Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
T4a-15P - 1061
Conservation Agriculture in Himalayan States of India: Prospects and
Research Challenges Ahead
Raman Jeet Singh*, N.K. Sharma, Gopal Kumar, Trisha Roy, Uday Mandal, A.K.
Gupta, Rama Pal, J.S. Deshwal and M. Madhu
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195
*rdxsingh@gmail.com
Issues of conservation have assumed importance in view of widespread resource degradation
and the need to reduce production costs, increase profitability and make agriculture more
competitive. Conservation Agriculture (CA) which has its roots in universal principles of
providing permanent soil cover (through crop residues, cover crops, and agro-forestry),
minimum soil disturbance, and crop rotations is now considered the principal road to
sustainable agriculture (FAO, 2014). Soil tillage and particularly the plough, in hilly regions
of the world, has become part of the culture of crop production. Ploughing, cultivation and
tillage are often synonyms for growing a crop. Although the concept of CA is universally
applicable, this does not mean that the techniques and practices for hilly region are readily
available (Sharma et al., 2014). Depending on the specific farming situation and agroecological
conditions, the actual CA practice has to be developed locally. Especially, the crop
rotations, selections of cover crops, issues of integration of crop and livestock have to be
revealed and decided upon by the farmers in a given location. A diversity of problems arises,
very often around weed management, residue management, equipment handling and settings,
planting parameters like time and depth, which need to be addressed. Similarly, issues like
steep slope, undulating topography and fragmented land holdings in hilly region are to be
addressed which are major constraint in adopting CA. CA needs to be understood in a
broader perspective in Himalayan states of India. It should be practiced in such a way that
both soil and water conservation methods are mutually reinforced (Sharma et al., 2005).
Although favourable results have been obtained with reduced tillage/no-tillage systems in
many cases, there are some problems associated with them in adopting it to hilly region. One
major problem in hilly regions is limited availability of crop residue and its utilization for
feed and fuel. Reduced tillage systems of developed countries/Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP)
cannot be copied in toto without modification in India/hilly states especially in sloping
agricultural conditions, albeit with caution and the prevailing soil, climatic, social, and
economic conditions of the region must be considered (Jat et al., 2021). Therefore, the real
challenge lies in finding ways and means of sparing the crop residue for conservation farming
and evolving alternative strategies for meeting fodder requirements of livestock in the region.
CA practices has to be adopted holistically so that it minimizes soil loss, conserve water and
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