Impact of Some Innovative Programmes for Improving Agricultural Productivity– A Study in Arid Zones of West Bengal, India

India at present faces a daunting challenge to provide food security to the burgeoning population. Rainfed areas falling mostly in arid zones accounts 60% of the total cultivated area in India. More than one-third share of the total population in the arid zone of India is below the poverty line. There is an urgent need to explore the possibilities of adopting innovative techniques of production in agriculture in the arid zones. The present paper provides some cases of innovative technologies to improve agricultural productivity in the arid zones in India. The innovative technologies that have been considered here are Happa, System of Rice Intensification (SRI), rain shelter, and mango orchard. The paper highlights the economics of these technologies for tribal households in the study area of Nayagram Block in Jungle Mahal in the state of West Bengal in India. All these technologies have been found to be economically beneficial for the farmer households in the arid zones under study.