Conservation agriculture and its impact study: An overview

Indian agricultural scenario has surely undergone many drastic changes and has achieved many milestones. The Green Revolution transformed India from a food deficient stage to a surplus food market. To attain the target of sustainable agriculture, the scientists are now more serious than ever before. Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been identified as the immediate as well as long-term solution to achieve goals of sustaining productivity, natural resource base and economic growth of the farmers. For promoting conservation agriculture need is felt to develop various resource conserving technologies. RCTs like zero or reduced tillage practices save fuel and improve plot-level water productivity. Laser leveling reduces the unevenness of the field, resulting in better water application and distribution efficiency and better weed management. Sowing wheat with HST reduces emissions of greenhouse gases through lessened use of tractor, reduces number of irrigations and labour expenses. RCTs such as bed planting, DRS and tensiometer helps in saving water and labour cost. Thus, RCT's reduce land and water pollution/soil erosion, reduces long-term dependency on external inputs, enhances environmental management, improves water use efficiency, and reduces emissions of greenhouse gases through lessened use of fossil fuels.