Suhas P. Wani

Suhas P. Wani
Asian Development Bank | ADB · Natural Resources

M.Sc.(Agri), Ph.D

About

732
Publications
564,591
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Introduction
Worked as Former Director, Research Program Asia and now continuing my interest in the area of scaling-up of technologies, innovations and knowledge to benefit the small farm holders in Asia.
Additional affiliations
January 2015 - June 2018
International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics
Position
  • Managing Director

Publications

Publications (732)
Book
This is about scaling-up the benefits to benefir millions of farmers (small farmholders) in Asia and Africa.
Article
Full-text available
Wastewater in rural areas is a valuable resource for the SAT villages in India but it is always considered as a nuisance and is a wasted resource. Under the Water for Crops (W4C) India-EU project decentralised wastewater treatment using constructed wetlands was developed and tested across the locations and recommended for adoption in villages as a...
Article
Full-text available
Indian agriculture is unique with the largest arable land in the world cultivated by 145 million farmers in 20 agro-eco regions and 80 agroeco sub-regions growing >100 crops during three-four seasons. However, there is a wide gap in family incomes between rural and urban families. Further, growing population, water and land scarcity exacerbated wit...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
3 ABSTRACT E fficient water use is of paramount importance in ensuring food security. Since 2017, when the G20 Agriculture Ministers' Action Plan was adopted, there has been a clear acknowledgment of the challenges and
Technical Report
Full-text available
This report discusses sustainable management of water resources in India. It also describes the solutions to overcome the challenges of water scarcity through enhancing green water efficiency and considering green water along with blue water management to overcome water scarcity as well as achieving food, nutrition, and income security through clim...
Technical Report
Full-text available
This report is for soil health mapping and to make the soil health mapping mission of GoI productive
Conference Paper
This paper describes about the impacts of community watershed projects implemented in India, Thailand and China in terms of water saved, efficently used for sustainable development of communities.
Article
Full-text available
Indian agriculture is the backbone of India’s food, nutrition, and income security as well as sustainable growth. Indian agriculture is unique with 20 agro-eco regions, and 80 agro-eco sub-regions growing more than 100 crops in 1000,000 villages by 145 million farm-holders. India moved from ship to mouth situation in the late 1960s to food self-suf...
Technical Report
Identifying the socio economic contributions of the integrated watershed project on farm households in Thailand and Vietnam was the end goal of the one-month study conducted in January 2006. Data was obtained with the use of an interview schedule, field visits, focus group discussions, and key informants. Findings on the biophysical aspects of the...
Chapter
This chapter details the philosophy of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Principles, and Practice particularly in India where CSR spending is made compulsory since 2013.
Conference Paper
Full-text available
This paper covers the experiences from a scaling-up project implemented by the ICRISAT-led Consortium in Karnataka state and also the replication in the Philippines. The learnings and experiences are documented.
Technical Report
Full-text available
Identifying the socio economic contributions of the integrated watershed project on farm households in Thailand and Vietnam was the end goal of the one-month study conducted in January 2006. Data was obtained with the use of an interview schedule, field visits, focus group discussions, and key informants. Findings on the biophysical aspects of the...
Chapter
Full-text available
This is about the achievements of Indian farmers for making the country self-sufficient and also addressing the challenges as well as harnessing the opportunities for meeting the future food demands for growing Bharat (India) to be self-sufficient for food.
Article
Full-text available
Healthy soil is critical to human health and for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). Although India attained self-sufficiency in food production, realising zero hunger, good health, and no poverty remains a challenge. In this paper, we summarize key features of Indian soils and capture existing and developing trends in soil research in...
Article
Full-text available
A long-term study was carried out at ICRISAT farm, Patancheru (India) during rainy (kharif) season 2009–18 with an objective to evaluate impact of tillage (minimum/conventional) and residue (addition/removal) management practices on production capacity and sustainability of maize-chickpea sequential and maize+pigeonpea intercropping systems. The ex...
Chapter
This chapter discusses the challenges and opportunities for using digital technologies for scaling-up of technologies to benefit the farmers.
Chapter
This chapter covers the details about the principle "Seeing is believing"principle for scaling-up technologies with examples for different technologies in different regions.
Chapter
This chapter details how to use agroecoregions for scaling-up technologies in different regions.
Chapter
This chapter summarises the learnings from all the chapters and suggest the way forward for scaling-up technologies to benefit farmers through impacts of technologies.
Chapter
Details about success stories for different technologies scaled-up in different countries with different socioeconomic as well as agroecological situations are presented. Each case study provides insights and learnings.
Research
Full-text available
The present study aimed to evaluate the physiological effects of untreated and treated municipal wastewater from constructed wetlands on seeds of different edible crops. To find the construction wetlands can be the promising and alternative wastewater treatment technique, which usually require minimal inputs for installation, operation, and mainten...
