Understanding farming systems and their economic performance in Telangana, India: Not all that glitters is gold

Farming systems are transitioning from a subsistence orientation to market orientation in response to changing food demands, technologies, and policies. In India's dryland regions, watershed development, among several other initiatives, has been a critical driver of these transitions, but their outcomes are poorly understood. The present paper investigates the characteristics and economic performance of current farming systems in a region in Telangana, India, that has undergone a rapid transition from subsistence orientation to market orientation. We surveyed 3006 farms, followed by a farm-economics study involving 75 households belonging to the three major farming systems. The gross margin was low for all systems but most inadequate for the crop-without-livestock system, highest for the crop-with-small-ruminants system, and intermediate for the crop-with-dairy system. Economic risks and natural-resource scarcity threaten the sustainability of current farming systems, and the reassessment of watershed development policies is recommended.