Conservation Agriculture Practices in Rainfed Uplands of India Improve Maize-Based System Productivity and Profitability

Pradhan, Anjan K.; Idol, Travis; Roul, Pravat Kumar

doi:10.3389/fpls.2016.01008

Cited by 20 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(31 reference statements)

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“…Poverty is especially prevalent among the scheduled tribes that live as smallholder farmers in the semi-arid uplands of the state, such as Kendjuhar [4,5]. These smallholder farmers grow primarily rice and maize in a rain-fed system with minimal nutrient input.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficiency of Conservation Agriculture Production Systems for Smallholders in Rain-Fed Uplands of India: A Transformative Approach to Food Security

Chan

Sipes

Ayman

et al. 2017

Land

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Abstract:With challenges from global climate change, it is imperative to enhance food production using climate-smart technologies and maximize farm efficiency. Fifty-six households in Rudhiapada and Badamahulidiha, Odisha, India were selected to evaluate farmers' efficiency using conservation agriculture (CA) cropping system practices. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) and regression analysis were used to estimate farmer efficiency and the determinants of yield. Conventional tillage with the local maize cultivar was compared to reduced tillage with improved maize cultivar and maize intercropped with cowpea. Badamahulidiha outperformed Rudhiapada in yields for all cropping systems. This could be attributed to lower input use and exposure to NGO training. The current efficiency level of farmers' productivity was between 0.4 and 0.7. Inputs such as labor, seed, and fertilizers were found to be significant in increasing yield except for female labor and phosphate. This finding suggests conservation agriculture cropping system is female friendly. The conservation agriculture cropping systems improved maize yields by 60% to 70% when compared to conventional farming system. Combining conservation agriculture practices with improving efficiency of farmers in optimal use of the inputs can contribute substantially to productivity, thus enhancing food security and nutrition in the face of climate change in India and other tropical areas.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficiency of Conservation Agriculture Production Systems for Smallholders in Rain-Fed Uplands of India: A Transformative Approach to Food Security

Chan

Sipes

Ayman

et al. 2017

Land

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“…A brief review on the effect of NT/CA practices on crop productivity and profitability is given in Table 5. Effect of CA on crop productivity demonstrated contrasting results varying from no effect to significantly higher yield (Jat et al, 2012;Pradhan et al, 2016;Paudel et al, 2014;Parihar et al, 2018). Retention of crop residue on the soil surface tends to decrease grain yield of the cereals, especially during initial years of CA implementation.…”

Section: Effect Of Ca On Crop Productivity and Profitabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

No-Till Farming and Conservation Agriculture in South Asia – Issues, Challenges, Prospects and Benefits

Somasundaram

Sinha

Dalal

et al. 2020

Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences

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Of late, intensive farming for higher food production is often associated with many negative implications for soil systems, such as decline of soil organic matter (SOM), increase in risks of soil erosion by wind and/or water, decline in soil biological diversity, increase in degradation of soil physical quality, lower nutrient-use efficiency, high risks of groundwater pollution, falling water tables, increasing salinization and waterlogging, in-field burning of crop residues, pollution of air and emission of greenhouse gases (GHG), leading to global warming, and decline in factor productivity. These negative implications necessitate an objective review of strategies to develop sustainable management practices, which could not only sustain soil health and ensure food security, but also enhance carbon sequestration, decrease GHG emissions, and offer clean and better ecosystem services. Conservation agriculture (CA), that includes reduced or no-till practices along with crop residue retention and mixed crop rotations, offers multiple benefits. Adoption of a system-based CA conserves water, improves and creates more efficient use of natural resources through the integrated management of available soil nutrients, water, and biological resources, and enhances use efficiency of external inputs. Due to apparent benefits of CA, it is increasingly being adopted and now covers about 180 million hectares (Mha) worldwide. However, in South Asia its spread is low (<5 Mha), mostly concentrated in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). In this region, one of the serious issues is "residue burning" with severe environmental impacts. A huge amount of crop residue left over after the combine harvest of rice has forced farmers to practice widespread residue burning ($140 M tonnes) to cope with excessive stubble and also for timely planting/sowing of succeeding crops. In rice-wheat cropping systems, which cover more than 10 Mha in the IGP, CA practices are relatively more accepted by farmers. In these systems, any delay in sowing leads to yield penalty of 1-1.5% per day after the optimum sowing date of wheat. The strong adoption of CA practices in IGP is mainly to overcome delayed sowing due to the field preparation and control of weeds, timely planting, and also escape from terminal heat during the grain-filling stage. Major challenges to CA adoption in South Asia are small land holdings (<1 ha), low technological reach to farmers, nonavailability of suitable farm implements for small farm holders, and the staunch conventional farming mind-set. South Asia region consists of many countries of diverse agro-ecologies with contrasting farming systems and management. This region, recently known for rapid economic growth and increasing population, necessitates higher food production and also hot-spots for adoption of CA technologies. Therefore, in this review critically explores the possibility, extent of area, prospects, challenges, and benefits of CA in South Asia. HIGHLIGHTS Conservation agriculture (CA), consisting of reduced or no-tillage a...

