Conservation Agriculture under different Agro-ecosystems of India

Tek Sapkota, R K Gupta and ML Jat

Outline● Challenges of Agriculture

● CA as paradigm shift in production system

● Major AEZ, soil types, crops and production challenges

● Strategic interventions to address the major production challenges from the stand point of CA

● Some examples of CA based management to address the production challenges

● Take home messages

• Increase Production• Adapt to climatic variability• Mitigation of climate change

Triple Challenge of Agriculture

“In a world of plenty, no one, not a single person, should go hungry. But almost 1 billion still do not have enough to eat. I want to see an end to hunger everywhere within my lifetime.”– Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General

Challenge of Agriculture: Food Security

“…..feeding a world population of

9.1 billion people in 2050

would require

raising overall food production

by some

70% between 2005 and 2050

Production in the developing countries would need to

almost double……”

Blue: extreme risk, Green: medium to low risk, Map source: Maplecroft

Challenge of Agriculture: Climate variability risk

Challenge of Agr: GHG emission reduction

IPCC 4th Assessment Report (2007)

Forestry – mainly CO2 from deforestation for more agriculture

Agriculture + forestry:

30% of anthropogenic GHG emissions

Ag production in India further constrained by:

• Natural resources degradation (water, soil quality)

• Input : output ratio and cost (decreasing FP)• Increasing cost of energy and other resources• Competition of Ag sector with other sector for

energy, water and other resources• Land holding- getting smaller and fragmented• Agricultural work force- farmers age?

Paradigm Shifts in our production system

1.Excessive tillage and soil erosion

2.Residue burning or incorporation

3.Uneven field levels

4.Free-wheeling of farm machinery

5.Green manuring (incorporated)

6.Use of ex-situ FYM/composts

7.Crop based management

8.Single or sole crops

9.Environmentally detrimental

●Drastically reduced tillage/erosion

●Surface retention of residues

●Precisely leveled fields

●Controlled traffic

●Brown manuring (surface drying)

●In-situ Use of organics/composts

●System based management

●Diversification: Inter-relay crop

●Environmental friendly

From To

Adaptation

Food security

Mitigation

Contributes to increase food production, adapt to climatic variability and have large co-benefit in mitigation

CA

CA to address triple challenges faced by Agriculture

Minimum mechanical soil disturbance

(the minimum soil disturbance necessary

to sow the seed)

1

Conservation Agriculture defined

Permanent organic soil cover

(retention of adequate levels of crop residues

on the soil surface)

2

Diversified crop rotations including cover crops

(to help moderate possible weed, disease and pest

problems)

3

Con

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atio

n ag

ricu

lture

syst

ems

CA-Location specific and knowledge intentisve

Ecosystem

AER States Represented

Soil types Major crops Major production constraints

Hot semi-arid

4,5. Northern plains and central highlands, Gujarat plains

Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, UP, MP,

AlluviumMedium to deep black soil

Wheat, rice pulses, maize, Millet, cotton, S cane

Declining water tables, terminal heat, herbicide resistance

Sub-humid to humid

9-13, northern plains, central highlands, eastern plains and hills

Punjab, UP, Bihar, Orissa, W. Bengal, Jharkhand

Alluvium, Red & Yellow

Rice, wheat, PP, S cane, millets

Soil erosion, water logging, Declining water tables, terminal heat, gravelly sub-soil

Hot arid 2. Western Plains3. Deccan plateau

J&K, HP, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, AP, KN

Desent and saline, Red & Black

Millet, sorghum, fodder

Erratic rainfall, acute draught, nutrient imbalance soil salinity

Hot semi-arid

6, 7. Deccan plateau KN, AP, MP, Maharashtra Kerala

Medium to deep black soil

Millet, oilseed, rice, cotton, S cane

High production cost, dry spells, narrow workable range, Low pl population

Humid to per Humid

15, 16. Eastern plains and hills

WB, Assam, Alluvium Rice, millets, maize, potato & plantation

Soil erosion, small marginal land, excessive rainfall

Costal 18,19. eastern and western coast

eastern and western coast

Costal alluvium Rice, coconut, tapioca

Water inundation, saline marshes

Major AEZ, soil type, major crops and production challenges

Summarize the problems in major category

Production challenges Cause Technologies to address these challenges

Dwindling water resources, flooding during summer

Climate change, inappropriate water management

Water Smart

Nutrient losses through leaching, run-off, erosion and emission

Inappropriate nutrient management,blanket application, monoculture, erratic rainfall

