AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE www.arccjournals.com / indianjournals.com Agri. Reviews, 34 (3) :207-215, 2013 DOI- 10.5958/j.0976-0741.34.3.005 SUSTAINABLE RURAL LIVELIHOOD SECURITY THROUGH INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEMS - A REVIEW Argade Shivaji Dadabhau* and Wadkar Sagar Kisan Dairy Extension Division, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal - 132 001, India Received: 19-09-2012 Accepted:11-01-2013 ABSTRACT This is a very complex and serious problem, when share of agriculture in gross domestic product is declining, average size of land holding is contracting and number of operational holdings is increasing. It is imperative to develop strategies that enable adequate employment and income generation, especially for small and marginal farmers who constitute more than 80 percent of the farming community. Under the gradual shrinking of land holding, horizontal expansion of land based enterprises is not possible. Hence, vertical integration land based enterprises within the socio- economic environment of the farmers will make farming more profitable and dependable. Therefore, Farming systems approach is a valuable approach to addressing the problemsof sustainable economic growth for farming communitiesin India. Hence, integrated farming systemsare viewed as a sustainable alternative to commercial farming systems particularly on marginal lands with the objective of reversing resource degradation and stabilizing farm incomes. The literature on the contribution of integrated farming systems in achieving sustainable rural livelihood security has been reviewed in this paper. Key words: Integrated farming systems, Livelihood, Rural, Sustainable. *Corresponding author’s e-mail: argadeshivaji@yahoo.com The Indian economy is predominantly rural and agricultural. Indian agriculture has responsibility of providing national as well as household food and nutritional security to its spilling over millions. Wide- spread occurrence of ill-effects of green revolution technologies in all intensively cultivated areas like Punjab and Haryana is threatening the sustainability of the important agricultural production systems and national food security. The declining trend in size of land holding poses a serious challenge to the sustainability and profitability of farming. The average size of the landholding has declined to 1.16 ha during 2010-11 from 2.28 ha in 1970-71. If this trend continues, the average size of holding in India would be mere 0.68 ha in 2020 and would be further reduced to 0.32 ha in 2030(Agriculture Census, 2010-11). This situation in India calls for an integrated effort to address the emerging issues. It is imperative to develop strategies and agricultural technologies that enable adequate employment and income generation, especially for small and marginal farmers who constitute more than 80 per cent of the farming community. The integrated farming system approach is considered to be the most powerful tool for enhancing profitability of farming systems. These integrated farming systems required to be planned, designed, implemented and analyzed for increasing productivity and profitability. These systems also need to be socially acceptable, economically viable and eco-friendly. Integration of enterprises lead to greater dividends than single enterprise based farming, especially for small and marginal farmers. It also leads to improvement in nutritional quality of daily diet of farmers. What Is Sustainable Rural Livelihood: Conceptually ‘ livelihood’ denotes the means, activities, entitlements and assets by which people make a living. Assets are defined as natural (land and water), social (community, family and social networks), political (participation and empowerment), human (education, labour, health and nutrition), physical (roads, clinics, markets, schools and bridges) and economic (jobs , saving