Empowering farmers with foxtail millet and chickpea cropping sequence in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh

On-farm demonstrations were conducted by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Guntur, in sole rabi chickpea growing areas under black cotton soils to double the net returns of the farmers by introducing a short-duration cereal crop as a catch crop instead of keeping the land fallow during the kharif season. KVK scientists demonstrated short-duration (75 days), drought-tolerant foxtail millet var. SiA 3222 as preceding crop to rabi chickpea for three consecutive years, i.e., 2018-19, 2019-20 & 2020-21 in farmers’ fields through a participatory approach. The demo farmers realized an additional average yield of 3430 kg ha-1 with net returns of Rs. 37430/- ha-1 from foxtail millet apart from dry fodder to their cattle, limiting under rainfed situations. The adoption of Foxtail millet-bengalgram sequence doubled the net returns (Rs. 67430/- ha-1) than farmer’s practice of sole rabi bengalgram (Rs. 32233/- ha-1) and cropping intensity also doubled apart from fodder security to their cattle under rainfed black soils farming situation of Guntur region of Andhra Pradesh, India.