Agriculture in the Twenty-First Century

Agriculture remains the largest spatial system of the contemporary economy of Mithila, Vajji and Anga even where its share of measured income has fallen. Fields, orchards, ponds, wetlands, livestock, irrigation channels, farm roads, wholesale markets and seasonal labour networks organize rural life and connect villages to towns. The twenty-first-century agricultural question is therefore not whether the region is becoming ‘less agricultural’ in a simple sense, but how farming is being recomposed under small holdings, migration, mechanisation, rising input costs, changing diets, expanding roads and markets, and recurrent climate shocks. A household may cultivate rice and wheat, lease additional land, sell milk, send a member to Delhi or the Gulf, hire a combine, and market vegetables through a trader. Such a household is simultaneously agricultural, migrant, service-using and market-dependent. The regional frame requires the same caution established in Chapter 117. Mithila, Vajji and Anga are historical-cultural regions rather than current statistical units. Agriculture must be reconstructed from district, block, crop, irrigation, livestock and market evidence rather than from a fabricated single regional total. Bihar’s official agricultural statistics provide the main Indian baseline; Nepal’s agricultural statistics are needed for the Madhesh side of the transborder economy. The Fourth Agriculture Roadmap of Bihar, launched for 2023–28, places sustainability, soil health, water conservation, climate resilience, organic inputs, horticulture and allied activities within a single policy framework. This chapter uses that framework critically: policy targets show intended direction, while farm structure and risk determine what is feasible on the ground. 118.1 Agriculture as the spatial base of the contemporary economy Agriculture remains economically important not only through crop value but through the land, labour and infrastructure it organizes. Rural settlements are embedded in agricultural seasons: transplanting and harvesting shape labour demand; irrigation determines electricity and diesel use; crop sales generate transport and credit flows; and agricultural income supports construction, schooling and consumption. Even a household whose largest cash income comes from migration may retain land as food security, social insurance and a productive asset. This helps explain why declining agricultural shares in state output do not automatically imply the disappearance of farming. The contemporary transformation is better described as diversification around agriculture. Crop production is increasingly linked to machinery hiring, input retail, transport, warehousing, dairy collection, fish seed, cold storage, mobile payments and rural construction. The relevant economic unit is therefore a farm-linked livelihood system rather than the isolated plot. 118.2 A regional farm economy without a single statistical boundary No single official table gives ‘agriculture of Mithila–Vajji–Anga’. Modern statistics are organized by state, province, district and crop reporting unit, whereas the historical regions cross these administrative boundaries. North Bihar itself contains sharp contrasts between flood-prone alluvial plains, better-drained uplands, diara lands, chaurs and peri-urban horticultural belts; the eastern Anga districts connect to different market corridors and moisture regimes. On the Nepal side, Madhesh Province lies in the Terai and shares crops, labour and markets with adjoining Bihar, but its administrative and statistical categories differ. Regional reconstruction must therefore combine district crop data, irrigation records, agricultural censuses, horticulture statistics, livestock and fisheries data, and local ecological history. The aim is not a false regional total but an analytically defensible mosaic showing how different farm economies are connected. 11911191 GAJENDRA THAKUR 118.3 Small holdings, fragmentation and the scale problem The small size of operational holdings is one of the most durable constraints on Bihar agriculture. The 2015–16 Agriculture Census baseline reported an average holding of about 0.39 hectare in Bihar, with marginal holdings overwhelmingly dominant. That figure must be kept dated: it is a structural benchmark, not a claim about 2026. Continued inheritance and subdivision can fragment land into multiple parcels, increasing travel time, boundary loss and transaction costs. Small farms are not inherently unproductive; intensive vegetable, dairy or seed systems can generate high output per hectare. The problem is that very small, scattered plots make irrigation investment, mechanisation, crop rotation, storage and formal marketing harder to coordinate. The economic challenge is thus one of scale without dispossession: machinery services, producer groups, shared irrigation, leasing arrangements, aggregation and better logistics can create operational scale while preserving smallholder ownership. 