Over a thousand agricultural experts from around the world, who had gathered in Delhi last week for the fourth congress on conservation agriculture, deliberated an issue that is vital for sustaining high-growth agriculture without clashing with the environment. Of late, modern agriculture has come in for considerable flak for causing possibly irretrievable damage to the earth\'s natural resources, notably soil and water, and for vitiating the environment through harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Conservation agriculture, involving some novel farm practices, is said to be an antidote for most of the ill-effects of intensive farming. For, it aims to not only reduce the damage to natural resources and the environment but actually reverse it. The resource conservation practices conceived for this include minimum or zero tillage, letting crop residues get back into the soil instead of burning them, immaculate land leveling to ensure the even spread of water, and applying only need-based fertiliser and water to crops.
Now, conservation farming
by , The Business Standard, 09 February, 2009