Conservation Agriculture

The Indian Himalayan region is responsible for providing natural resources to a large part of the Indian subcontinent and contains varied flora and fauna. Major challenge for the next century will be battling climate change to ensure production of sufficient food for the global human population. Indian Himalayan region will be under an increased pressure to produce food resources for increasing human habitation. Climate change impact at the global level has become a major concern today in Indian Himalaya. In the regional context, climate change has contributed to unpredictable or erratic rainfall pattern, drying up of local springs and streams, species migration to higher elevations, shift of sowing and harvesting period of crops, emergence of invasive species and incidence of diseases/pests in crops as well as in fodder species. High levels of impact from climatic change was recorded for paddy, maize, wheat, oil seeds, cardamom, ginger, drinking water sources and springs and fodder trees. There is a need to develop a comprehensive master plan for strategically planning conservation agricultural practices, addressing poverty and food security in the wake of climate change impacts. Adaptation with climate change is critical to curb the adverse impacts on agriculture sector. Adaptation can reduce the vulnerabilities generated due to erratic climatic conditions. Conservation agriculture (CA) aims to conserve, improve and make more efficient use of natural resources through integrated management of available soil, water and biological resources combined with external inputs. It contributes to environmental conservation as well as to enhanced and sustained agricultural production. It can also be referred to as resource efficient or resource effective agriculture. The CA defined as minimal soil disturbance (no-till, NT) and permanent soil cover (mulch) combined with rotations, is a recent agricultural management system that is gaining popularity in many parts of the world. The CA act as a tool to mitigate the climate change, enhance C-sequestration, agricultural and environmental sustainability in the Indian Himalayas. The climate change problems have raised great interest in eco-friendly sustainable agricultural management practices. The use of CA is a promising solution for sustainable soil-plant-microbes, environmentally friendly agricultural production system. The studies on CA in sustainable agriculture, use of eco-friendly agricultural inputs, use of indigenous microbes protect from disease as well as nutrients deficiency. Research on improvement of CA is also conducted in order to increase effectiveness under unfavourable conditions; it's also enhancing agriculture and environmental sustainability. This proposed book entitled "Conservation agriculture: an approach to combat climate change in Indian Himalaya" provides a comprehensive description and highlights a holistic approach for agricultural sustainability in Indian Himalayas through various climate change mitigation by improved conservation agriculture practices and it's important for enhancement in Himalayas agro-ecosystem sustainability. This will be useful publication for agriculturists, researchers, teachers, agriculture students and also for policy makers.