Application of Resource Conserving Technology (RCT) in Wheat: A Promising Better Option Particularly During Winter Season in West Bengal

Intensive efforts for suitable adoption and self-styled promotion of modern concept of conservation agriculture have been undertaken in India for nearly last one and half decades and it is only in the last few years our farmers have started to think of and accept the technologies. Soils under conservation agriculture have high water infiltration capacity reducing surface runoff, soil erosion and improving ground water recharge. To convince the farmers to shift from a system of crop production that encourages tillage for centuries to the one in which tillage is reduced or even avoided has become a very hard obstacle before the successful adaptation of the technology. In the north western states like Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, and eastern states of UP, Bihar and West Bengal, development and adoption of Zero Tillage cum seed cum fertilizer drill machine for seeding wheat crop in Rice-Wheat system has been the indicator of such efforts. Area under wheat with this technology is now rapidly increasing in these states because it allows reduction in production costs, time and labour, particularly at times of peak demand such as land preparation and planting of the crop and helps in sustaining the productivity with judicious utilization of valuable resources. The State is suffering the yield gap of 45–66% for this crop at present. In order to cater to the needs of increasing requirement of production, reducing the yield gap is imperative and this technology can play a very promising role in this context.