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Plant pathogens are an emerging threat to global food security leading to severe losses of economically important food crops. Rice, catering 40% of global population, faces tremendous yield and economic losses due to pathogen incidences. Today, agriculture practices are more bound to the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers for disease management and improved crop yields. Thus, the crop protection product sector is becoming a fast developing industry in order to compel with the growing population and need to minimize crop damage. This entails the usage of chemicals for crop protection in a judicious manner within the national, confined regulatory framework. However, the application of high doses of chemical pesticides and fertilisers in intensive farming practices negatively affects both human health and natural ecosystems. Hence, there is the urgent demand for the use of safer, environmentally sound and sustainable alternative technologies for profitable crop production. Therefore, the present chapter fosters majorly on the different biological and molecular approaches for disease management.

The conventional farming and agriculture deals with huge severity due to no use of technology or not absolute digitally transformed. The use of technology is playing a vital role among every industry, but the agriculture sector specially at the farm side requires technology advancements as well as intervention, lack of use of technology creates problems in agriculture growing, producing, and distributing, such as for food growing, crops harvesting, cost of operations, and time constraints because of manual processes, food safety, traceability, ownership, distribution among other problems are large at forefront. Smart farming or Smart Agriculture brings innovative and technological advance solutions to solve major problems among the whole process from farm to table. In this chapter, we are proposing a model BIoT-based Smart Agriculture, using Blockchain and Internet of Things to improve the crop and food efficiency and to enhance/ensure the entire supply chain of food from farmer, to food processor, to distributor, to retailer to consumer and recycling by putting special focus on data silos through automated programmatic smart contract.

In intensive agriculture, integrated plant nutrient management takes care of both crop nutritional needs as well as soil fertility considerations leading to increased crop yields through judicious consumption of inorganic nutrients in cropping systems. There is an urgent need to reduce the usage of chemical fertilizers and in turn increase application of microbes along with organic manures, which are known to improve the physicochemical properties of the soil and supply of nutrients in an available form to plants. Therefore, integrated use of microbes for nutrient and disease management, along with organic manures and inorganic fertilizers simultaneously has been suggested as the most effective method to maintain a healthy and sustainable soil, while increasing crop productivity. Inoculation with these methods was found to increase crop yields by ~10–15% under farm conditions. In many situations, this association also leaves substantial amounts of residual nitrogen fixation for subsequent cropping systems. Use of biofertilizers requires special skills and therefore farmers need to be equipped with the knowledge and skills of using various biofertilizers in order to promote sustainability. Hence, this chapter enlightens the reader on the effect of different microbes [Rhizobium, phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB), and plant growth promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR)] alone as well as in combinations with organic and inorganic additives on crop productivity and soil health.

Bananas are one of the most important crops for consumption as dessert and a staple food. In world trade for export, it ranks fourth among all agricultural commodities. The intensive cultivation of this crop warrants high yield and quality but requires extensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that not only pollutes the environment by residue accumulation but is also against the interests of sustainable agricultural practices. Integrated nutrient management is an economically sound preventive management option which could restore soil fertility and the productivity of banana. Other feasible management strategies include the use of resistant cultivars and the introduction of microorganisms or their mixtures in the rhizosphere to protect them against diseases, thereby leading to improved establishment as well as overall performance. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the strategies for the management practices to control the soil-borne pathogens in banana besides maintaining soil fertility.

Increased uses of resources with less use of manpower are linked with growth in manufacturing of different commodities and also with industrial farming. The model of linear economy, which is based on the manufacturing of goods and services, tells that energy with different commodities production always leads to generation of waste. However, circular economy approach has been recently replaced the linear economy approach, because of its sustainable development approach. It promotes the sustainable use of resources rather than wasting the resources. This approach is based on the ‘close to nature’ model, in which the main motive is to minimize the waste, and also this waste should be reused and recycled. On this circular economy approach, an idea of circular bioregions has been derived in the Lodz declaration held in Poland. This declaration gives an idea of bioregions, a sustainable renewable energy system including biorefineries and distributed prosumer energy for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (Lodz Declaration of Bioregions 2016). Numerous problems associated with underdeveloped nations and more importantly in industrially advanced nations are declining water quality, overproduction of waste or overuse of artificial fertilizers in the agricultural practices, so that CB concept and sustainable economic development become most significant in these places (Jezierska-Thole et al. 2016). The global atmospheric CO2 concentration is exceeding due to growing overexploitation of natural resources in terms of burning of non-renewable fuel sources, industrial development and temporal changes in land use and land cover (LULC) (Raupauch et al. 2007; Giri et al. 2018; Giri and Pant 2019a). The negative effects of human induced variation in climate will be changed in the seasonal weather pattern and increased in sea water level (Solomon et al. 2009). So the above-mentioned concept of circular bioregions is closely associated with production of Biochar and its various applications with the aim to mitigate the impact of climate change by reducing the CO2− emissions. The complete decomposition of biomass brought about by high temperatures in the oxygen absence (pyrolysis) for producing carbon-rich concrete material is called Biochar (Antal and Gronli 2003). Biomasses used in this process are organic wastes, agricultural wastes, livestock dung, etc (Lehman et al. 2003). The improvement in soil quality, enhancement in agricultural sustainability concomitant and also reducing GHG emissions can be done through prompting Biochar application in farming practices. Biochar applications become popular recently because of its potential of carbon sequestration, betterment of physical condition of soil, reducing soil compaction, increasing nutrient uptake from soil and help in reducing NO2 emissions (Lehmann et al. 2005; Lehmann 2007). The broad difference in ambient production of carbon and carbon consumption of other compartments’ is attributed to the increasing concentration of atmospheric CO2 (9.5 Pg carbon per annum) (Peters et al. 2013; Giri and Pant 2019b). Therefore, it is important to create a substitute for the permanent accumulation of carbon which can be preserved for a longer period in the atmosphere. In order to draw out carbon present in the atmosphere and manufacturing of eco-friendly materials, biochar industrial manufacturing recently became a major part of the manufacturing plan for clean bio-energy. In the pyrolysis process of biomass, 50–80% of biomass is transformed into fuel compounds and/or fumes which can be used for bio-energy manufacturing. The biochar is the solid by-product converted from remaining 20–50% of the biomass that retains some remaining unprocessed material properties, and it has necessarily the composition of coal-type substances and polycondensed aromatic crystallites with scattered void space and ash (Dutta 2014).

