Different practices for sustainable intensification of rice-wheat system

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Sustainable intensification options for rice-wheat system
Article id: 23161
Ayesha Fatima1
, Basant Kumar2
, Mohammad Hasanain3
1,3
Ph. D. Scholar, Division of Agronomy, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi-110012
2
Ph. D. Scholar, Department of Agronomy, Palli Siksha Bhavana, Sriniketan, Bolpur, W. B-731236
INTRODUCTION
In 2050, there will be around 9.8 billion humans to feed, these numbers combined with ongoing global
climate change impacts, the depletion of natural resources and changes in human consumption due to an
increase of economic livelihoods in developing countries are suggested to offer an almost insurmountable
challenge for the world in producing enough food for all while taking care of the environment and social
justice (Godfray et al. 2010). Expansion of agricultural land is possible only to a limited extent as farming
is already putting pressure on natural areas and is an important factor in deforestation resulting in losses
of biodiversity and increases in greenhouse gases emissions (Phalan et al. 2011). To solve these issues,
many stakeholders in food production are advocating for a sustainable intensification of agriculture.
Rice-wheat is the largest cropping system in India & South Asia (10.5 Mha & 13.5 Mha; respectively)
contributes about 40% of the country’s total food basket. This region has high economic growth, same
time suffers from deterioration of its natural resources in the region especially in, ‘The Green Revolution
Corridors’ (north-west IGP), are severely constrained due to mounting pressure to produce more food for
growing population and indiscriminate use of natural resources. Soil organic carbon (the major soil health
indicator) contents in most cultivated soils is low in this region, attributed to intensive tillage,
removal/burning of crop residues, mining of soil nutrients and intensive monotonous cropping systems.
Fertility fatigue, multiple nutrients deficiency, poor quality ground water, changing land uses,
urbanization and increasing pollution could affect the predominant cereal systems (for example rice-
wheat) niche directly and indirectly through their impacts on climate change variables in intensively
cultivated area of rice-wheat system in South Asia and especially in the north-west India (Kakraliya et al.,
2018).
What is “Sustainable Intensification”?
Sustainable intensification is emerging as the most frequently referenced new paradigm of
agricultural production, and it is continuing to gain momentum in scientific and development literature
(Pretty et al. 2011).
In the last decade, sustainable intensification has gained worldwide importance in many
international policy, education and research organizations. Some of the notable international
organizations that refer this term are the Food Climate Research Network in 2012, the Montpellier Panel
in 2013, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO 2011), United Nations General
Assembly in 2010, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in 2011, the
International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) in 2013 and USAID (2013).
Practices of Sustainable Intensification
Agronomic and land management practices associated with the term sustainable intensification are as
follows:
1. Conservation Agriculture
• Surface Retention of crop residues
• Minimum soil disturbance
• Diversified crop rotations

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2. Integrated crop management
3. Soil conservation
4. Integrated Farming System (IFS)
Conservation Agriculture (CA)
Conservation Agriculture is a concept for resource-saving agricultural crop production, which is
based on enhancing natural and biological processes above and below the ground. It aims to conserve,
improve and make efficient use of natural resources through integrated management of soil, water and
biological resources combined with external inputs. It can also be referred to as resource-efficient
agriculture.
CA results in various benefits such as building up of organic carbon; reduced erosion and saving
fertilized top soil from being washed away; enhancing input-use efficiency; reducing water requirement
by crops by cutting surface evaporation and greater water retention; checking non-point pollution of
nearby water bodies; reduction in GHG emissions and increasing GHG sequestration; reduction in use of
fossil fuels, etc.
Conservation tillage/Zero tillage is a tillage practice that fulfils some resource conservation
objectives. In zero tillage, soil is not ploughed, but sowing of crop is done by using a specially designed
seed drill. Zero tillage in cereal systems has helped to save fuel and water, reduce cost of production,
improve system productivity and soil health. Zero tillage wheat with rice residue retention is a promising
practice, but the double zero-till practice (in DSR and wheat) and triple zero-till system (in DSR, wheat and
summer mungbean) with respective crop residue retention should be advocated for long term
sustainability of the rice-wheat system.