Nutrient Smart

Erratic rainfall pattern, increased temperature,

Climate change Weather Smart

Lack of weather forecast, inappropriate technology transfer

Lack of adequate infrastructure, limited use of modern technologies in technology transfer

Knowledge Smart 

GHG emission Unnecessary fossil fuel burning, residue burning, Carbon mining

Carbon Smart

Increasing energy demand, increasing cost of energy

Land fragmentation, unnecessary tillage, water pumping etc

Energy Smart

Summary of the major challenges, their cause and technologies to address them

5

Strategic Entry Points for CA and Potential Interventions: A Conceptual Framework

5. Labor, Energy shortages, High production cost•Minimal tillage•Zero tillage•Raised bed•Double no-till system•New Machines

6.Diversification and ‘Fallows’•Relay/ Para cropping•Crop substitution•Cotton –wheat) •S.Cane –wheat )• Rice Fallows

7. Herbicide resistance / Weed mgt.•Test new molecules•Integrated weed management approach•Crop rotation

8. Net works and Capacity Building

•Public –Private partnerships•Trainings•Traveling seminars •SMS service

1. Water 2. Rainwater 3. Nutrient 4. Terminal Heat shortages Management Imbalances tolerance

•In-situ moisture conservation

• Groundwater recharge

•Watershed approach

• Conjunctive use of nutrient inputs

• LCC/ SPAD/ GS• Super granules

• Cultivar choices • Seed priming• Water schedules• Residue manage.

• Laser land leveling

• Raised beds• DSR & remove

puddling• Micro-irrigation

Ecosystem AER Major production constraints

Strategic interventions

Hot semi-arid 4,5. Northern plains and central highlands, Gujarat plains

Declining water tables, terminal heat, herbicide resistance

Water smart (DSR, alternate cropping, raised beds), irrgn mgment, LL, residue mulching, short duration vars, timely planting, integrated weed mgmt

Sub-humid to humid

9-13, northern plains, central highlights, eastern plains and hills

Soil erosion, water logging, Declining water tables, terminal heat, gravelly sub-soil

Water smart (DSR, alternate cropping, raised beds, use of residual moisture), irrgn mgment, LL, residue mulching, short duration vars, timely planting

Hot arid 2. Western Plains3. Deccan plateau

Erratic rainfall, acute draught, nutrient imbalance, soil salinity

Mulching, Nutrient smart (SSNM), crop diversification,

Hot semi-arid 6, 7. Deccan plateau High production cost, dry spells, narrow workable range, Low pl population

Zero-tillage, integrated weed management, SSNM

Humid to per Humid

15, 16. Eastern plains and hills

Soil erosion, small marginal land, excessive rainfall

Crop diversification, terracing and crop geometry,

Costal 18,19. eastern and western coast

Water inundation, saline marshes

Saline tolerant crops, bed planting

Summary of the major challenges, their cause and technologies to address them

Some examples of CA based mgmt to address production challenges in different AEZ

Source: Jat et al (2012)

CA beats the heat (NWIGP)

a b

a b

CA requires less water (across IGP west to east)

Management practices Wheat Yield (t/ha) CT 1 irrigation 3.75 (+0.79) CT 2 irrigation 3.82 (+0.81) CT 3 irrigation 4.24 (+1.03) CT 4 irrigation 5.50 (+0.10) CT 5 irrigation 5.56 (+0.42) ZT without residue 2 Irrigation 4.36 (+0.20) ZT full residue 2 irrigation 5.19 (+0.29) ZT partial residue 2 irrigation 4.87 (+0.26)

Source: Results compiled from on station and farmers’ field trials in IGP

Enhancing Productivity of Cotton-Wheat system

● Early and short stature cotton cultivars

● Slight alteration planters to increase clearance height to plant wheat over the cotton

Maize based system to address water issues

Machine transplanting of rice without puddling

Emission per ha (A) and per Mg wheat averaged over two years (B) under different nutrient management strategies in conventional and no-tillage wheat production systems

Total estimated GHG emission in wheat production

• Transformation in Ag. Production: food security, adaptation and mitigation

• CA is resource saving production system combined with other interrelated production practices such as IPM, INM, IWM etc

• CA based production system should be formulated based on local pedo-climatic and socio-economic condition-but the basic principles remain the same

• CA based management has been successful under various production system of different AEZ of India

• CA is knowledge intensive and adoption may be gradual

• Enabling policy environment needed

Take Home Message

http://conservacion.cimmyt.org

Thank you for your attention