The “Green Revolution” (GR) technology-induced agricultural intensification has transformed India from food scarcity to a food surplus country. However, this has also resulted into several adverse repercussions. Increased application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides with stagnating/declining crop productivity has dovetailed with uncertain market conditions and climate change effects which has resulted in un-remunerative agriculture. Consequently, farmers have fallen into the debt trap due to the rising cost of crop production apart from health hazards due to serious exposure to harmful chemical pesticides. Natural Farming (NF), an agro-ecological approach to farming is believed to be an effective way to counter some of these challenges. The present paper presents field-level farmers’ experiences of NF adoption in three states of India—Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. The study was conducted during February–March 2019 by surveying 295 NF adopted and 170 non-NF adopted farmers. It was found that NF practice has been followed by some farmers for more than 10 years but others have adopted during the recent past. There is variation in the practice followed by the NF farmers. There are farmers who are using Farm Yard Manure (FYM). A solid form of jeevamritha (liquid concoction of microbial inoculants) called as ghanajeevamritha was also found to be used by farmers in Andhra Pradesh. It was observed that non-NF yields are superior to NF yield without FYM. In most crops, however, NF with FYM had a greater yield than NF without FYM and non-NF farms. There has been a decrease in the variable cost and a marginal increase in the market price of NF produce. The study suggests that natural farming may be seen as one of the alternative practices which has potential to rejuvenate the agro-ecosystem, besides cost saving for the individual farmers.

Although pulses are a major source of protein integral to the Indian diet, there has been a consistent demand–supply gap. Barring the last five years, total production of pulses remained stagnant at 12–14 million tonnes (mt) over the past five decades. Over the last 20 years, more than 550 improved varieties of different maturity periods and for different regions have been released by public research organisations, but the availability of quality seeds remained a serious concern, thereby resulting in yield uncertainty. The domestic supply fell short by 3–4 mt every year. Also, owing to increased consumption by the diet-conscious growing urban population in India, prices rose by 150 per cent to 200 per cent in recent years. The supportive trade policy has cooled down the pulses price during the deficit year, while encouraging price support policy and good monsoon helped in a big way to allocate 20 per cent more area to the crop, which resulted in record pulses production of 23 mt in 2016–2017. This article captures the influence of government policy on pulses production and suggests paradigm shift in strategy through short-, medium- and long-term plans to achieve self-sufficiency in pulses production and ensure nutritional security for population.

India, being the largest producer, consumer and importer of pulses, its demand and supply influences global pulses sector significantly. For several years, there has been consistent import of different types of pulse-grains by India, despite having the largest area under cultivation and their total production. This paper focuses mainly on the production of pigeon pea, second most produced and consumed pulse after chickpea. There has been a major shift in the pigeon pea production in the country. The study is an attempt to examine the adoption of modern variety and other production practices in the highest pigeon pea producing state of India viz. Maharashtra. The marketing behaviour of the pigeon pea growers is also the focus area of this study. The pigeon pea production in India varied dramatically over the last five decades, in terms of its spread, productivity and its importance as an intercrop. At the farmers’ level, there is a need for proper intervention in cropping patterns through new and improved crop varieties, information dissemination to farmers, mechanization and service support in reducing operational costs of farmers so as to increase the profitability from pigeon pea cultivation. The lot size and conveniences in terms of distance and time flexibility are some of the major influencers to decide about the marketing destination for the pigeon pea growers in the region.