Dryland Farming

Dryland farming is rainfed agriculture in arid or semi-arid areas, and growing crops and raising livestock without irrigation in semiarid and dry subhumid areas with minimal rainfall. Because dryland farming systems depend on rain and snow for their necessary moisture, they differ from arid zone systems, where irrigation is necessary, and from humid zone systems, where moisture is adequate or surplus for crops. Due to the limited and seasonal precipitation that shows considerable temporal and spatial variations and high evapotranspiration, agricultural systems in drylands have to adapt to the resulting low soil moisture and the patchiness of the ecosystem created by these conditions. This leads to a high riskiness of agricultural production, which is generally compensated by other diversified forms of income or seasonal migration ...