Dynamics of Conservation Agriculture: a societal perspective

Abstract

In an era of unstable ecology and fragile environment, a sustainable cultivation approach is gaining gradual importance in place of conventional input-intensive agricultural production systems along with non-judicious use of agrochemicals and irrigated water. Many international development projects have started to promote Conservation Agriculture globally, in this perspective. Conservation Agriculture (CA) is mainly comprised of three interlinked principles, viz. soil disturbance to the null or minimal, permanent cover on soil using mulch or crop residues, and crop diversification. Day by day CA is getting more and more attention of farming community throughout the world. In 2015–2016 season conservation agriculture was adopted on about 180 MHA of cropland, about 12.5% of the total global cropland, i.e. 69% more than 2008–2009 in the world. The adoption behaviour of farmers has been reviewed in this literature. Key influencers on smallholdings, gender dimension and knowledge network, institutional and policy context are also theoretically presented in relation to CA system. Harmonizing this requires an understanding of the complex network of adopter-CA technology-adoption behaviour and global or national level policy formulation as well as strategic farm-level management.