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Attracting and retaining youth in agriculture (ARYA) is a national programme of Indian Council of Agricultural Research implemented through Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) since 2016-17. The present investigation was carried out in 2021-22 with a total of 684 rural youth, randomly identified from among the functional units under various enterprises. Among the nine major enterprises promoted under ARYA, performance of poultry units were better in terms of operational duration and total turnover per enterprise despite incurring higher expenditure. Nursery enterprises showed the highest net income per unit and also created maximum assets. On the other hand, benefit-cost ratio was higher in piggery enterprises and per day net income was highest in processing and value addition units. More employment generation was recorded in fish and goat farming enterprises. The results indicated that each of the agri business areas have strengths on different parameters. Besides the choice of enterprises that are locally viable, the entrepreneurial competency of the entrepreneurs was essential to sustain the enterprises. Successful entrepreneurship promotion has the possibilities for attracting and retaining youth in rural areas through technology-supported agribusiness development.

Climate change impacts agriculture, food production and security in view of a region’s geography, monsoon dependency and weather extremities. Yield sensitivity to the anomalies of weather is an emerging issue in the perspective of climate smart farming. The present study develops an approach to assess the yield sensitivity of rice–wheat cropping system using a non-parametric Mann–Kendall’s test for examining the long-run weather anomalies between 1981 and 2013, followed by regressing yield (stepwise) on weekly weather variables. This approach confirms the long-run weather anomalies and then proceeds to identify the sensitive weeks for climate smart practices, and adaptation strategies for drawing policies. A significant long-run trend has been noticed in the weather variables barring rainfall in rice growing season and evapotranspiration in wheat growing season. Stepwise regression indicated that rice yields are positively influenced by minimum temperature during its growth week 13, evapotranspiration in week 15 and wind speed in week 10; and wheat yields are sensitive to the maximum temperature and evapotranspiration in week 1, as well as sunshine hours in week 6. Volatility in weather variables during ripening in rice and crown root initiation and late tillering in wheat reduces the yield. The interactive effect of significant weather variables on rice and wheat yield indicated its sensitivity due to the weather anomalies in varying magnitudes. This approach is ideal to measure the sensitivity in crop yield owing to anomalies in disaggregated weather variables. Further, it warrants suitable and relevant policy recommendations. In our case, the future research should focus on developing agro-climatic region specific rice and wheat genotypes resilient to climate change, identifying climate smart farming practices as well as adaptation strategies.

Women face greater gender-related vulnerabilities compared to men due to prevailing structures in the societies. Recognizing the role of gender equality, development organizations have engaged in a process of mainstreaming gender into agricultural development. World Bank-supported land reclamation programs encouraged women participation to achieve the goals of women empowerment in India. Land reclamation programs contributed vast benefits and sustainable livelihoods to millions of small farmers. Reclamation programs included additional dimensions to support women participation in the programs and to earn income to support the family. A majority of women opined that the management of salt-affected soils increased household income due to increased area under cultivation and productivity. They opined that increased household income lead to increased standard of living, purchasing power, and education status which improved their social status in the society. Women participation in the management of salt-affected soils has positively affected socioeconomic dimensions for sustainable livelihoods.

Salt-induced land degradation is adversely affecting the productivity of crop land with far-reaching and undesirable socioeconomic consequences to millions of people living in the salt-affected regions of India. The problems of soil salinity, alkalinity, waterlogging, and poor-quality waters are likely to increase in future due to planned expansion in irrigated area and non-judicious use of natural resources to meet food, fodder, fiber, and timber demand of the burgeoning human and livestock populations. Currently, India is losing annually around 17 million Mg of farm production valued at ₹230 billion from salt-affected soils. The severity of soil degradation problem received the attention of researchers, policy makers, and development agencies. Economically viable technologies are available to ameliorate the salt-affected soils. Over the past few decades, with the support of agricultural scientists, World Bank, European Union, and other developmental agencies, India has reclaimed 2.08 Mha salt-affected lands, which contributed enormous socioeconomic benefits and livelihood security to millions of resource-poor farmers living in the salt-affected regions.

The study has looked into the impact of subsurface drainage technology on reclamation of waterlogged saline soil, in relation to improvement in land productivity and enhancing farm income by sustainable agricultural production in Haryana. The study is based on the primary data collected from 90 farmers under the technology. The study has presented a comparison of cropping pattern, cropping intensity, soil salinity, soil pH, water table depth, yield of major crops and economics of major crops in the district of Fatehabad before (2007–08) and after (average of 2011–2014) installation of subsurface drainage technology. The study has revealed that reclamation of waterlogged saline soils through installation of subsurface drainage system helps to enhance farm income by increasing land productivity. The study has suggested that the farmers should be made aware about the benefits of this drainage technology to increase crop yield and farm income.