Nanotechnology application in agriculture may serve to achieve sustainability towards global food production by enhancing more native nutrient mobilization, nutrient use efficiency, and maintaining soil health. Nanoparticle farming requires less nutrient, is less expensive, and produces more yield as compared to the conventional farming. It can regulate the nutrient delivery to the crops through the control release mechanisms. In general, 30% more nutrient mobilization in the rhizospheres and 2–20 times more efficiency of different nutrients were observed under nanoparticle farming. Plants that received nanoparticles are found to have overcome different abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought, cold, heavy metal, heat, flooding, etc. The miniature size, high specific surface area, and high reactivity of nanoparticles increase the bioavailability of nutrients. With the recommended doses of application they are found very safe and provide balance nutrition. They can also act as effective catalyst of plant and microbial metabolism.

Labour relations have shaped agricultural production in Ghana’s peasant economy. In the current neoliberal development era, where land is under siege, the labour question has become even more important in the evolution of labour regimes in agrarian areas. This chapter used qualitative and quantitative data from a three year agricultural research project to discuss the changing labour relations in the current conjuncture, and also to explain in what ways some older labour practices are changing and new ones emerging. We found that while poorer farmers still depend on family labour, the involvement of wives and children have different connotations. Wives’ work on farms remained unpaid and deemed part of their conjugal duties, while work of children is paid and regarded as intergenerational transfer of knowledge. Similarly, while wealthy farmers welcome their educated sons on farms, wives are pushed out so that the man could consolidate his hold on resources from the successful farming enterprise. The constellations in the family labour practices also have important implications for hired labour practices which continued to be centred on sexual division of labour which perpetuates the exploitation of female labour both in the household and on large farms. Additionally, increased wealth of an agricultural household deepens sexual division of labour in the household and pushes women further into reproductive roles. This chapter argues that commercial farming is inducing changes in labour relations, especially unfavourable gender and intergenerational transformations.

India is an agriculture-based country, and agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. More than half of the population depends upon agriculture. The majority of the farmers rely on conventional farming in comparison to natural or organic farming. To fulfil the food requirement, it is necessary to increase yield and production of crops. Different types of chemical fertilizers are used to increase total yield. Due to the large use of these fertilizers, heavy metal ions increased in the soil which may be toxic to animals and humans. The heavy metals are also present in city waste water (CWW) in toxic amount, and when this polluted water reaches to adjoining areas of the city, it contaminates the soil. When these heavy metals are absorbed by the plants, it may lead to some adverse effect on different growth parameters which directly affects the total yield of the crop. The quantity of these chemicals can be reduced with the help of microbes present in soil or by use of biofertilizers. This book chapter describes the importance of organic farming to maintain sustainable agriculture.

