The arid zone of India covers about 12% of the country’s geographical area and occupies over 31.7 m ha of hot desert and about 7 m ha is under cold desert. The production and life support systems in the hot regions are constrained by low and erratic precipitation (100-420 mm year-1), high evapotranspiration (1500-2000 mm year-1), and poor soil physical and fertility conditions. The local inhabitants have evolved suitable landuse and management systems of farming, pastoralism and animal husbandry; of late, these local survival systems have become inadequate to fulfill the ever increasing needs. This has resulted in over-exploitation of resources causing rapid and widespread land degradation and decline in productivity. To arrest this degradation process and for scientific and sustainable management of the resources Desert Afforestation Station was established in 1952 at Jodhpur. This was later expanded into Desert Afforestation and Soil Conservation Station in 1957, and finally upgraded to Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI) in 1959 under Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. The CAZRI operates through 8 Divisions, located at the headquarters in Jodhpur. There are four Regional Research Stations located in different agroclimatic zones to work on location - specific problems. In the Institute, basic as well as applied researches are carried out on almost every conceivable area related to arid region. The spectrum of activities involves researches on : basic resource inventories; monitoring of desertification, rehabilitation and management of degraded lands; afforestation and wind erosion control; dryland farming and integrated watershed management; alternate land-use systems; rational utilization of limited irrigation water resources; range management and soil conservation; improvement of arable crops, grasses, shrubs and trees; animal production and management; natural products from under-utilized and under exploited plants; agro-products processing for value addition; integrated pest management; human resource development; on-farm research and transfer of technology.
Central Arid Zone Research Institute
Jodhpur - 342003,
Rajasthan (INDIA)
Phone : +91 291 2786584,
Fax : +91 291 2788706
Related Colleges in JodhpurColleges in Jodhpur