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“…25 kg −1 and NRs.100 kg −1 respectively. The maize equivalent yield was calculated by applying the following formula (Pradhan et al, 2016) Maize-equivalent yield (t ha -1 ) =…”

Section: Crop Harvest and Yield Estimationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation agriculture for productivity and profitability of wheat and lentil in maize based cropping system in far western Nepal

Prasai

Sah

Gautam

et al. 2018

J Bangladesh Agric Univ

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Zero tillage with crop residue retention which is principle of conservation agriculture (CA) can be a good practice to achieve sustainable and profitable crop yield without affecting soil fertility. This approach was not tested in wheat and lentil based maize-mungbean system in far western Nepal. The effect of CA in the maize-wheat-mungbean and maize-lentil-mungbean cropping systems with two varieties of each of wheat and lentil was studied at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Bhagetada, Dipayal, Doti district of Nepal for two years (2015 and 2016). The average grain yield of wheat and lentil under the CA system was 5.92% higher (2.86 t ha−1) than that of conventional agriculture (2.70 t ha−1). The CA under maize-wheat-mungbean cropping system produced 7.90% higher grain yield (4.78 t ha−1) compared to conventional agriculture and the CA under maize-lentil-mung bean cropping system gave11.11% higher grain yield (1.00 t ha−1). Maize-wheat-mungbean cropping system, conservation agriculture and WK 1204 variety of wheat produced 9.34% higher yield (4.80 t ha−1) than conventional agriculture whereas maize-lentil-mungbean cropping system, conservation agriculture and Khajura1 variety of lentil recorded 11.96% higher grain yield (1.03 t ha−1) than conventional agricultural. The CA system produced 114% higher net benefit (NRs. 40200 ha−1) than that of conventional agriculture. Higher yields of crops in CA system could be associated with improvement of soil properties for minimum soil disturbance and residue retention and profitable yield for reduced cost of production. Thus, the 2-year study suggests that no tillage with previous crop residues retention and use of higher yielding varieties is a potential crop cultivation approach for the maize based cropping system in light textured soil of river basin area of Nepal in order to sustain soil health, crop yield and farm economy. J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 16(3): 403–410, December 2018

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Conservation Agriculture Practices in Rainfed Uplands of India Improve Maize-Based System Productivity and Profitability

Cited by 20 publications

References 26 publications

Efficiency of Conservation Agriculture Production Systems for Smallholders in Rain-Fed Uplands of India: A Transformative Approach to Food Security

Efficiency of Conservation Agriculture Production Systems for Smallholders in Rain-Fed Uplands of India: A Transformative Approach to Food Security

No-Till Farming and Conservation Agriculture in South Asia – Issues, Challenges, Prospects and Benefits

Conservation agriculture for productivity and profitability of wheat and lentil in maize based cropping system in far western Nepal

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