarse Cereals Area & Pulses Area in Rainfed districts

Population

Rural Population

% of Rural Population is high in the rainfed districts of Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland & Himachal Pradesh
Urban Population

Higher positive correlation between Urban MPCE and %Urban pop in Irrigated areas.