Integrated farming systems: sustainable year-round income for small and marginal farmers

Small and marginal farmers across NTR District of Andhra Pradesh are increasingly combining crop cultivation with livestock rearing, horticulture and other farm enterprises on the same holding to spread income across the year and reduce dependence on a single crop. Drawing on a field study conducted across the district’s canal-irrigated, rainfed and tank-fed farming situations, this article looks at how such Integrated Farming System (IFS) combinations have taken shape on the ground, the challenges farmers still encounter in making them work and what farmers themselves say would help them do better. The discussion is intended to help extension workers, policymakers and fellow farmers understand how a diversified, waste-free approach to farming can strengthen household income and resilience in the district.