DOUBLING THE FARMERS INCOME THROUGH ZERO-TILLAGE TECHNOLOGY AND RESIDUES MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY OF WHEAT GROWERS IN BRINGING PRACTICE AND SCIENCE TOGETHER

H.C. CHAUDHARY¹, A.K. SINGH²*, R. KUMARI³, A. KUMARI⁴, A. ADARSH⁵, A.K. SINGH^6
1ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Saraiya, 843126, Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, 848125, Bihar, India
²ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Pipra Kothi, 845429, Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, 848125, Bihar, India
³NCOH, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, 813210, Bihar, India
⁴ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Saraiya, 843126, Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, 848125, Bihar, India
⁵ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Saraiya, 843126, Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, 848125, Bihar, India
⁶ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Pipra Kothi, 845429, Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, 848125, Bihar, India
* Corresponding Author : anilraupusa@gmail.com

Received : 01-11-2020     Accepted : 12-11-2020     Published : 15-11-2020
Volume : 12     Issue : 21       Pages : 10341 - 10344
Int J Agr Sci 12.21 (2020):10341-10344

Keywords : Sustainability, Productivity, Soil erosion, Cover crops, Zero till, Crop production
Academic Editor : Dr H. V. Pandya, Dr Rakesh Ranjan
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to Cereal System Initiative for South Asia (CSISA)-II project for the financial supports and thanks to Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, 848125, Bihar, India for facilitating logistical support. Authors are also thankful to ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Saraiya, 843126, Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, 848125, Bihar, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Zero tillage/No-till (ZT) cropping systems provide an opportunity to protect the soil from erosion and its residue management while contemporaneously maintaining high yields and contributing to food security. The historical aspects and the remarkable development of Zero-till systems in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar are reviewed. The adoption of Zero-till under the resource conservation technology has been a major turning point in reducing the cost of input and minimizes the soil erosion which leads to sustainable crop production in rice wheat cropping system. The process of adoption of Zero-till systems under the resource conservation technology in wheat cultivation is studied for knowing the effect of rice residue management under resource conservation technology on wheat productivity and their income after the adoption of zero till machine. It is full mechanized system for rice residue management in Rice-Wheat system at selected site of Muzaffarpur dist. of Bihar. In India, dissemination of conservation-based agricultural technologies has been underway for nearly two decades that made significant progress in agriculture even though there are several constraints that affect its adoption at local level and tremendous efforts have been made on Zero-till in wheat under a rice-wheat cropping system the Indo-Gangetic plains of Bihar. There are more payoffs than trade offs for adoption of conservation agriculture but the equilibrium among the two was understood by both adopters and promoters. It is observed that zero till technologies or conservation agriculture increase yields and income after adoption of RCT through improving the efficient use of resources and minimizes the cost of input as illustrated in figure and table. However, there are lot of constraints for promotion of conservation agriculture technologies, such as lack of appropriate seeders especially for small and medium scale farmers, competition of crop residues between conservation agriculture use and livestock feeding, burning of crop residues, non-availability of skilled and scientific manpower and overcoming the bias or mindset about tillage.

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