Conservation Agriculture in India A Paradigm Shift for Sustainable Production

This book examines the current situation, levels of adoption, management practices, and the future outlook of conservation agriculture in India, and also in other tropical and subtropical regions of the world. While conservation agriculture is proposed as an important means to combat climate change, improve crop productivity and food affordability, and to protect the environment, the adoption of conservation agriculture in India, and south-east Asia more broadly, has been slow. This volume reflects on the current status of conservation agriculture in India, asking why adoption has been slow and putting forward strategies to improve its uptake. The chapters cover the various aspects of crop management such as soil, water, nutrients, weeds, crop residues, machinery, and energy, in a range of environments, including irrigated and rainfed regions. The impact of climate change and the economic considerations behind the adoption of conservation agriculture are also discussed. The volume concludes by discussing the future outlook for conservation agriculture in India, in particular drawing out parallels with other tropical and subtropical regions of the world. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of conservation agriculture, sustainable agriculture, crop and soil management, and environmental and natural resource management.

Foreword I by Rattan Lal Foreword II by R.S. Paroda Part I: Conservation Agriculture: Global Scenario and Status in India Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification: Global options and opportunities Amir Kassam, Y.S. Saharawat, and I.P. Abrol History and Current Scenario of Conservation Agriculture: Benefits and Limitations A.R. Sharma and A.K. Biswas Conservation Agriculture in India: Progress in Research, Adoption, and the Way Forward A.R. Sharma Conservation Agriculture in Rainfed Areas G. Pratibha, K.V. Rao, I. Srinivas, K.L. Sharma, M. Srinivasa Rao, H. Arunakumari, K. Sammi Reddy and V.K. Singh Part II: Management Options for Higher Resource Use Efficiency Nutrient Management in Conservation Agriculture C.M. Parihar, H.S. Nayak, D.M. Mahala, S.L. Jat, Yadvinder-Singh, M.L. Jat, K. Patra, K. Majumdar, T. Satyanarayana, M.D. Parihar and Y.S. Saharawat Water Management in Conservation Agriculture M.L. Jat, Naveen Gupta, H.S. Jat, C.M. Parihar, H.S. Sidhu and Yadvinder-Singh Weed Management in Conservation Agriculture T.K. Das, A.R. Sharma, N.T. Yaduraju and Sourav Ghosh Crop Residue Management in Conservation Agriculture Yadvinder-Singh,, H.S. Sidhu, M.L. Jat, N. Gupta, C.M. Parihar and H. S. Jat Machinery Development for Conservation Agriculture Manpreet Singh, H.S. Sidhu and Shiv KumarLohan Energy Use in Conservation Agriculture U.K. Behera and P.K. Sahoo Part III: Soil Health and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Greenhouse Gas Emission and Carbon Sequestration in Conservation Agriculture Arti Bhatia, Avijit Ghosh, Amit Kumar and Ranjan Bhattacharyya Soil Health Management and Conservation Agriculture K.K. Bandyopadhyay, K.M. Hati, J. Somasundaram and U.K. Mandal Soil Microbes and Conservation Agriculture Geeta Singh Conservation Agriculture in Agroforestry Systems Inder Dev, Asha Ram, Naresh Kumar, A.R. Uthappa and A. Arunachalam Part IV: Economics, Adoption, and Future of Conservation Agriculture Economic Aspects of Conservation Agriculture H.S. Dhaliwal and Dharvinder Singh Adoption of Happy Seeder Technology in North-Western India Rajbir Singh, Yadvinder-Singh and A.R. Sharma Conservation Agriculture: The Future of Indian Agriculture Raj Gupta, I.P. Abrol and A.R. Sharma

A.R. Sharma is Director of Research at Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Previously, he served as Director, ICAR–Directorate of Weed Research, Jabalpur (2012–17); and Professor and Head at the Division of Agronomy, ICAR–Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi (2009–2012). He possesses an unparalleled record of academic achievements throughout, and has made outstanding contributions in the field of natural resource management over the last 35 years of his professional career including nutrient and weed management, and conservation agriculture.