Chapter
Full-text available
This chapter suggests the ways for self reliant India in terms of food, nutrition and income security particularly for small farm-holders. It describes the challengs, opportunities and strategy for self reliant India.
Chapter
This chapter describes the challenges for small farm-holders in India and strategy for reducing their stress through productivity enhancement, and value chain approach for enhancing their income through increased share in the cost paid by the consumers by reducing the intermediatories.
Chapter
Full-text available
Achieving zero hunger, alleviating poverty, improving nutrition and wellbeing of growing population in Asia and Africa are the main challenges during the twenty-first century with increasing land degradation, decreasing per capita availability of land and water and impacts of the climate change. In spite of available game changing technologies smal...
Chapter
Achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of food (SDG 2 – Zero hunger) and nutrition security (SDG 3 – good health and wellbeing) along with improved income security (SDG 1 – poverty reduction) with growing water scarcity, land degradation and impacts of climate change are the greatest challenge for the mankind during the twenty-first cen...
Chapter
In most of the developing countries in Asia and Africa large yield gaps are existing between the current farmers’ yields and potential achievable yields. The necessity of meeting the farmers’ requirement to scale up research results is paramount for adequate food production. This requires empowerment of farmers by answering queries of farmers appro...
Chapter
High prevalence of hunger and malnutrition remains a major challenge, particularly in the developing world. Over-reliance on a few staple crops in our food systems leads to low production diversity contributing to low dietary diversity. How can we ensure that our food systems provide sufficient, adequate and nutritious food for all? Rediscovering a...
Chapter
Farmers’ distress is noted across the country and it can get worse with the impacts of climate change as the small farm-holders in tropical regions are most vulnerable to impacts of climate change. At present farmers’ yields are lower by two to five folds than the achievable potential yields. Further, farmers receive only 30–40% of the price what c...
Chapter
Science of development or research for development (R4D) is in the central stage as donors started looking for visible, and measurable impacts rather than funding the initiatives of research for research sake. International development investors like Asian Development Bank (ADB), The World Bank (WB), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Intern...
Chapter
Agro Eco Regions/Sub-regions (AERs/AESRs) are near homogeneous area similar with respect to (a) broad soil groups, (b) overhead climate and (c) length of moisture availability period in relation to crop production. Efforts of zoning world soils /lands at global level has been tropicalized for minimizing the inadequacies of the concept and to suit t...
Chapter
Full-text available
Even though the ever increasing use of pesticides in Thailand has led to increased food, feed and fiber production as well as improved public hygiene, it has also brought into focus several health hazards and pertinent environmental issues. To minimize farmers’ over dependence on pesticides in crop protection and to avoid harmful effects on human a...
Chapter
Legumes occupy a very important place in food systems for being the main source of protein for very large vegetarian population globally as such and an important component of sustainable agriculture because of their unique ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen biologically. However, productivity and production in legumes is quite low to commensurate...
Article
Natural resource management is critical for addressing issues of water scarcity, land degradation and poor agricultural and livestock productivity especially in rainfed ecologies. This study was conducted in 13 Gram panchayats (cluster of villages) of three states in India representing different agroecological regions. Natural resource management w...
Poster
Full-text available
Highlights • No significant difference in soil organic and total carbon under minimum and conventional tillage practices • Residue addition resulted in increase in organic and total carbon concentration • Residue addition also resulted in increased stock and more carbon sequestration • Carbon content and sequestration was higher under maize+pigeonp...
Chapter
Legumes occupy very important place in food systems for being the main source of protein for very large vegetarian population globally as such and an important component of sustainable agriculture because of their unique ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen biologically. However, productivity and production in legumes is quite low to commensurate wi...
Article
Full-text available
In 2012, an estimated 50% of rural households in India had a system of drainage for moving wastewater away from their homes, but 0.0% have access to safe, reuseable, treated wastewater. Constructed wetlands can provide decentralized wastewater treatment for rural villages and lead to multiple benefits, such as reusable water, reduced disease, and d...
Book
This book provides a unique account of cross-sectoral innovations through efficient partnerships based on the hands-on experience of internationally renowned contributors specialised in the field of Science of Delivery. The challenges and lessons learned from large development initiatives based in Asia, and from the work undertaken by international...
Article
Full-text available
The constructed wetland (CW) technology for eliminating contaminants from wastewater is environmentally favorable. A one-year pilot study was conducted at ICRISAT in Hyderabad (Telangana) to evaluate the efficacy of subsurface flow-constructed wetlands (SSF-CWs). To treat and evaluate their suitability for irrigation reuse, urban domestic wastewate...