Laser land levelling is a precursor technology for adopting CA practices like zero tillage, bed
planting. It provides an accurate, smooth and graded field on which irrigation water reaches to the tail
ends of the field in less time, thus saving irrigation water upto 20% and increasing nitrogen-use efficiency
under surface irrigation. There is 3–4% increase in net sowing area, improves yield by 5–15% and other
benefits (Jat et al., 2009).
Furrow Irrigated Raised Bed System (FIRBS) is another promising practice for sustainable
intensification. In this, crops are sown on raised beds alternated by furrows and irrigation is provided only
in the furrows. Thus, there is 30% less usage of water. These beds can be permanent and thus can be
used for subsequent years with little reshaping before sowing kharif crops. It provides an opportunity for
crop diversification through intensification and more sustainable use of water. Wheat cultivation in FIRBS
results in saving of seed by 25–50%, water by 25–40% and nutrients by 25%, without affecting grain yield
(Pathak et al., 2012).
Direct seeded rice is an alternative to puddle transplanting for saving in labour and water. It avoids
water required for land preparation/puddling and reduces overall water demand of the puddled
transplanted rice. Soil health is maintained or improved, and fertilizer and water use efficiencies are
higher in DSR (saving 35–40% irrigation water).
In brown manuring, both rice and Sesbania are sown together and allowed to grow for 25–30 days.
Rice is sown in lines with a seed drill and Sesbania is broadcasted on the moist soil. Sesbania plants are
knocked down with a herbicide (2, 4-D @ 0.25–0.50 kg/ha or Bispyribac-Na @ 20–25 g/ha). Sesbania
while growing with rice smothers the weeds, reduces herbicide usage and irrigation water, and supplies
15–20 kg N/ha with a fresh biomass of 10–12 t/ha. It facilitates better emergence of rice where soil
usually forms crust, conserves moisture with brown much, improves soil C content and increases farmers’
income.

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Crop diversification has been recognised as an effective strategy for achieving the objectives of food
security, nutrition security, income growth, poverty alleviation, employment generation, judicious use of
land and water resources, sustainable agriculture development and environmental improvement. It can
also alleviate second generation problems such as raising or lowering of water table, nutrient imbalance,
soil degradation, soil salinity, resurgence of weeds, insect-pests and diseases, etc. In the rice-wheat
system of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) fields generally remain fallow for 70–80 days after harvesting of
wheat and before sowing of rice. Introduction of a short duration crop such as summer mungbean (60-70
days) can utilize this period efficiently. It not only provides additional income but acts as a break crop and
adds some N through biological nitrogen fixation.
Integrated Crop Management
Trade-offs among SI indicators are inevitable. Increasing demand for food requires more inputs,
such as water, chemical inputs and labour. Negative implications in the social, economic, and
environmental realm may be the result. The most obvious one frequently addressed is between
producing more food (on same area of land) and minimizing environmental degradation (Smith et al.,
2017). For example, more of each of the inputs like pesticides and fertilizers will be required in case of
intensification. Although generally increasing input level results in negative implications for soil and water
due to runoffs, the intensified system may benefit from fertilizer residues from the additional fertilizer
application. Water requirements, on the other hand, will naturally increase in the intensified system. In
irrigated systems, this main strain or even deplete groundwater levels.
The intensified cropping system will require more labour. The farmer decides to hire labour or use
family labour. In the latter case, family members may be readily available which means that the
household can make more efficient use of this input. However, the initial fallow period may also be used
by family members to engage in other off-farm income-generating activities. Depending on the
opportunity costs of these activities, family members will continue doing so or hire wage labour.
To address these issues, it is advisable to go for Integrated Crop Management. It is an alternative
system of crop production, which conserves and enhances natural resources while producing quality food
on an economically viable and sustainable foundation. It suggests the use of good agricultural practices
(GAP) such as integrated nutrient management (INM), integrated water management (IWM), integrated
disease management (IDM), and integrated pest management (IPM), etc.