Bundelkhand region is largely characterized by shallow red soils, undulating topography, extreme weather conditions, and recurrent droughts, making the agriculture in the region more difficult leading to low crop productivity, crop intensity, and higher soil loss through erosion and runoff. Low moisture holding capacity of soils in the region makes it difficult to cultivate crops on residual moisture during post rainy season. This region consists of six districts of Madhya Pradesh (Datia, Tikamgarh, Chatarpur, Damoh, Sagar, and Panna) and seven districts of Uttar Pradesh (Jhansi, Jalaun, Lalitpur, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda, and Chitrakoot) of Central India which are jointly known as Bundelkhand region. Thus, conservation agriculture (CA) practices aims at minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and crop diversification and helps in decreasing or reverting the negative effects of conventional farming. CA practices reduce the production cost, greenhouse gas emission, soil erosion, and runoff losses and improve the soil health and crop productivity. Currently, CA has covered about

Since the 1950s, the world’s population has increased by more than six billion people. This exponential growth led to changes in the irrigated agricultural sector, the world’s largest user of water resources (70%), focusing on increasing food production to meet the growing needs of the population. With the green revolution, “industrial agriculture” appeared, transferring some of the industrial production principles to the farming sector in order to reduce year-to-year variability in harvests and increase production on a sustained basis. This has led to the specialization of farms in a single product (monoculture), the technification and intensification of these farms and the increase in the use of inputs. The digitalization of the agricultural sector, through the implementation of cutting-edge technologies, allows for the optimization of the use of key resources such as water, whose scarcity has become one of the most relevant and complex environmental global problems. Water consumption data collected on site, using different technologies, provides a real and transparent inventory of water use in irrigated crops. The water footprint obtained in accordance with the ISO 14046 standard (within the LCA methodology), jointly with the irrigation management information, allows knowing accurately the efficiency in the use of water of each crop production system. The installation of different devices to monitor water use in greenhouse tomatoes and citrus groves has made it possible to collect and quantify precisely the water used by these crops throughout the irrigation season. Having a real and verifiable water inventory during the growing season is essential to carry out a correct water footprint assessment and to establish strategies that allow better water management and efficient use of water, reducing its environmental impact at the farm level.

Burgeoning world population has pressurized the agricultural sector immensely. Fertilizer and pesticide usage injudiciously in conventional farming has adversely affected environment and human health. Globally coordinated sustainable agriculture is the way forward. Sustainable agriculture aims to maintain productivity, feed billions, and yet conserve the environment. Productivity devoid of environmental degradation, maintenance of agro-ecosystem health, and agro-biodiversity are essential for proper management of cultivated ecosystems. Soil dwelling microbial communities are key to resolving these concerns. A prominent rhizospheric microbial assemblage termed plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria contributes significantly to plant growth promotion and development. PGPR bioinoculants release and modify endogenic phytohormone levels, other biologically active molecules, solubilize or fix minerals facilitating nutrient uptake, helping crops overcome abiotic stresses. Further they control plant pathogenesis/disease by deploying antibiosis, rhizospheric competence, enzyme secretion, and induction of systemic resistance in host plants. Soil health and fertility are maintained owing to biofortification of nutrients. This translates to greater food security, social well-being, and human health. Bioinoculant viability and effectiveness are determined by the carrier material. Persistent research developing nontoxic, user-friendly bioformulations that can remain functionally viable during storage is pertinent to the continued large-scale application of PGPR. This chapter focuses upon the potential of four agriculturally important microbes—Azotobacter, Serratia, Bacillus, and Pseudomonas. Furthermore, the challenges to crop production by the usage of PGPR, problems in shelf life of bioformulations for commercial agriculture, and directions for future of PGPR research are highlighted.

Indigenous farming methods as a part of the indigenous knowledge system (IKS) are complex, environmentally friendly, sustainable, cost-effective, culture-specific and play a vital role in the cultivation of vegetables and livestock among indigenous communities. The use of IKS has been beneficial to those practising indigenous farming methods; however, its benefits are highly dependent on the agricultural models that are utilised. There is an association between the implementation of IKS in agriculture and the natural form of the products produced. The link of the two concepts of the method of farming and the form of products enables the increase of food production, with a positive impact on food security in communities. The focus of this study was to assess the impact that the usage of IKS has on sustainable agriculture and to establish how this impact also affects food security in the selected communities of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan. The study was conducted in the geographical area of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan, but in different localised geographical areas. The objectives of the study are: (1) To describe and identify challenges and issues faced in sustainable agriculture in selected rural communities in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan; (2) To identify best practices in using IKS ensuring food security through sustainable agriculture in selected rural communities in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan; and (3) To identify ways in which indigenous knowledge and its practices and innovations might enhance livelihoods in a manner that is ecologically sustainable, economically viable, and socially acceptable. The collection of data was done through semi-structured face-to-face interviews utilising a questionnaire as a guide. The interviews were conducted with farm owners and workers in different geographical areas of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan. The observation method assisted in reducing some of the challenges in this research, for example, the language barrier (with the majority of the participants, the interview had to be conducted in the local language of either Sepedi, Setswana, Zulu, or the local dialect informally known as “Pretoria taal”). Purposive sampling was used and the sample researched was from a small holder farmer database provided by the Agricultural Research Council-Vegetables and Ornamental Plants (ARC-VOP). The findings of the study can be a base for a more in-depth focus on the knowledge and the best practices that exist in the selected communities, which could reduce food insecurity and encourage the growth of agriculture in these communities and households. Although the data was collected in one municipality area, the location of each participant was in a different geographical area that allowed a much broader knowledge base and practices in the field of IKS and sustainable agriculture. The results indicated that although the participants appreciated the benefits of IKS, as it is associated with natural farming of produce, the benefits of modern technology could also be utilised where the combination of a variety of knowledge systems could enable the farmers to get more yield on their crops. The commercially focused farmers indicated that they utilised both methods in their agricultural practices to enhance production and meet the current food demand. The usage of IKS and other traditional agricultural practices seemed to be more prevalent in community-based farming rather than those in commercial farming. One of the underlined benefits of IKS sustainable farming, although IKS is only recently being documented, is that it gives an opportunity for communities to come together and share stories of success or failures and lessons learned. Indigenous knowledge is normally shared in the local language, which makes it easy to understand. The combination of modern technology and traditional farming techniques enables effective and faster farming activity using less energy. Hence, one of the recommendations is an in-depth study of how to utilise the positive and functional attributes of IKS to modern farming and to commercial agricultural practices. This can allow the enhancement of both schools of thoughts and yield positive results. For example, in the interview session with the representative and farming expert from Agri-Skills, the researcher got the opportunity to see farming tools designed by Agri-Skills, which incorporate traditional farming methods with the latest technology to enhance the farming process. These farming tools are mainly used in the rural farming areas, which have limited resources. The study thus recommends that the sharing of IKS and incorporating it with technology and modern agriculture can create a new dynamic, agricultural practice that will benefit commercial farmers, community or primary farmers, and households with functional gardens.