118.4 Ownership, tenancy and the operational holding Agricultural statistics distinguish ownership from the operational holding: the relevant production unit is land actually managed as one farm business, including leased land. This distinction matters in a region where oral tenancy, sharecropping and seasonal leasing can be important but imperfectly recorded. Owners who migrate may lease land to relatives or cultivators; land-poor households may assemble viable cultivated areas through rental. Legal insecurity and the informality of contracts can, however, discourage long-term soil improvement, tree planting or irrigation investment. Women may inherit or nominally own land while management decisions remain elsewhere in the household. Agriculture Census 2021–22 instructions explicitly seek information on tenancy, including oral tenancy, because actual cultivation cannot be understood from land title alone. A contemporary history of farming must therefore analyse the gap between cadastral ownership, operational control and labour contribution. Figure 468 — Twenty-first-century agriculture as a connected farm economy. 118.5 Rice and wheat: persistence of the cereal core Rice and wheat continue to anchor food-grain farming across much of the region. The rice crop is highly differentiated: lowlands exposed to flood and submergence require different varieties and calendars from better-drained fields; irrigation determines whether transplanting can proceed when the monsoon is late. Wheat follows rice in many rabi rotations but faces late sowing, heat at grain filling and the cost of irrigation. HISTORY OF MITHILA, VAJJI & ANGA — VOLUME II The rice–wheat system provides household food security and a familiar technical package, yet its dominance can narrow crop diversity and intensify pressure on soil nutrients and groundwater where irrigation is pump- based. Productivity gains depend not only on seed but on timely operations, drainage, water control and mechanisation. Conservation practices such as zero tillage can reduce turnaround time between rice and wheat and help farmers sow wheat earlier after a delayed rice harvest. 118.6 Maize and the reorganisation of seasonal farming Maize has become one of the most dynamic crops in the eastern Gangetic plains because it can fit multiple seasons and serve food, feed and industrial markets. In Bihar, winter and spring maize often benefit from irrigation and relatively favourable growing conditions, while hybrid seed and commercial procurement have encouraged specialization in selected belts. Maize changes the farm calendar: it can compete with wheat in rabi or occupy spring windows, generates demand for drying and storage, and links farmers more directly to feed mills and distant commodity markets. Yet market dependence introduces price and moisture-quality risks. High seed and fertilizer costs can magnify losses when prices fall or storms damage standing crops. The crop therefore illustrates the broader transition from subsistence-plus-surplus farming toward input- intensive commercial production whose profitability depends on logistics and market information as much as biological yield. 118.7 Pulses, oilseeds and millets in diversification strategies Pulses, oilseeds and millets are often described as diversification crops, but their economic role is more specific. Pulses can use residual soil moisture after rice, improve household protein supply and reduce nitrogen requirements through biological fixation. Mustard and other oilseeds provide a rabi cash crop where irrigation is limited. Millets tolerate heat and moisture stress better than many cereals, but expanding them requires consumer demand, seed systems, processing and procurement rather than agronomic promotion alone. Rice fallows are an important opportunity: where drainage and residual moisture permit, short- duration pulses or oilseeds can add a second crop without heavy irrigation. Diversification succeeds when it reduces whole-farm risk and improves returns to labour, not merely when acreage shifts from one crop category to another. 118.8 Sugarcane, jute and other commercial crops Commercial crops connect particular subregions to specialized processing and trade. Sugarcane remains important in western and north-western Bihar linkages, where mill location, payment cycles and transport distance determine farm incentives. Jute belongs to the humid eastern and north-eastern plains and ties cultivation to retting water, fibre quality and mills beyond the immediate farm area. Tobacco, spices, seed production and other niche crops appear in localized pockets. Such crops can generate higher cash income than staple cereals but also create dependence on buyers, grading standards and processing infrastructure. Their history shows why agricultural geography cannot be reduced to soil and rainfall: a crop survives where an institutional chain — seed, labour, transport, processor, credit and market — remains viable. When one link weakens, farmers can switch rapidly even if the land remains agronomically suitable. 118.9 Makhana, ponds and the wetland economy of Mithila Makhana is one of the clearest examples of a culturally distinctive agricultural economy in Mithila. It is produced in ponds and wetland environments and requires specialized knowledge of seed, water, harvesting and popping. The value chain extends beyond cultivators to fishers, labourers, processors, traders, graders 11931193 GAJENDRA THAKUR and branded retail. Development schemes have sought to improve varieties, expand cultivation and raise processing efficiency, while the geographical identity of ‘Mithila Makhana’ has strengthened product recognition. Yet commercialization also raises questions about access to ponds, lease terms, wetland ecology and distribution of value between growers and processors. Makhana demonstrates that agriculture in the region includes aquatic production systems that conventional field-crop statistics can understate. Preserving wetlands as productive ecosystems can support both biodiversity and rural livelihoods when water rights and pollution are managed carefully. 