International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

The scientific basis for advocating diversified agriculture as a sustainable approach in India is robust, rooted in the interplay of ecological balance, economic stability, and social welfare. Diversified agriculture encompasses a variety of farming practices that reduce dependence on single-crop cultivation, integrating multiple crop species and livestock to create a holistic farming system. This integration proves vital for risk mitigation, allowing farmers to withstand climatic and market fluctuations more effectively by spreading potential losses across a broader portfolio of agricultural products. Economically, this approach facilitates increased income streams through high-value crops and added products such as honey and dairy, which fetch higher market prices. Scientifically, the benefits extend to enhanced soil fertility through natural processes such as nitrogen fixation by leguminous plants and improved nutrient cycling in integrated crop-livestock systems. In India, rising population demands linked with reduced availability of agricultural resources ultimately result in declining productivity. This requires an urgent need to reorient agricultural research programmes from an individualistic enterprise approach to need developed holistic approach to the integrated farming system. An Integrated Farming System (IFS) is a mixed farming system created up at least two interdependent but logically connected sections of a crop and livestock enterprise. It is an eco-friendly approach in which the waste of one component becomes the input of another component, thus making more effective use of resources from the farm. This paper discusses about the success story of farmer practicing Integrated Farming System (IFS) for sustainable livelihood. The Present case study method was followed to document the success of IFS farmer. Mr. M Mallikarjun Reddy during 2022-23 in Pedda Kurumapally village, Choppadandi Mandal, Karimnagar district, Telangana State. He adopted different IFS components such as Agriculture, Horticulture, Dairy, Poultry, sheep and Fishery units. He closely supervised multiple enterprise units and followed new technologies in IFS to get sustainable livelihood. He used new methods of cultivation in IFS and believed that diversification with various components of farming systems results in desired profitability for IFS farmers. Hence, integration of different components with higher input recycling increased farm productivity of different farm components and also he was able to provide employment opportunities to youth and other farmers through diversification of enterprises.