Conservation agriculture for improving crop productivity and profitability in the non-Indo-Gangetic regions of India

Conservation agriculture is considered a new paradigm in resource management. This subject has gained importance in view of the resource degradation problems, increasing cost of cultivation and declining/stagnant crop productivity under the conventional agriculture systems. A lot of progress has been made globally as nearly 160 M ha are covered under conservation agriculture (CA). The progress in India is slow despite research efforts over the past 2 decades in different parts of the country. The coverage under zero-till wheat grown after rice reached around 3 M ha during the early part of current century in the plains of north-western India, but the area is now either stagnant or declining. No serious efforts have been made to develop and promote CA in the non-Indo-Gangetic plains. However, sporadic efforts by some organizations have shown a great potential of this technology for improving productivity and profitability. This article discusses the successful adoption of CA in the vertisols of Madhya Pradesh, rice fallows of coastal Andhra Pradesh, Konkan region of Maharashtra and north-eastern hill region.