Chapter
Successful and sustained crop production to feed burgeoning population in rainfed areas, facing soil fertility-related degradation through low and imbalanced amounts of nutrients, requires regular nutrient inputs through biological, organic or inorganic sources of fertilizers. Intensification of fertilizer (all forms) use has given rise to concerns...
Article
Rainfall variability and water scarcity continue to hamper the food and income security of smallholder farming systems in poverty-affected regions. Innovations in soil and water management, especially in the drylands, are critical for meeting food security and water productivity targets of Agenda 2030. This study analyzes how rainfed agriculture ca...
Article
Constructed Wetlands (CWs) are a low-cost technology relying on natural processes to treat wastewater and provide a decentralized wastewater treatment option in communities with limited infrastructure. Little is known about their long-term maintenance or monitoring, or the experience of communities who adopt and maintain CWs. This research uses men...
Article
This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal,...
Article
Large variability and uncertainty of rainfall are the main limiting factors for crop growth in rainfed agriculture. Agriculture water management interventions are considered as suitable adoption strategy to enhance crop yield, productivity and income in rainfed condition. Three-year experimental data collected at the International Crops Research In...
Article
The disparity between volume of wastewater generated and treated has resulted in severe water pollution and eutrophication of the water bodies in most Indian cities. Constructed wetlands (CWs) present a low-cost wastewater treatment option; however, field scale studies with real life wastewater are limited. Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth), Ty...
Article
Full-text available
Associated red and black soils are common in the Dec-can plateau and the Indian peninsula. The red soils are formed due to the progressive landscape reduction process and black soils due to the aggradation processes ; and they are often spatially associated maintaining their typical characteristics over the years. These soils are subject to changes...
Article
Agriculture is the major livelihood source of 75% of the population residing in the rural areas of Jhark-hand. Agricultural production is not able to meet the demand, leading to food and nutritional security as a major challenge in the state. A majority of Jharkhand population is below poverty line. This calls for an urgent attention of the policy...
Article
Constructed wetlands (CWs) are human-made systems designed to treat a variety of industrial, domestic and agricultural wastewaters. We study here the efficiency of domestic wastewater treatment by two field scale subsurface flow CWs under different hydraulic loading rates (HLRs). Each CW had inlet and outlet chamber for wastewater collection with P...
Article
In the semi-arid tropics (SAT) farmers practice calendar based irrigation scheduling, which generally results in over irrigation and poor water use efficiency. The lack of a simple decision tool to decide timing and quantity of water to be applied is a bottleneck. An Excel-based decision support system termed Water Impact Calculator (WIC) is develo...
Article
Full-text available
Soil organic carbon (SOC) and rainfall are generally positively related, whereas a negative relationship between soil inorganic carbon (SIC) and rainfall with some exception is observed. Land use pattern in black soil region (BSR) of the semi-arid tropical (SAT) India, consists of 80% under agriculture, followed by forest, horticulture, wasteland a...
Article
Soil health diagnosis in nearly 100,000 farmers' fields under 'Bhoochetana' initiative in Karnataka showed widespread soil degradation. Soil mapping-based fertilizer management was an effective entry-point intervention to take most farmers on-board to initiate the process of upgrading agriculture. Soils of the farmers' fields showed low levels of m...
Article
Full-text available
Under the NAIP project 39 tribal villages in AndhraPradesh participatory soil fertility management trials were conducted. Widespread deficiencies of S,B, and Zn were observed in farmers'fields. Participatory trials with balanced fertilizar managment showed economically remunerative returns for the farmers.
Article
Agriculture and the farmers' lives are complex and provide food, nutrition security for the people. Indian agriculture and the farmers are at distress as productivity of crops are low, get less price (30-35% of what consumers pay) and farmers as well as youths like to move away from agriculture. Impacts of climate change and climate variability are...
Article
Full-text available
In Indian semi‐arid tropics (SATs), low water and crop productivity in Vertisols and associated soils are mainly due to poor land management and erratic and low rainfall occurrence. This study was conducted from 2014 to 2016 at the ICRISAT in India to test the effect of broad bed furrows (BBF) as land water management against conventional flatbed p...
Chapter
Knowledge of climate and weather helps in devising suitable strategies and managing crops to take advantage of the favorable weather conditions and minimizing risks due to adverse weather conditions. Role of climate assumes greater importance in the semi-arid rainfed regions where moisture regime during the cropping season is strongly dependent on...
Chapter
It illustrates the innovation and the journey since 1999 with community for developing a Model Approach for integrated watershed development
Chapter
The vast semi-arid tropics (SAT) area covering 120 million ha in Asia is also the home for 852 million poor and 644 million food- and nutrition-insecure people. Growing water scarcity and increasing land degradation in the dryland SAT areas are further aggravated due to impacts of climate change. In order to transform the dryland areas, innovative...
Chapter
