Under Farmers FIRST project interventions, 400 farm families were covered in five villages of Pudur Mandal namely, Gangupally, Rakamcharla, Devanoniguda, Medikonda and Pudugurthy in Vikarabad, Telangana. Nine different types of need-based implements have been identified, procured and demonstrated to the farmers during crop season. Livestock based intervention included promotion of backyard poultry variety, improved fodder production and management, salt lick to goats, mineral mixture to ruminants.

Extension efforts of state development agencies were observed to be less effective as compared to Coromandel Fertilizers Limited (CFL) and Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN). Demonstrations and meetings were highly effective extension method followed by extension personnel in all the three agencies studied.

Fortification of Total Mixed Ration (TMR) by tamarind shells @ 30 per cent of the total weight when used for feeding Nellore sheep for 9 weeks, a significantly (p<0.05) improved body weight over non-fortified group was observed (ADG @ 65g per day vs 53g per day). This suggests that tamarind shell which is unutilized in the field can be scientifically used for improved growth rate in indigenous sheep.

A new measure for assessing the sustainability of treatments /practices evaluated in long term experiments was developed. A District level yield efficiency maps were developed for seven important rainfed crops. The improved version of the Yield Gap DSS is available at http://www.icar-crida.res.in:8129/.

An apportioned district database covering time series data on area sown, production and yield of crops for years 1966-67 to 2017-18 was built by including rice, sorghum, pearl millet, maize, pigeon pea, chickpea, black gram and green gram crops.

Current and future climate at district level were assessed and climatic shifts was observed in 24 districts in 2030s and 32 districts in 2050s as per Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP 4.5) and in 15 districts in 2030s and in 22 districts in 2050s as per RCP 6.0. Moisture index, by and large, is projected to rise indicating enhanced moisture availability in the future. The climate in the future is going to be less harsh but climatic shifts will be minimal.

The difference-in-difference model (DID) and stepwise multiple linear regression (MLR) were employed to quantify the impact of adopting climate-resilient technologies (CRTs) and factors influencing farm incomes during drought. Farmers reported that droughts decreased the income from crops by 54 per cent and income from livestock rearing by 40 per cent.