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Conservation Agriculture in South Asia

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Conservation Agriculture

Abstract

Conventional agriculture has put forth soil and crop sustainability to substantial soil degradation resulting in a concomitant decrease in the productivity of these systems. Conservation agriculture (CA) including minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and diversified crop rotations aimed to decrease and/or revert the effects of conventional farming practices like soil organic matter decline, soil erosion, soil physical degradation, and fuel use. However, in South Asia, the area under CA is very small compared to the rest of the world. The history of CA in South Asia starts when wheat plantation with zero tillage was first introduced in Indian and Pakistani Punjab in the 1980s. Currently, conservation tillage is being practiced on more than 5 M ha in Indo-Gangetic plains of South Asia. Conservation tillage reduced greenhouse gas emission and the production cost, and improved the soil health and crop yields. However, challenges like cultural and economic entrenchment of tillage agriculture in this region, weeds, insect pests, diseases, crop residue management, and reduced availability of suitable seeding and planting equipment are hindering its uptake. In this scenario, problem-oriented research and training, provision of conservation machinery at specific sites at proper time at affordable rates, and aggressive extension campaigns may help to boost up the uptake of CA in South Asia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agriculture, 38040, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Hafeez-ur- Rehman

  2. Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, 38040, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Ahmad Nawaz & Muhammad Farooq

  3. Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Abdul Wakeel

  4. The Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India

    Yashpal Singh Saharawat

  5. College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, 11451, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Muhammad Farooq

Authors
  1. Hafeez-ur- Rehman
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  2. Ahmad Nawaz
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  3. Abdul Wakeel
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  4. Yashpal Singh Saharawat
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  5. Muhammad Farooq
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Correspondence to Hafeez-ur- Rehman .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Farooq

  2. Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia

    Kadambot H. M. Siddique

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Rehman, Hu., Nawaz, A., Wakeel, A., Saharawat, Y., Farooq, M. (2015). Conservation Agriculture in South Asia. In: Farooq, M., Siddique, K. (eds) Conservation Agriculture. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11620-4_11

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