Hydroponics means growing plants without soil. As the quality of production in farming is decreases day by day, everyone demands nutrient rich food, but this demand cannot be fulfilled by using our traditional farming method. This method undergoes many problems. Some of them are availability of land and labor; another one is increased use of fertilizers which can affect quality of crop that in turn can affect the ability of soil fertilization. With poor soil fertility, the farmer can face many problems. He did not get production in huge quantity also the crop we will get is not nutrient rich. Other problems in traditional farming are frequent weather changes, rise in temperature, water pollution, etc. Under this condition, it will be very difficult in the future to grow a crop that will feed the entire population using traditional agriculture. We are using IOT technology which is very helpful to connect objects to the Internet for automation in farming. Hydroponics is an interesting new platform that requires less area for plantation and can produce more product than the conventional farming.

Soil is the most valued natural resource, which needs to be used until the existence of the world for our food production. There is a limited option to bring new land under crop cultivation. The finite land resource is decreasing continuously due to a new settlement, industrial, and other development activities. Intensive agriculture ensured food security, which, however, exerts huge pressure on arable land through increased frequency of crop cultivation, repeated tillage, and indiscriminate use of unbalanced agrochemicals. The resultant effects of long-term intensive agriculture are the depletion of organic matter (OM) and degradation of soils, which attributes to lower use efficiencies of agricultural inputs. It is anticipated that 60% more yields of cereals will be needed by 2050 contrasted with the current level. Because of poor soil health, it has become a great challenge to keep increased food production onwards. If the productive capacity of soils could not be maintained, the present civilization must be collapsed. Therefore, the soil needs to be kept alive by adding locally available organic amendments and adopting conservation tillage practices. Soil carbon (C) is the fuel and driving force of ecosystem functions. Application of organic amendments increases soil C, builds soil structure, enriches biological diversity, and contributes to reducing inorganic fertilizers in crop production. Rice straw is the most available residue in many countries of the world, which increases soil aggregate stability, organic C, and cation exchange capacity by 27.8, 45.5, and 27.2%, respectively, compared to sole inorganic fertilizer application. Poultry manure and cow dung were found effective to reduce soil acidity, which depends on the rates and frequency of their application. Conservation tillage like no-till, reduced tillage, and strip-tillage, etc. diminishes mineralization of OM and increases C accumulation in soil. No-till with residue retention has global demand, which is one of the best options of increasing soil C. No-till system alone can save about 70% energy and fuel consumption compared to traditional tillage. Rotation of crops, retention of residues, and adoption of other suitable resource conservation strategies further ensure good soil health and its productive capacity. The combined adoption of organic amendments and conservation tillage can revitalize degraded soils and bring multiple benefits including agricultural sustainability and mitigation of climate change.

Current farming situation incites to develop new farming techniques that are safer to the environment and sustainable from production point of view. Conventional farming seems not to be sustainable in the long run throughout the world. Sustainable farming techniques ensure the resource conservation (land, water, plant and animal genetic resources) for the future generation which is technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable. Environmental concern imparted a way to reinforce the traditional farming practices in the form of organic farming and is the need of the day around the globe. Organic farming practices are easily adaptable by the farming community except for the organic seed as it is not available purely. Hence, organic package of practices is of great significance for the seed production to make it readily available to the needy farmers. This chapter mainly focuses on the organic practices that can be followed for the production of seeds.

