Soil Fertility Management in Semi-arid India: its role in agricultural systems and the livelihoods of poor people Three rural districts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, India Partners          Start date 2001 End date 2004 Commitment (£) N/A   * The Natural Resources Institute (NRI) * Deccan Development Society * BAIF Institute for Rural Development Contacts * Barbara Adolph, NRI B.Adolph@gre.ac.uk ; John Butterworth, NRI Johnabutterworth@aol.com / j.a.butterworth@gre.ac.uk ; B Suresh Reddy psu@aprlp.org Purpose To investigate soil fertility management practices of small and marginal farmers in dryland areas and to identify constraints and opportunities in soil fertility maintenance.

	Lessons:
	How Farmers Manage Soil Fertility. A Guide to Support Innovation and Livelihoods by Butterworth, J., Adolph, B. and Suresh Reddy, B. (2003) Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project/Chatham: Natural Resources Institute. HTML
	Andhra Pradesh case study report: "Human and social capital aspects of soil nutrient management, India" DOC
	Karnataka case study report DOC
	Policy review document DOC
	Summary of findings and recommendations PDF

Use of Sustainable Livelihoods Approaches

This preliminary research project was concerned from the outset about the sustainability of agricultural livelihoods, in particular regarding the implications of declining yields in chemical-based fertility regimes. It aimed to identify current soil fertility management (SFM) practices, focussing on the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers, and investigating constraints and opportunities to their livelihoods and other poor groups in relation to SFM.

The research was based on a holistic approach to the relationship between people and their soils, acknowledging that soil issues are connected to a range of other issues including other aspects of farming systems, other livelihood opportunities, and nutrition. It also sought to make recommendations to address constraints in a holistic manner, not limited to direct SFM issues and interventions.

The study includes trend analysis of declining and emerging livelihood opportunities, revealing a wide variety of livelihood strategies, on and off-farm. The increasing trend of trade in farm inputs, notably farm yard manure for organic compost and vermicompost (introduced as a practice by recent NGO intervention) by poor households was noted as significant. By putting people at the centre of discussion, it also revealed a variety of crop diversification strategies, including specifically for SFM such as green manure crops.

The study also identified trends in SFM practices and found that farmers were often using a mixture of organic and non-organic methods for SFM, adapted to local situations and crops. The study particularly looked at human capital issues of knowledge of SFM alternatives and crops, and social capital, especially how it is involved in labour arrangements for different crops and SFM practices like pond dredging. It maintained the poverty focus of the exercise by categorising SFM practices into pro-poor and pro-rich activities.