ABSTRACT
International Center for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development (IFDC), Dhaka, Bangladesh
CONTENTS
24.1 Conservation Agriculture Defined .............................................................................. 358
24.2 Reasons for Reducing or Stopping Tillage ................................................................. 359
24.3 Why Maintain Permanent Soil Cover? ....................................................................... 361
24.4 Global Use of Conservation Agriculture .................................................................... 362
24.5 Current Farming Practices in South Asia................................................................... 363
24.6 Zero-Tillage Wheat after Rice Harvest........................................................................ 363
24.7 Permanent-Bed Planting in Rice-Wheat Systems .................................................... 365
24.8 Conservation Agriculture in Rice-Wheat Systems .................................................. 366
24.9 Issues for the Rice-Wheat Farming System .............................................................. 367
24.10 Discussion........................................................................................................................ 368
References ................................................................................................................................... 369
Although agriculture is an essential occupation needed to feed the world’s population,
it often has negative environmental impacts when practiced without regard to the
condition of the soils that it depends on. Intensive modern food production systems are
often accompanied by numerous adverse impacts on soil systems: loss of soil organic
matter (SOM), erosion by wind and water, reduced soil biological diversity, physical
degradation, poor nutrient-use efficiency, groundwater pollution, declining water
tables, salinization and waterlogging, greenhouse gas emissions, with accelerating
effects on global warming, air pollution, loss of biodiversity, and decline in factor
productivity.