118.10 Horticulture: litchi, mango, banana and vegetables Horticulture creates some of the region’s highest-value uses of small plots. The Muzaffarpur–Vajji belt is nationally associated with litchi; mango, banana, vegetables, spices, flowers and nurseries are important in different districts across the wider region. Horticulture can generate high returns per hectare and intensive employment, making it attractive where holdings are small. Its risks are equally concentrated: fruit has narrow harvest windows, quality deteriorates quickly, and gluts can collapse farm-gate prices. Litchi is vulnerable to heat and moisture stress at critical stages; vegetables require frequent irrigation and pest management. Cold chain, grading, packaging and fast transport therefore become part of cultivation itself. A farmer located near an all-weather road, collection point or urban market can face a completely different economic opportunity from another farmer with similar soil but weak logistics. Figure 469 — Agricultural mosaic across Mithila, Vajji and Anga; tendencies overlap and are not fixed borders. 118.11 Livestock, dairy, poultry and fisheries as farm income Allied activities often stabilize farm households when crop income is seasonal or uncertain. Cattle and buffalo convert crop residues into milk and manure; goats and poultry offer smaller, divisible assets; ponds and floodplain waters support fish production; and integrated systems can recycle nutrients across crop, livestock and fish components. Dairy provides frequent cash flow rather than one or two annual harvest payments, which can be especially valuable for household expenses. Fisheries and aquaculture are important in a water-rich region but require seed, feed, pond management and market access. Livestock also shifts labour toward year-round care, much of it undertaken by women. The economic significance of allied sectors lies in portfolio effects: they spread risk across products with different calendars and price patterns. For smallholders, this may matter more than maximizing yield of a single crop. HISTORY OF MITHILA, VAJJI & ANGA — VOLUME II 118.12 Irrigation: canals, tubewells and uneven water control Water control is the central technological divide in eastern Indian agriculture. Canals, public irrigation, shallow tubewells, private pumps, ponds and groundwater all contribute, but access is uneven by location, energy supply, plot fragmentation and aquifer conditions. Official ICAR profiles have long emphasized Bihar’s large cultivated area and the importance of assured irrigation, while also noting major zones of rainfed rice and drainage problems. Pump irrigation gives farmers timing flexibility but raises energy costs and can intensify groundwater pressure where extraction exceeds recharge. Canal systems can cover large areas but depend on maintenance and equitable distribution to tail-end users. Micro-irrigation is valuable for horticulture and water-saving crops, yet it is not a substitute for drainage in waterlogged plains. The region’s water problem is therefore not simply scarcity: it is the ability to deliver or remove water at the correct time. 118.13 Flood agriculture, waterlogging and the economy of excess water North Bihar agriculture repeatedly confronts the paradox of having too much water and too little controllable irrigation. Embankment breaches, river migration, flash floods and prolonged waterlogging can destroy kharif crops, delay rabi sowing and deposit sand or silt unevenly. In chaurs and lowlands, however, seasonal water can also support fisheries, makhana and wetland crops. Resilience depends on treating flood as a recurring production condition rather than an exceptional disaster. Short-duration and submergence- tolerant rice, community drainage, raised seed storage, post-flood contingency crops and timely access to seed can reduce losses. ICAR demonstrations in flood-prone Bihar have shown that rapid post-flood planting of maize and vegetables can restore income after damaged rice. Such interventions work only when roads, seed supply, credit and local extension function immediately after the flood. 118.14 Drought, heat and the other side of water insecurity The opposite hazard — drought and extreme heat — is increasingly important even in a region known for floods. Monsoon breaks can delay transplanting, raise pumping costs and reduce groundwater recharge. Heat waves damage workers and livestock as well as crops; unusually high temperatures during wheat grain filling can reduce yield even when irrigation is available. South-eastern and better-drained tracts can experience moisture stress while another district is flooded. Climate adaptation must therefore be location-specific. Early or direct seeding, drought-tolerant varieties, mulching, farm ponds, supplemental irrigation and adjusted sowing dates can reduce exposure. The central principle is flexibility: farmers need varieties and crop calendars that can respond to uncertain rainfall rather than a single ‘normal monsoon’ package. 