Role of agronomy to meet out food demand of growing population under limiting water and land resource

1. ROLE OF AGRONOMY TO MEET OUT FOOD
DEMAND OF GROWING POPULATION UNDER
LIMITING WATER AND LAND RESOURCE
RAMNATH POTAI
Ph.D Scholar
Dept. of Agronomy
INDIRA GANDHI AGRICULTURE UNIVERSITY-
RAIPUR, C.G
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTUE - RAIPUR

2. Contant
 Introduction
 Food demand for growing population in India
 Advances in crop production
 Advances in crop improvement
 Advances in resource conservation techniques
 Production support

3. Introduction
 Obtaining maximum production at minimum cost by exploiting the
knowledge developed by basic and allied/applied science.
 In present scenario traditional techniques are not much sufficient in
new agriculture world because farming is getting new challenges.
from biotic and abiotic factors.
 A new agricultural techniques and systems are getting popularity in
present farming because of their important benefits which can solve
all challenges on farming.
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4. Food demand for growing population in
India
Year 2022 Year 2050 Year 2065
Population 1.407 million 1.692 million 1.718 million
Per capital
food
demand
183
kg/annum
284 kg/
annum
300 kg/
annum
Total food
demand
333 million
tonnes
481 million
tonnes
515 million
tonnes
2
Sharad et al.,

5. Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
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6. Plant Management for Crop
production
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7. Intercropping
“Intercropping is the system of simultaneously growing two or
more crops on the same land area with a definite row arrangement.
However, it is very much important to ensure that component crops do
not compete with each other for space, moisture, nutrients, and solar
radiation”.
Cereal + legume intercropping provides a greater scope for
minimizing the adverse impact of moisture and nutrient stress in
addition to improving system productivity and soil health.
(Jayanta Layek, et al. 2018)
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8. Maize + Vegetable cowpea intercropping System
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Inter cropping
system can save
20-50 % of water
and land
especially under
the present
scenario of limied
resources and
climate change
Muhammad et al.,

9. Broadbed furrow cum sowing
Established Crop BBF
Soil and conservation in BBF
Broad- bed ridge and furrow method
To control erosion and conserve soil moisture
in the soil during rainy days
Suitable land slope is <3%
7
 35 % yield
increase in
soybean
 Minimize the
normal seed
rate 26-
30kg/acr up to
required 20-22
kg/acr

10. 10
• Increases rice productivity
• Increases water use efficiency -
saves 25% water requirement
• Adoption of Dapog Nursery (1/8th of
the nursery area)
• Alternate wetting and drying
• Transplanting 14 days old seedlings.
• Minimizes inputs & labour
requirement
• Saves cost of cultivation (25 to 30%)
System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
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11. 9
Sustainable
Sugarcane Initiatives
(SSI)
• Augment the productivity
• Reduce input
requirement - planting
material (Chip bud
Nursery), water (Micro-
irrigation)
• Increase fertiliser use
efficiency - precision
farming
• Mechanised harvesting
possible
Trash Mulching in
Sugarcane - in-situ moisture
conservation

12. Particulars Conventional SSI
Seed/Setts/acre 60,000 single buds
(30,000 two budded sett)
4000 kg of cane/acre
5000 single budded
chips(500 kg of cane/acre)
Nursery preparation No Yes
Spacing (Row to Row) 2.0 -3.0 ft. 5.0 ft. minimum
No.of tillers/plant 6 - 8 15 – 20
Water requirement More water
(Flood irrigation)
Less
(Drip fertigation)
Scope for inter crop NIL Possible
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13. 11
Red gram Transplantation
• Nursery for one month- saves
irrigation water
• Yield upto 1100 kg/ acr

14. “Intensive Vegetable Production
technique on farm bunds
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15. Efficient Rice Bund Management
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16. Vertical farming -
Vertical farming is the practice of producing food and medicine
in vertically stacked layers, vertically inclined surfaces and/or
integrated in other structures (such as in a skyscraper, used warehouse or
shipping container).
Vertical farms attempt to produce food in challenging
environments, like where arable land is rare or unavailable.
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Avrage produces
240 time more
crop yield while
using 99% less
land
95 % less water
and chemical

17. 1. Hydroponics:-
It is a method of growing food in water using mineral
nutrient solutions without soil. The basic advantages of this
method is that it reduces soil-related cultivation problems like
soil borne insects, pest and diseases.
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 The hydroponic
lettuce is about 300-
400 tons/acr yield
 Hydroponic tomato
is about 180 – 200
tons/acr yield