Kothapally watershed is a typical representative of rain-fed (800 mm rainfall) semi-arid tropics (SAT) with varying soil depth in the watershed and widespread soil degradation as the major challenge coupled with low crop yields and family incomes. Before the onset of initiative during 1999, soil health mapping and baseline surveys showed varying so...
Chapter
The ICRISAT was working in watershed development since 1972 with Vertisol technology and piloted on farmers’ fields in different agro-eco regions. However, it was not scaled up/adopted by the farmers in spite of the involvement of concerned state government agencies. In 1995, a multidisciplinary team of scientists’ assessment of watershed studies i...
Chapter
Full-text available
Agricultural water management (AWM) interventions in Kothapally watershed enhanced provisional, regulating, and supporting ecosystem services. Kothapally watershed, which was in degraded stage before 1999, is transformed into highly productive stage through science-led natural resource management interventions. A number of AWM interventions such as...
Chapter
Despite the fact that women are the world’s principal food producers and providers, they have long been deprived of their due share and identity. Kothapally is one of the initial watershed projects that demonstrated on ground that a holistic development model not only conserves natural resources for sustainable productivity and income improvement b...
Chapter
Knowledge of climate and weather helps in devising suitable strategies and managing crops to take advantage of the favourable weather conditions and minimizing risks due to adverse weather conditions. The role of climate assumes greater importance in the semi-arid rainfed regions where moisture regime during the cropping season is strongly dependen...
Chapter
Adarsha watershed is a successful scientific narrative of sustainable integrated watershed programme conceptualized by ICRISAT team for efficient management of natural resources. Creating a proof of concept and a learning site for extension agents, NGOs, the national agricultural research system, policy makers and farmers was one of the main object...
Chapter
Full-text available
This chapter documents the 28% increase in family incomes of watershed over non-watershed villages due to the integrated watershed development livelihood model. Kothapally is a unique peri-urban village in the vicinity of Hyderabad with 400 households mainly cultivators. Further, it has also demonstrated that through watershed development resilienc...
Chapter
Climate change presents an additional challenge for sustainable food production in the developing world. It is necessary to enhance present yield levels. Deriving and popularizing suitable cropping systems is critical. Integrated watershed management (IWM) implemented in Adarsha watershed, Kothapally, is a fine example of overcoming negative impact...
Chapter
The vast semi-arid tropics (SAT) area covering 120 million ha in Asia is also the home for 852 million poor and 644 million food and nutrition insecure people. Growing water scarcity and increasing land degradation in the dryland SAT areas are further aggravated due to impacts of climate change. In order to transform the dryland areas, innovative i...
Book
This book focuses on developing an integrated holistic approach for harnessing the potential of rain-fed agriculture. In this approach, rainwater management through harvesting and recharging the groundwater is used as an entry point activity for increasing the productivity for farmers through enhanced water use efficiency. To provide the holistic a...
Article
The field experiments on efficacy of some biopesticides against H. armigera on pigeonpea under field condition was carried out in the experimental field of department of Entomology at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Hyderabad, during 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.These studies revealed Spinosad 45 SC treatment a...
Article
A field experiment was conducted during kharif and rabi in 2016-17 and 2017-18 at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics, Patancheru, Hyderabad to study the influence of tillage practices and residue management practices on yield attributes and yield of maize in maize-based cropping systems under semi-arid tropics. The fie...
Article
Full-text available
A field experiment was conducted during kharif and rabi in 2016-17 and 2017-18 at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics, Patancheru, Hyderabad to study the influence of tillage practices and residue management practices on yield attributes and yield of maize in maize-based cropping systems under semi-arid tropics. The fie...
Chapter
Full-text available
Microbes are an integral part of living soil not only in transforming nutrients in the soil but also with multiple functions in influencing soil health. There are specific microbes which help the plant to grow well in their presence by various mechanisms. The direct mechanism may include fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, synthesis of various phytoh...
Chapter
Full-text available
Diatoms are heterokonts which are highly diverse and have significant evolutionary differences when compared with green algae and vascular plants. Diatoms drive primary production in all photic zones from the equator to arctic. Diatoms have great potential as bioindicators as their population diversity reflects the environmental conditions of their...
Chapter
Microbial community constitute a major component of constructed wetlands (CWs), playing a major role in these systems capacities for treating wastewater. Constructed wetland system has a hydraulic regime, although the volume of inflow in the wetland is never the same as the outflow. Wetland are either of Free Water Surface (FWS) or Subsurface Flow...
Article
A study at selected action sites in semi-arid region of Andhra Pradesh, India, showed widespread land degradation due to low levels of soil organic carbon (78% of fields) and deficiencies of available nutrients like phosphorus (34%), sulfur (93%), calcium (33%), zinc (84%), boron (73%), and copper (33%). Soil test-based addition of deficient micro-...

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