Agriculture waste has been used for the cultivation of commercial mushroom from historical years. Yet some limitations in producing efficient yield of the harvest especially for Volvariella volvacea cultivation remain unresolved. With different types of substrate used in the commercial farming of this mushroom, the biological efficiency of the mushroom is considered low compared to other species such as Lentinus sp., Pleurotus sp. and Agaricus sp. Thus, over the years, many attempts have been conducted to improve its biological efficiency using different approaches. In this brief review, major factors that limit the conversion of substrate to fruiting bodies will be discussed, while the current state-of-art for the cultivation practise for Volvariella volvacea will also be layout.

Since the inception of the green revolution during the 1970s, Vietnamese farmers converted their natural ways of farming into conventional agriculture using short-term rice and vegetables hybrids and intensive inputs of agrochemicals. Unfortunately, the Vietnamese society nowadays has a considerable concern about the side-effect of conventional farming on human health and the natural environment. There is a strong demand for safe food or organic food in urban areas as well as the rural communities. In response to this issue, the government has initiated the organic agriculture strategy for Vietnam in 2017 while growers and processors continue to practice organic agriculture for domestic consumption and exports over the last decade. Drawing on evidence from 36 in-depth interviews (qualitative research) with government officials, researchers, NGOs, media, processors and organic growers in Vietnam, this chapter aims to shed light on the organics industry. It places a spotlight on the perceptions of stakeholders with particular reference to (1) scope of adoption of organic agriculture, especially organic rice farming, (2) awareness of domestic and international standards and markets for organic food, (3) perception of government policies for the organic agriculture movement in Vietnam, and (4) the perception of current research activities on organic farming and practices inside the country. There is also a review of the literature and a profile of current research activities in key agricultural research institutions and universities in Vietnam is given.

Intensive agriculture and meat-based westernized diets have brought a heavy environmental burden to the planet. Legumes, or pulses, are members of the large Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family, which comprise about 5% of all plant species. They are ancient crops whose popularity both for farmers and consumers has gone through several stages of acceptance, and in recent years, legumes have regained their luster. This is due to a global understanding that: (1) farming systems need to promote biodiversity, (2) biological nitrogen fixation is an important tool to reduce the application of external chemical inputs, namely in the form of nitrogen fertilizers, and that (3) plant-based foods have fewer adverse environmental effects per unit weight, per serving, per unit of energy, or per protein weight than do animal source foods, across various environmental indicators. Legumes play a key role in answering these three global challenges and are pivotal actors in the diversification and sustainable intensification of agriculture, particularly in light of new and urgent challenges such as climate change. In this chapter, we showcase the importance of legumes as contemporary agents of change, whose impacts start in the field, but then branch out into competitive global economies, modernized societies, and ultimately, improved food security and human health.

Increasing population pressure and rapid urbanization have put added pressure on land for higher food production per unit area for ensuring food security, which has led to intensive agriculture resulting in deterioration in soil quality. To protect the soil from degradation and for its sustainable management, soil quality assessment strategies are required. Hence, monitoring of soil quality is important and can be achieved through assessment of physical, chemical, and biological parameters of soil. Among the different soil quality parameters, biological parameters are more responsive to changes in management practices. With the accessibility of new tools and techniques, assessments of microbiological parameters have become more rapid, reproducible, and informative. The shift in conventional methods like microbial biomass carbon and soil respiration to modern tools like molecular methods and high-throughput enzyme assay techniques not only gives more information about what is happening in an ecosystem, but also helps to formulate a strategy for sustainable land management for future.

Land degradation, singularly water erosion, is presently the main challenge for the agriculture of the Mediterranean basin. The combination of increasingly frequent extreme rainfall events and conventional farming practices coupled with steep slopes, poor soil structure and pauper plant cover are the elements that explain the development of water-driven soil erosion. The rainfed fruit crops with conventional practices register soil erosion values much higher than soil formation rates, affecting crop productivity. That is, runoff and soil losses are especially important in arid and semi-arid areas of the Mediterranean zones, where both these natural resources are the limiting factors for successful development and productivity of agroecosystems. Moreover, the forecasts for this region anticipate a more significant water shortage in the coming years with a possible severe impact on crop production. In this context, the use of soil and water conservation systems at wider scale are needed to reduce erosion and runoff, to increase the availability of water and plant nutrients, to avoid soil degradation and improve soil productivity. Because these are critical aspects for the economic and environmental sustainability of agricultural systems, especially in hilly areas. This chapter presents and discusses the advantages of conservation agriculture against conventional practices in rainfed fruit crops in terms of soil and water conservation.

