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Doing their bit to keep soil fertile![qrcode]()
Jan. 2, 2020
Amid the increasing threat of global warming and dwindling natural resources, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is helping Haryana’s farmers in sustainable crop production to enhance their income. They are not only saving natural resources — water, soil, energy — but also reducing the input cost.
This initiative is being conducted under the project, Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), jointly run by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Karnal, and the Haryana Agriculture Department from 2012.
Karnal was picked as the model district under this project to implement climate- smart practices. At present, the CSA is being adopted in 25 villages by around 1,500 farmers, covering about 15,000 acres. Several other farmers of nearby villages are following suit.
Farmers are being trained to adopt agricultural practices to achieve the target of food security without deteriorating natural resources — zero tillage, residue management to control emissions of greenhouse gases, and the inclusion of moong in the crop cycle along with wheat and rice to maintain soil fertility. Farmers get advisories from experts on mobile phones.
Manoj Kumar Munjal, a farmer of Taraori who is practising climate-smart agriculture on around 120 acres, says he started CSA in 2012. “I do not burn crop residue but mulch it into the soil with a Happy Seeder for wheat sowing. I use site-specific nutrient management and the green seeker for nitrogen application. I have also adopted laser levelling, drip irrigation and bed planting for maize-wheat system to save water. These practices have reduced the input cost and are leading to savings, on an average, of Rs 5,000 per acre, along with higher yields,” said Munjal.
Vikas Chaudhary, another Taraori farmer who has been practising CSA on around 55 acres for the past seven years, says, “I am saving water and nutrients to a great extent. I am also reducing the extra use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers. I save Rs 3,000 per acre in input cost and get extra production of around Rs 3,800 per acre with these practices,” he says.
HS Jat, Principal Scientist, CSSRI, says in view of climate change and shrinking landholdings as well as groundwater aquifers, CSA will play a major role in sustaining crop productivity and farmer profitability without damaging soil quality.
In rice-producing districts, the groundwater table is declining by 0.5 metre every year. Climate-smart agriculture practices like drip irrigation, zero tillage, residue retention in the soil, site-specific nutrient and water management, bed planting and crop diversification can play a key role, he says.
He states that the CSSRI has been working on the project for the past 10 years and it has succeeded in increasing productivity by 10-15 per cent, reducing the input cost by 20-30 per cent and enhancing the net profit by 25 per cent.
ML Jat, Principal Scientist, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, who is coordinating the project in the state, says CSA is based on three pillars — food security, adaptive capacity and mitigation potential. The convergence of portfolios of CSA practices is required to increase crop resilience to climatic stress, while providing household food and livelihood security in the country. He says there is nutrient imbalance in the soil as farmers use fertilisers, especially nitrogen, haphazardly.
Efforts have been intensified since 2017 for sustainable crop residue management using Happy Seeder and other mechanisms. “We are taking this initiative to around 50 more villages with the help of Sonalika Social Development Agency under the CSR programme,” he adds. He claims the farmers are reaping dividends in the form of fertile soil, good water level and lesser emission of greenhouse gases.
Aditya Dabas, Deputy Director, Agriculture, Karnal, says the state government is offering subsidy on the purchase of machines for crop residue management in villages. Custom-hiring centres are being constituted for the purpose, he adds.
Project in limbo
The Haryana Government planned to develop 250 climate-smart villages — 100 in the first phase and 150 in the second — in 10 districts, where rice-wheat cropping system dominates, by 2020. The state Agriculture Department got approval from Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2017 under the national adaptation fund for climate change, but has not been able to implement the project properly so far. Now, as per sources, the department has sought extension for the project and will work with the help of Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar.
Source: The Tribune Trust
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