Conservation Agriculture: Next-Generation, Climate Resilient Crop Management Practices for Food Security and Environmental Health

The global population is projected to increase to between 8.9 billion (b) and 10.6 b by 2050, from a population of 7.7 b in 2019. To meet the increasing food demand of this growing population, an additional 59–110% more food will need to be produced by 2050. Therefore, improved agricultural management practices must be used by farmers to improve productivity. The next-generation practices including high-yielding crop cultivars require higher inputs, while lack of knowledge about how to correctly use these crop inputs has resulted in their imbalanced use which has contributed to ecological imbalances and deteriorating land productivity. Additionally, traditional rice cultivation in Eastern and South Asia results in the formation of a layer of low soil permeability in the plant root zone which increases soil compaction and reduces hydraulic conductivity, macroporosity, and the proportion of water-stable aggregates in the soil, all of which adversely affect the productivity of the crop following rice. Declining soil fertility and environmental pollution as consequences of traditional crop cultivation are already well reported across Asia. In contrast, conservation agriculture (CA) practices have the potential to maintain or improve the productivity and profitability of rice-based cropping systems, by managing the natural resource base (i.e. soil, water, energy) in an ecologically and environmentally sustainable manner. CA is based on the following three key principles: (1) minimal soil disturbance, (2) maintenance of permanent residues or crop cover, and (3) diversification of crops within rotational sequences and/or plant associations. This chapter highlights the concepts and prospects of CA as an emerging and climate-resilient agricultural technology for food and environmental security in Asia in the modern era of changing climate.