Crop-livestock interactions and livelihoods in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, India: A regional synthesis

Abstract

The research and development community faces the challenge of sustaining crop productivity gains, improving rural livelihoods, and securing environmental sustainability in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). This calls for a better understanding of farming systems and of rural livelihoods, particularly with the advent of, and strong advocacy for, conservation farming and resource-conserving technologies. This report presents a regional synthesis of four scoping studies to assess croplivestock interactions and rural livelihoods in each of the four subregions of the Indian IGP: the Trans-Gangetic Plains (TGP: Punjab and Haryana), the Gangetic Plains of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, and West Bengal.