118.15 Soil health, fertilizers and nutrient imbalance Soil fertility is frequently discussed as a fertilizer problem, but long-run soil health includes organic carbon, micronutrients, salinity or alkalinity, drainage and biological activity. ICAR assessments of Bihar have identified deficiencies of sulphur, boron and zinc in addition to the familiar nitrogen-phosphorus- potassium balance. Repeated cereal cultivation and residue removal can reduce organic matter, while excessive or poorly timed nitrogen lowers nutrient-use efficiency. Soil testing is useful only when farmers can obtain and trust appropriate inputs. Green manures, farmyard manure, compost, crop residues, legumes and biofertilizers can complement mineral fertilizer rather than being treated as ideological alternatives. Recent soil-health campaigns in Bihar emphasize balanced application and green manuring precisely because input efficiency has become an income as well as environmental issue. 11951195 GAJENDRA THAKUR 118.16 Seed systems, crop varieties and technological choice Seed is a small physical input with large consequences for timing, yield and risk. Hybrid maize illustrates a commercial seed system in which farmers purchase new seed frequently; self-pollinated rice and wheat allow different combinations of farm-saved and certified seed. Flood-tolerant, drought-tolerant, short-duration and heat-adapted varieties can reduce climate exposure, but adoption depends on local performance and availability at sowing time. Public agricultural universities, ICAR institutes, seed corporations and private firms therefore shape the technological frontier together. Variety replacement is not automatically progress: a variety that yields more under controlled irrigation may be inferior in flood-prone or low-input fields. Farmers select not only yield potential but maturity, straw, taste, market demand and risk. Effective extension treats this local evaluation as evidence rather than resistance to science. 118.17 Mechanisation on small farms Mechanisation has expanded through tractors, power tillers, threshers, pumps, reapers, transplanters and combine harvesters, but the smallholding structure means ownership is often less important than service markets. A farmer with half a hectare may rationally hire a tractor or harvester for a few hours rather than purchase machinery. Custom-hiring therefore creates a rural service economy and allows machines to achieve scale across many small farms. Mechanisation can address peak-season labour shortages and improve timeliness, yet large machines may be unsuitable for tiny, irregular or waterlogged plots. It can also redistribute employment away from manual harvesting and threshing. The policy question is not ‘more machines’ in the abstract, but the fit among plot geometry, labour costs, equipment size, repair networks, credit and rental markets. 118.18 Migration, labour scarcity and the changing farm household Migration has changed the labour organization of agriculture. When working-age men spend months outside the village, households may reduce labour-intensive crops, hire workers, lease land out, rely more on machines, or shift management to women and older family members. Remittances can finance pumps, livestock, farm improvements and machinery services, but they can also reduce dependence on crop income and make timely labour difficult to mobilize. Seasonal return migration around sowing or harvest demonstrates that migration and farming are not mutually exclusive occupations. The farm household has become multilocal: decisions about land in Bihar or Madhesh may depend on wages earned in Delhi, Punjab, Mumbai, Kathmandu or overseas. This linkage makes labour migration part of agricultural political economy rather than a separate urban story. 118.19 Women’s agricultural work and measurement gaps Women perform transplanting, weeding, harvesting, livestock care, post-harvest processing and household food production, yet labour statistics and land records often understate their agricultural role. Male migration can increase women’s day-to-day management responsibilities without automatically transferring title, credit access or control over sale proceeds. Mechanisation may reduce some physically demanding tasks while concentrating others in male-operated machinery services. Self-help groups, dairy cooperatives, producer organizations and extension programmes can widen access to finance and markets, but participation is not equivalent to decision-making power. A gender-sensitive agricultural history must ask who owns the land, who works it, who makes crop decisions, who receives payments and who absorbs unpaid care work. These are distinct variables, and a single category such as ‘female cultivator’ cannot capture them all. HISTORY OF MITHILA, VAJJI & ANGA — VOLUME II 118.20 Credit, debt and the timing of farm expenditure Farm expenditure is highly seasonal: seed, fertilizer, labour, irrigation and machinery must often be paid before harvest income arrives. Credit therefore shapes both technology adoption and bargaining power at sale. Formal crop loans and Kisan Credit Cards can reduce reliance on high-cost borrowing, but eligibility, land records, tenancy and banking access affect who can use them. Informal credit from traders, input dealers, relatives and landlords remains economically important because it can be immediate and flexible, though it may tie borrowers to particular buyers or prices. Crop insurance aims to pool weather risk but faces difficult questions of enrolment, assessment, basis risk and claims timing. The key measure of agricultural finance is not only the volume of loans but whether credit arrives when farm operations require it and whether repayment schedules match uncertain agricultural cash flow. Figure 470 — The smallholder income problem: the economic chain from fragmented plot to household livelihood. 