18. 2. Aeroponics:-
In aeroponics, there is no growing medium and
hence, no containers for growing crops. In
aeroponics, mist or nutrient solutions are used instead
of water. As the plants are tied to a support and roots
are sprayed with nutrient solution, it requires very
less space, very less water and no soil.
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19. 3. Aquaponics:-
It is a bio-system that integrates recirculated aquaculture (fish
farming) with hydroponic vegetable, flower, and herb
production to create symbiotic relationships between the plants
and the fish. It achieves this symbiosis through using the
nutrient-rich waste from fish tanks to “fertigate” hydroponic
production beds.
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20. Plant Management for Crop
Improvement
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21. 18
Transgenic technology

22. 22
BT COTTON
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117.47 lakh ha
436 kg/ha
Fruit and shoot borer resistant
Maize borer resistant
Pink bollworm resistant

23. Plant Management for
Resource Conservation
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24. Resource Conservation
Resource
conservation
Water
Nutrient
Environment
Energy
Soil
(Meena, 2013)
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25. Fertigation
“Fertigation is nothing but the use of this drip irrigation system to
deliver fertilizers as well. In fact, drip irrigation can also be used in
multiple ways and terms such as ‘chemigation’ and ‘nutrigation’ have
also become common these days
 Save from 20-50% on water usage.
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26. 21
Nutrient Fertilizer use efficiency (%)
Soil
application
Fertigation
Nitrogen 30-50 95
Phosphorus 20 45
Potassium 50 80

27. 27
24
Nano fertilizer
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28. efficiency,
minimizing
productivity
unintended
and profitability
impacts on wild life
while
and
Precision Farming-
Precision agriculture (PA), satellite farming or site specific crop
management (SSCM) is a farming management concept based on
observing, measuring and responding to spatial variability (inter and
intra-field) and temporal variability in crops 23

29.  The impact of a no-tillage or zero tillage system on conserving
soil moisture in the top 5 cm following 12 years of various tillage
systems was documented in a study by Karlen et al. (1994) in which
the gravimetric soil moisture of the no-tillage system showed
gravimetric water content of 32.4%, compared to for mouldboard
plough systems.
Zero tillage
29 24

30. Case Study
Centre Diesel (l/ha) Tractor time (hr/ha)
Zero
Tillage
Traditiona
l Tillage
Saving
(%)
Zero
Tillag
e
Tradition
al Tillage
Saving
(%)
Ludhiyana 12.5 33 62 2.25 11.2 80
Pantnagar 7.1 67.8 98.5 1.6 13.7 88
Jabalpur 9 84 89 3 24 87.5
Dhaiman et al. 2003
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31. Use of organic mulches to conserve the soil moisture
The organic mulches influence the soil water cycle by
increasing retention and percolation and reducing evaporation. The bare
soil is more vulnerable to wind, soil radiation and rain activity. Mulches
improve soil absorption capacity because they decrease the rain
compacting force. Moreover the absence of a ground cover increases
soil evaporation, with consequent water loss and supplemental
irrigation needs (Chalker-Scott, 2007).
The main strength of mulching is to conserve soil moisture
by reducing surface evaporation and controlling soil erosion.
(Qin et al., 2016).
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32. Use of organic mulches to conserve the soil
moisture
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33. 28
Production support
GOVERNMENT’S INITIATIVES
 National mission for Sustainable agriculture
 Pradhan mantri krishi sinchai yojana
 One nation one fertiliser
 Drone technologies
 Pradhan mantri kisan samruddhi kendras.
 Drone technologies
 Paramparagat krishi vikas yojana
 Longa –term irrigation fund and micro irrigation
fund
 Agriculture infrastructure fund
 Minimum support price (MSP)
 Pradhan mantri fasal bima yojana

34.  Enhancing agriculture
productivity especially in
rainfed areas focusing
on
 Integrated farming ,
Resource
consrvvation.
 On-farm water
management
 Soil health
management.
 Climate change and
sustainable agriculture:
monitoring,modeling
and networking.
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35. 35 30

36. Affordably priced, high-
quality Bharat brand
fertilizer will be made
available to farmers
through the “One Nation,
One Fertilizer” (ONOF)
scheme.
Sell fertiliser under a
single brand name of
Bharat
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NBS
N - 91.96 Rs/kg
P - 72.74 Rs/kg
K - 25.31 Rs/kg
S - 6.94 Rs/kg

37. 32
Drone technologies

38. Conclusion
 Agronomy plays an important role in health management of
crops.
 In modern agricultural systems, various techniques can be
applied for getting higher or sustainable yield in farmers field
under good to minimum plant health management practices.
 Technologies like inter cropping, use of PGR’s, residue
incorporation in soil, zero tillage, fertigation, broad bed
furrow may be helpful for farmers for enhanced B:C ratio.
 These technologies should be popularized among farming
communities for sustainable development of farmers and
ecological balance in various farm ecosystem.
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