Agroforestry is not new in Africa, and different traditional and modern technologies, practices and systems of agroforestry are found in African countries. Despite the introduction of monoculture annual crops, a significant proportion of smallholder farmers (and rural households and communities) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have persisted with practicing agroforestry in the drylands of Southern Africa, East Africa, West Africa and Central Africa. Multipurpose trees are grown for a variety of direct and indirect use as well as intermediate uses in both cropped lands and pastures. Based on the critical review, synthesis and analyses of agroforestry studies, several pertinent issues related to agroforestry development have been discussed. Further, the stakeholders that influence the adoption of agroforestry systems among smallholder farmers in Africa face challenges and opportunities. Challenges include lack of understanding of the benefits and advantages of agroforestry, delayed return on investment and underdeveloped markets, market constraints, focus of agriculture on using fertilizers and pesticides, emphasis on commercial agriculture, lack of land tenure rights among smallholder farmers, lack of coordination among sectors, adverse regulations, lack of quality tree seed supplies, lack of sufficient extension work, lack of skill, knowledge and awareness as well as farm and farmer characteristics. Opportunities entail contextual drivers, prevailing conditions and institutions influencing the trends in agroforestry development. Internal capacities are critical to ensure that agroforestry development is driven by various stakeholders and early adopters. Further, enabling economic and institutional policies are crucial in advancing agroforestry. Most importantly, agroforestry thrives where it is beneficial to farmers and security of tenure rights is important. The adherence to norms and strict enforcement of forest management rules is essential for the success of agroforestry at different spatial scales.

Cotton farming symbolizes single largest use of arable land for fiber production on earth, and cotton-based cropping systems are practiced under diverse agro-climatic environments in more than 100 countries. World cotton production has escalated in recent past and has undergone numerous technological transformations and socioeconomic interventions in quest of productivity and sustainability. Cotton-based cropping systems range from low-input rainfed systems in Australia and Africa to highly mechanized intensive farming systems in the United States, Brazil, and China. In India and Pakistan, multiplicity of cotton varieties, weather extremes, uncertainty of climatic optima, spurious seeds, non-remunerative markets, and low quality plus adulterated chemicals or pesticides are key problems leading to low yields besides net profits in otherwise high productivity cotton-based cropping systems. Resource conserving, eco-efficient, climate smart, and economically viable cropping systems that rotate/intercrop cotton with cereals, oilseeds, and legumes are required. Relay or intercropping and crop rotations will lead to the ecological intensification of cotton-based cropping systems. An ideal cotton-based cropping system should aim at higher yields and net profits per unit area, bring stability into the production system, ensure optimal utilization of the available resources, be able to meet domestic requirements of farmer, and avoid ecological uncertainty in the form of shifts in insect pests or weed populations or evolution of pesticide resistance in the long run. Another area requiring significant improvement is integrating current curative pest management options with other cultural methods to avoid insecticide/herbicide resistance development in an era of transgenics. The transgenics have their own pros and cons, and due deliberations in the best interest of agro-ecosystem sustainability and small landholders be made with involvement of all stakeholders. Biotech seed industry should plan safe mechanisms for herbicide-tolerant crop development to evade resistance development or gene introgression in weeds. Productivity and profitability of cotton-based cropping systems needs to be explored with greater ecological orientation under conventional and organic management systems. This chapter documents the productivity and resource use efficiency of cotton-based cropping systems based on existing agronomic and experimental evidences. Crop growth and development, productivity, quality, resource use efficiencies, and profitability of various systems have been discussed at the plant, field, and system levels.

Chemical stress in plants due to micronutrient deficiency or toxicity, heavy metal and air pollutant can affect the crop growth and development and hampers its productivity and restricts the crop from reaching its full yield potential. Micronutrients play important role in several enzymatic reactions in the plants. However, intensive agriculture, imbalanced fertilizer application and negligence of micronutrient application to the soil have led worldwide micronutrient deficiencies in the agricultural soil. Deficiency or excess of these elements cause several plant disorder or stress. Therefore, understanding of role of micronutrients in plants and stress due to their deficiency and toxicity is necessary for better crop production. Heavy metals are non-degradable and accumulate in our soil, water and crops and finally reach us. Remediation of these heavy metal is necessary with emphasis on reduction, reuse and recycle of these metals and at the same time bioremediation including phytoremediation should be devised which is environmental friendly to tackle the increasing menace in environment. Air pollutants and emerging contaminants are new stress which are impacting crop production and their detail understanding is further required with location-specific remediation measures.

Intensive farming systems are a major driver of land degradation and soil losses and declines in the abundance and diversity of animals and plants. Through an improved understanding of soils and soil health and the impacts of agroecosystem management on soils and soil functioning, we can develop and support farming systems that are sustainable both ecologically and economically while also providing sufficient supplies of food and fiber.

