Welcome

CEO's Message : Rainfed agriculture has a prominent role to play in India’s agriculture and economy. India ranks first among the rainfed countries in the world in terms of area, but counts amongst the lowest in rainfed yields (<1 ton/ha). As high as 78 m.ha. accounting for 64 per cent of the country's net sown area is rainfed. These areas are home to majority of our rural poor and marginal farmers, who encounter multiple risks and uncertainties relating to bio-physical and socio-economic conditions. These areas are characterized by poverty, malnutrition, water scarcity, severe land degradation, lower yields, low investments and poor physical and social infrastructure. Further, rainfed areas are more vulnerable to climatic variability and climate change implications due to their poor capacity to cope with extreme water and weather shocks.

This precipitous context warrants a robust platform, that can bring in innovative policies, knowledge and technologies to create opportunities for holistic and sustainable development of rainfed areas. The National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) was constituted as an attached office of the then Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture on 3rd November, 2006. There are many learnings from the strategy and field execution. A decade of experience is an inflection point in the life of an organization. A new look and rededicated Authority would now be serving as an Advisory Body for policy and programme formulation and monitoring of schemes / programmes to resolve the agrarian challenges across the vast rainfed system of the country, besides promoting sustainable practices for steady growth of agricultural sector and farmers’ welfare. The broad contours of the Authority’s work are:-