118.21 Procurement, minimum support prices and local market reality Minimum support prices and procurement shape expectations even where farmers do not sell directly to a procurement agency. Paddy and wheat procurement can provide a floor in areas with functioning purchase centres, but actual access depends on registration, quality standards, transport, timing and local capacity. Many small farmers sell soon after harvest because they need cash or lack storage, making the immediate village price more relevant than an announced national support price. Maize, vegetables, fruit and makhana operate through different market chains with much less direct public procurement. Evaluating price policy therefore requires crop-specific evidence. The critical distinction is between a declared price, an administratively accessible procurement price, and the farm-gate price actually received after quality deductions and transport costs. 118.22 Traders, mandis and price formation Agricultural markets are networks rather than single places. Village assemblers, commission agents, wholesale markets, processors, millers, retailers and distant buyers all perform aggregation and information functions, while also possessing unequal bargaining power. Better roads and mobile phones have widened farmers’ price information and market options, yet perishability and small sale lots can still force local transactions. Bihar’s historical reforms to regulated agricultural markets changed the institutional landscape, 11971197 GAJENDRA THAKUR but private trade did not eliminate the need for grading, dispute resolution, transparent weights and market infrastructure. Digital platforms can publish prices, but physical logistics decide whether a farmer can act on that information. The practical market question is how far a crop can travel, in what condition, at what cost, and with how much delay before payment. 118.23 Storage, cold chains and post-harvest loss Post-harvest infrastructure determines how much biological production becomes sellable value. Grain requires drying, cleaning and safe storage; maize quality depends on moisture control; fruit and vegetables need rapid cooling and transport; milk requires collection and chilling; fish needs ice and cold handling. When storage is weak, farmers may sell into a glut immediately after harvest and buy food back later at higher prices. Cold storage has long been important for potatoes and is increasingly relevant to diversified horticulture, but refrigeration is crop-specific and energy-intensive. Small pack houses, crates, grading lines, warehouse receipts and village-level drying can sometimes generate larger returns than expensive centralized infrastructure. The correct metric is reduction in loss and improvement in farmer price realization per unit of investment. 118.24 Farmer Producer Organisations and collective scale Farmer Producer Organisations and similar collective institutions attempt to solve the scale problem without consolidating ownership. By aggregating input purchases, produce, grading, machinery use or marketing, an FPO can lower transaction costs and negotiate with larger buyers. In principle this is particularly relevant in Bihar because individual holdings are small. In practice, institutional quality matters: membership must be active, accounts transparent, professional management affordable and business activity tied to real crops and markets. An organization created only to receive a scheme may not survive. Successful collective scale can also emerge through dairy cooperatives, irrigation groups, self-help groups and informal machinery networks. The broader lesson is that smallholder agriculture requires meso-level institutions between the household and the distant market. 118.25 Organic farming, certification and the Ganga organic corridor Organic and low-chemical agriculture has gained policy visibility through Bihar’s organic corridor and the Fourth Agriculture Roadmap. The state’s programme has promoted clusters, certification, local organic inputs, vermicompost, green manuring and producer organizations, including along the Ganga corridor. The economic test is demanding. Farmers may face transition costs or lower yields before soil systems stabilize; certification and segregation add administrative work; and a premium exists only if consumers trust the label and supply chains preserve identity. On the other hand, reduced dependence on purchased inputs, better soil structure and niche branding can improve resilience. Organic policy should therefore be assessed as a value- chain project — inputs, production, certification, aggregation, branding and market — rather than as a simple ban on fertilizer or pesticide. 118.26 Climate-resilient agriculture and the Fourth Agriculture Roadmap Bihar’s Fourth Agriculture Roadmap for 2023–28 formalizes a shift from yield-centred policy toward sustainability, climate resilience, water management, soil health, horticulture, allied sectors and value chains. Climate-resilient agriculture programmes had already expanded through KVKs and research institutions, testing practices such as direct seeding, zero tillage, diversified rotations and improved water management. By 2026, ICAR outreach in flood-prone north Bihar continued to emphasize balanced fertilizer use, green HISTORY OF MITHILA, VAJJI & ANGA — VOLUME II manuring, integrated farming and soil restoration. The significance of these programmes is institutional as well as technical: they connect agricultural universities, ICAR institutes, ATMA, KVKs and village-level demonstration. Their success must be measured by adoption, profitability and reduced variability across bad years, not by the number of trainings alone. 