Land degradation is occurring in almost all terrestrial biomes and agroecologies, in both low- and high-income countries. However, its impact is especially severe on the livelihoods of the poor, who are heavily dependent on natural resources. About two billion ha of land in the world is affected by various forms of natural and human-induced land degradation, water erosion being the main contributor (1.1 billion ha). Several scientific reports highlighted in this review show the extent to which soil degradation is threatening food security as well as ecosystem goods and services and depleting ecosystems in different regions of the world. Ecological restoration of degraded ecosystems is a global priority. The various restoration projects range in size from plot to regional level using site-specific abiotic and biotic interventions. Agroforestry encompasses a wide range of approaches and technologies for restoring degraded lands. Agroforestry options are being used to rehabilitate/restore degraded lands from intensive agriculture, soil erosion, deforestation, rangeland degradation, mining and overextraction at various scales, from plot, to ecosystem, to landscape level. By applying appropriate agroforestry technologies, involving various species of forest and fruit trees, forages, arable crops, high-value medicinal crops, dairy and meat livestock, fish and poultry, the production systems can be successfully more remunerative. Agroforestry systems (AFS), which are increasingly being considered as climate-smart agriculture, have been designed for optimization of desired outputs, such as timber or fuelwood (agrisilviculture), or for specific land rehabilitation objectives, such as protection of soil from erosion (alley cropping and sand dune stabilization), reclamation of salt lands (silvopastoral systems involving salt-adapted trees, grasses and halophytes), checking waterlogging/seepage (strip plantation along canals or boundary plantations), utilization of waste/sewage water (urban or peri-urban forestry) and assuring livelihood and nutritional security of small and marginal farmers (homegardens and social forestry). AFS play an effective role in improving soil fertility, conserving biodiversity, enhancing carbon sequestration and providing climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, there is a need to involve different stakeholders to design effective AFS for supporting sustainable productivity of land and enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem services at plot and landscape scales, to identify best practices to diversify AFS and better understand soil properties and land use in degraded landscapes.

Over the last decades, sustainable agriculture is presented as the primary alternative to conventional farming in the world, reacting against a set of problems related to environmental natural resource issues. Evaluating agricultural sustainability is a crucial component for improving agricultural sustainability. East Azerbaijan Province is one of the agricultural centers of Iran. This study, using entropy and FAHP techniques, attempts to assess the agricultural sustainability in different counties of this province. Comparison of the indicators’ weight and rank in FAHP and entropy show that there is a difference between the extracted weights of economic, social, and environmental indicators in two methods. Efficiency of water consumption and conservation tillage in economic aspect, health and agricultural employment in social aspect, and efficient irrigation systems and percentage of greenhouse lands in environmental aspect are the most important indicators of both the methods. Since the various weighting methods provide different results, we suggest not to rely solely on the results of an evaluation method, as it may lead to misleading results. The results of this study can aid in the decision-making processes of planning and policy-making. Based on the results, to achieve higher levels of agricultural sustainability, it is recommended to increase the water use efficiency by changing the cropping pattern, accordance with the conditions of the area, and using efficient irrigation systems (e.g., under pressure irrigation systems). The health centers need to have more fair distribution among the counties.

Conservation agriculture (CA) technologies include minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover through crop residues or cover crops, and crop rotations for achieving higher productivity. Intensive agriculture and excessive use of external inputs have led to degradation of soil, water, and genetic resources, widespread soil erosion, nutrient mining, depleting water table, eroding biodiversity, high energy requirements, reduction in availability of protective foods, air and groundwater pollution, and stagnating farm incomes. To overcome this, CA is recognized as a potential tool. CA systems demand a total paradigm shift from conventional agriculture with regard to management of crops, soil, water, nutrients, weeds, and farm machinery. Reduction in cost of production, saving in water and nutrients, increased yields, more carbon sequestration, environmental benefits, crop diversification, and resource improvement are few prospects and opportunities lying with CA technologies. Laser land leveling, conservation tillage, direct-seeded rice, Sesbania brown manuring, residue management, integrated nutrient management, agroforestry, and use of biochar are important management practices for improving the carbon sequestration. There is need of developing policy frameworks and strategies for promotion of CA in the region. This article reviews the emerging concerns due to continuous adoption of conventional agriculture systems and analyzes the constraints, prospects, policy issues, and research needs for conservation agriculture and carbon sequestration.

Bolpur Sub Division is located at the south-eastern part of the Birbhum district, West Bengal. This study area is intensively and extensively irrigated by means of Canal, Submersible pump, Tank, and River lift. By virtue of irrigation practice, the entire part of this Sub Division has been successfully brought under cultivation. Above all, the modern socioeconomic parameters comprehensively give rise to a higher degree of agricultural development, where irrigation plays the role of a catalyst. Due to the presence of irrigation, almost all the farms have more than 90% of their land as the NSA (net sown area). In the study area, monsoons are active only for 3–4 months in a year. The remaining 8–9 months are the dry season. The crops want irrigation for successful growth in the dry season. The ever increasing population leads to more intensive agriculture which needs more irrigation facilities, along with other inputs. Agricultural productivity of any region is closely associated with a number of physical (like relief, climate, soil, water, etc.), socioeconomic, political, institutional, and organizational factors of that region. A higher level application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, timely and adequate supply of irrigation, and higher level supervision help to have an upper level productivity of crops in the study area.

