Is conservation agriculture a potential option for cereal-based sustainable farming system in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains of Nepal?

Dipendra Pokharel,Dinesh Panday,Thakur Prasad Tiwari,Hari Krishna Shrestha,Raj Kant Jha,Mahesh Kumar Gathala

doi:10.1080/23311932.2018.1557582

Abstract

A decline in land and water productivity, increase in the cost of cultivation, and labor-intensive practices are affecting the cereal-based farming system in Nepal, particularly in the Indo-Gangeti...

Highlights

The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) is a vast area of fertile land that includes around 255 million hectares across four major countries: India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh (Soneja, Tielsch, Khatry, Curriero, & Breysse, 2016)
The study confirms that Conservation agriculture (CA)-based practices in rice–wheat and rice–maize farming system, especially in the Eastern IGP (EIGP) of Nepal, can be a viable option for the farmers
Our findings show that it improves the crop productivity (8.11 t ha−1 as compared to 8.08 t ha−1 in rice–wheat and 13.1 t ha−1 as compared to 11.75 t ha−1 in conventional rice–maize), reduces the cost of cultivation (NRs. 78,395 ha−1 as compared to 102,727 ha−1), increased net benefits, reduces irrigation time for most of the crops, and decreases labor use per hectares (71 people day−1 ha−1 as compared to 106 for conventional)

Summary

Introduction

The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) is a vast area of fertile land that includes around 255 million hectares (ha) across four major countries: India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh (Soneja, Tielsch, Khatry, Curriero, & Breysse, 2016). The major cereal-based farming systems in this region, such as rice–wheat and rice–maize farming system are less profitable because of the shortage of labor, agricultural water, capital, and energy as a resulting rural exodus occurring in many Asian countries (Bhatt, Kukal, Busari, Arora, & Yadhav, 2016; Keil, D’souza, & McDonald, 2017; Mehla, Verma, Gupta, & Hobbs, 2000). Majority of the farmers in this region are adopting conventional agricultural practices, which are water-, capital-energy-intensive, and a serious threat to the sustainability of the cereal-based farming system (Bhatt et al, 2016) and crop production is influenced by numbers of factors like tillage, residue, nutrient, water, and types of cultivar (Duxbury, Abrol, Gupta, & Bronson, 2000; Panday, 2012). There is an acute shortage of agricultural labors, lack of quality inputs, sitespecific nutrient management, and pest management options for the mechanization and sustainable intensification in cereal-based farming system (Panday et al, 2018)

Methods

Results

Conclusion