INM refers to the maintenance of soil fertility and of plant nutrition supply at an optimum level for
sustaining the desired productivity through optimization of the benefits from all possible sources of
organic, inorganic and biological components in an integrated manner. Blaise and Prasad (2005) reported
that integration of inorganic and organic sources of nutrients play an important role in maintaining the
soil health and soil fertility.
Only 35.2 % of the total cultivated area in India is equipped with full irrigation facility. Under
conditions of depleting water resources, methods which economize water will be more desirable. We
should emphasize on water-saving practices and consider following points while irrigating crops:
 Using micro-irrigation systems (sprinkler and drip) for higher water-use efficiency
 Proper irrigation scheduling
 Forecasting weather and irrigation water availability
 Adopting water saving techniques like FIRBS, skip furrow/alternate furrow irrigation, DSR,
mulching, laser land levelling, hydrogels, anti-transpirants, Jalshakti, etc.
An essential aspect of ICM is the effective control of damaging pests. Prevention through cultural
measures, rotation and variety choice should be the first line of defence. Much can be done to minimize
the impact of pests by prediction and evaluation. This may include weed mapping, disease or pests

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forecasts, trapping or use of diagnostic kits. Where control becomes necessary, all options should be
considered.
Integrated Farming Systems (IFS)
Farming system is a complex inter-related matrix of soil, plants, animals, implements, power,
labour, capital and other inputs controlled in parts by farming families and influenced in varying degrees
by political, economic, institutional and social forces that operate at many levels. The integration is made
in such a way that product of one component should be the input for other enterprises with high degree
of complimentary effects on each other.
Aims of IFS:
a) Livelihood security
b) Nutritional security
c) Income growth
d) Poverty alleviation
e) Employment generation
f) Judicious use of land and water resources
g) Sustainable agricultural development and soil health
h) Environmental improvement
Integrated Farming System is a viable approach for site- specific resource conservation, recycling of
all farm by products / crop residues / farm wastes, using organic farming to its maximum for increasing
efficiencies of available farm resources and saving environment from various type of land, water and air
pollutions and simultaneously improving livelihood of small farm holders as well.
REFERENCES:
[1]. Blaise D. and Prasad R. (2005). Integrated plant nutrient supply system-An approach to sustained after production. Indian
Journal of Fertilizers. 1(4): 37-44.
[2]. Godfray H.C.J., Beddington J.R., Crute I.R., Haddad L., Lawrence D., Muir J.F., Pretty J., Robinson S., Thomas S.M. and
Toulmin C. (2010). Food security: the challenge of feeding 9 billion people. Science. 327(5967): 812–818.
[3]. Jat M.L., Gathala M.K., Ladha J.K., Saharawat Y.S., Jat A.S., Kumar V., Sharma S.K., Kumar V. and Gupta R.K. (2009).
Evaluation of precision land leveling and double zero-till systems in the rice–wheat rotation: Water use, productivity,
profitability and soil physical properties. Soil and Tillage Research. 105:112–121.
[4]. Kakraliya S.K., Kumar S., Kakraliya S.S., Choudhary K.K. and Singh L.K. (2018). Remedial options for the sustainability of rice–
wheat cropping system. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry. 7(2): 163-171.
[5]. Pathak H., Aggarwal P.K. and Singh S.D. (Editors). 2012. Climate Change Impact, Adaptation and Mitigation in Agriculture:
Methodology for Assessment and Applications. Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. pp xix + 302.
[6]. Phalan B., Onial M., Balmford A. and Green R.E. (2011). Reconciling food production and biodiversity conservation: land
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[7]. Pretty J.N., Toulmin C. and Williams S. (2011). Sustainable intensification in African agriculture. International Journal of
Agricultural Sustainability. 9(1): 5–24.
[8]. Smith A., Snapp S., Chikowo R., Thorne P., Bekunda M., and Glover, J. (2017). Measuring sustainable intensification in
smallholder agroecosystems: A review. Global Food Security.12: 127-138.