118.27 Digital agriculture, advisories and the datafied farm Agriculture is increasingly datafied through land records, farmer registration, weather forecasts, satellite imagery, digital payments, input portals, crop insurance and mobile advisories. These systems can reduce information delays and target support, but they also create exclusion risks when names, plots or tenancy do not match official databases. A tenant cultivating land under an oral arrangement may be visible to neighbours but invisible to a benefit portal. Weather advisories are useful only when they are localized enough to change a farmer’s decision and delivered in a language and format that can be acted upon. Drones and remote sensing can improve crop monitoring and input application in some contexts, yet digital agriculture does not replace agronomy, drainage or roads. Technology adds value when it solves a defined farm problem rather than when digitisation itself is treated as the outcome. Figure 471 — Climate-resilient agriculture as a repeated cycle of diagnosis, diversification, conservation, protection and learning. 118.28 Madhesh agriculture and the cross-border production zone Madhesh Province forms the Nepal-side agricultural continuation of the Gangetic–Terai plain. Official Nepal agricultural profiles identify rice, wheat, mustard, sunflower, sugarcane, lentil and vegetables among its major crops. The province’s dense settlement, flat terrain and border connectivity create strong links with Indian input, labour and commodity markets, even though regulation, currency, procurement and statistical systems differ. Cross-border kinship can facilitate labour and knowledge flows; border restrictions or price differentials can redirect trade rapidly. Irrigation, groundwater, fertilizer availability and monsoon variability are shared ecological concerns. Comparative analysis should therefore avoid assuming that identical crops imply identical farm institutions. The value of the cross-border perspective lies precisely in observing how similar agro-ecology produces different outcomes under different policy and market arrangements. 11991199 GAJENDRA THAKUR 118.29 From yield growth to farm-income resilience The classic agricultural objective was to raise yield per hectare. That remains essential where productivity gaps are large, but farm welfare depends on a wider equation: yield multiplied by price, minus purchased inputs, hired labour, irrigation, machinery, rent, interest and post-harvest costs, adjusted for crop failure risk. A high-yield crop can generate weak net income when input prices rise or sale prices fall. Smallholders also care about cash-flow timing, food retention and labour demands. Resilience therefore requires measuring variability across years and the whole household portfolio. Crop diversification, livestock, migration income, savings, insurance and social protection can reduce the probability that one failed monsoon or one market crash becomes a household crisis. The contemporary benchmark is not maximum output in a normal year but sustainable income across uncertain years. 118.30 Agriculture as a multi-sector rural economy Agriculture in Mithila, Vajji and Anga is becoming more, not less, interconnected with the rest of the economy. Farming now depends on rural roads, electricity, digital networks, migration, financial services, education, machinery repair, cold chains and processing. At the same time, land and water remain foundational assets and cultural anchors. The most plausible development path is therefore neither a return to self-contained peasant farming nor rapid abandonment of agriculture. It is a diversified rural economy in which fewer workers may cultivate more efficiently, smallholders obtain scale through services and institutions, high-value crops and allied sectors expand, and non-farm income stabilizes households. Chapter 119 turns to the structural constraint beneath this transition: land fragmentation and its consequences for rural livelihoods. HISTORY OF MITHILA, VAJJI & ANGA — VOLUME II Table 118.1 — Evidence architecture for contemporary agricultural analysis Evidence / What it reveals Economic use Main caution institution Agriculture Census holding size, operational class, farm structure and latest complete tenancy fragmentation comparable rounds may lag current conditions Crop statistics area, production, yield by crop cropping pattern and district aggregates hide productivity intra-district ecology Irrigation records source and area irrigated water-control capacity ‘irrigated’ does not guarantee timely water Horticulture / high-value and allied diversification and cash flow often collected in separate livestock / fisheries production administrative systems data Market / procurement arrivals, purchases, prices price realization and market formal markets may omit data access village-level trade Household and labour income sources, work, farm–nonfarm livelihood sample estimates differ surveys migration portfolio from census concepts Climate / hydrology rainfall, flood, heat, risk and adaptation planning hazard exposure varies data groundwater sharply by locality Farmer field evidence costs, practices, local tests whether policy works not automatically constraints in practice representative of the region 12011201