Haryana village shows the way in conservation agriculture

CA is an application of modern agricultural techniques to improve production while concurrently protecting and enhancing the land resources. This translates into agriculture that features: little or no soil disturbance, direct seeding into previously untilled soil, maintaining permanent soil cover by retention of crop residues, and crop rotation. It can, therefore, reduce the loss of soil while cutting production costs because of lower labour requirements and fuel consumption.

While the tale of CA in Brazil is well-known and has been replicated in Europe, India, too, is taking its first step towards adopting the practice.

A case in point is Tigra village, situated five km from Ateli on the Rewari-Narnaul road in Haryana, where farm productivity was taking a beating due to climatic fluctuations, land degradation and an unfavourable market system besides several other adverse factors, as is the case in many parts of India. The picture was bleak — until the village was introduced to CA some three years ago.

To begin with, ten farmers agreed to devote a small section of their land, roughly an acre each, to try out the new approach. They sowed seed and used fertilisers through indigenously made ‘no-till-seed-cum-fertiliser drill’, which caused minimal disturbance to the soil. While there was a better yield at the time of harvest, what convinced farmers more was a saving of Rs 1,000 per acre on tillage-related costs with no loss of productivity, said Dr Abrol. Consequently, zero-till seeding of wheat that was practised on only 25 acres in 2006, rose to 100 acres in 2007.

The credit for the effort goes to Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Mahendragarh, which is managed by Haryana Agriculture University, Hissar, and which provided the drill that cost approximately Rs 40,000. “Most farmers in Tigra now favour the practice, and have now agreed to bring the entire 1,000 acres sown area in the village under CA next year,” added Abrol. They, however, would need the requisite equipment, drills in particular, to make this happen.

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