The carbon (C) sequestration potential of global soils are estimated between 0.4 and 1.2 Gt C year−1 or 5–15 % (1Pg = 1 × 105 g). The C emission is rising rapidly by 2.3% every year. If the emissions continue to rise, warming could reach the levels that are dangerous for the society, but it looks like global emissions might now be taking a different turn in the last few years. As we know the sustainability of agroecosystem largely depends on its C footprint as the soil organic carbon (SOC) stock; it is an indicator of soil health and quality and plays a key role to soil sustainability. At the same time, continuing unsustainable agricultural approaches under intensive farming have depleted most of the SOC pool of global agricultural lands. Still, the terrestrial ecosystem has enormous potential to store the atmospheric C for a considerable period of time. Therefore, promoting the cultivation of crops sustainably offers multiple advantages, e.g. augmenting crop and soil productivity, adapting climate change resilience, and high turnover of above- and below-ground biomass into the soil system, thus sequestering atmospheric C and dropping concentration of GHGs from the atmosphere. The continuous vegetation on soil surface ensures good soil health and soil C concentration at variable soil depth as per the specific crop. The C sequestration potential and the amount of organic C returned by crop plants rest on specific plant species, depending on the nature of growth, root morphology and physiology, leaf morphology, climatic conditions, soil texture, structure and aggregation, prevailing cropping system, and agronomic interventions during crop growth period. The above-ground plant biomass, e.g. plant leaves, branches, stem, foliage, fruits, wood, litter-fall, etc., and below-ground plant biomass, e.g. dead roots, released substances from root exudates, rhizospheric deposition, and plant-promoted microbial biomass C, directly contribute to the SOC buildup. Sustainable crop management practice that ensures the increased nitrogen (N) availability accelerates the C input in the soil ecosystem. Farming practices that improve nitrogen and water use efficiency (NUE and WUE) reduce soil disturbance and erosion, increase plant biomass, and together affect N availability and SOC stock. Conservation tillage together with surface residue retention and legume-based sensible crop rotation reduces soil disturbances, surface runoff, and erosion; increases N availability and SOC sequestration; increases soil sustainability by mixed cropping, intercropping, crop rotation, cover cropping, multiple cropping, and relay cropping; and generates and adds greater amount of qualitative plant biomass into the soil. The N addition, especially from bulky organic manure, green manures, leguminous crops, cover crops, biological N-fixing microbes, and farm and kitchen waste materials, is essential for agricultural productivity and SOC sequestration. The C sequestration benefits from addition of chemical nitrogenous fertilizers are compensated by the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) during manufacturing, transportation, storage, and application of fertilizers. Therefore, approaching integrated nutrient management (INM) encompassing manures and other C-rich resources sustains soil health and increases N availability and SOC sequestration. Moreover, location-specific scientific research is needed to point out the best management practices that enhance NUE, maintain/improve soil health, boost crop production and SOC sequestration, and minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) release in the biosphere. In the view of above, in this chapter, quantifying the C sequestration potential with higher degree of confidence is required in agriculture management. The present book chapter is critically analyses the C sequestration potential of different soil and crop management practices under diverse ecological conditions for sustainable crop productivity.

Rice (Oryza sativa spp.) is a main cash crop all around the globe. It is grown under a wide range of environments. Food deficiency is a major issue in the world with growing global population. The current challenge in agriculture is food quality and quantity decline. In earlier times conventional farming techniques were used for rice cultivation. The major issue about conventional farming is to maintain the crop productivity, soil structure and fertility. Integrated farming, inorganic chemical fertilizers, ecological farming and Sri Lanka farming system are conventional practices which we mentioned in this chapter. These conventional farming practices raising rice crop showed decreased fertility of soil and increase the negative impact on environmental ecosystems. These conventional methods upgrade the risk of global warming and minimize the effective agricultural operations. To achieve required food production in the last few eras, nanotechnology has become one of the most promising techniques to revolutionize the conventional food science and technologies. Nanotechnology is the technology of the twenty-first century. This new discipline brings nano-agrochemicals, i.e. plant growth-promoting nanosystems (to enhance plant growth and production), nanopesticides and nanofertilizers. Nanotechnology offers the nanofood processing and advancement of nano-based food material, smart delivery of nutrients and bioactive materials. This chapter focused on nano-agrochemicals, diagnosis of plant pathogen and nanofood-based technologies as advanced approaches of nanotechnology in the field of agriculture and food industry. In this chapter the potential uses and benefits of nanotechnology in precision agriculture are discussed. We also discussed the current and future uses of nanomaterials in agriculture, food safety and security and recommendations regarding to nanomaterial.

Organic matter is the life of soil and vital to environmental quality and sustainability. Intensive cultivation solely depending on inorganic fertilizers with lesser quantity or no organic fertilizers resulted in lower carbon content in soils of tropical and subtropical countries. This paper attempted to identify the best soil and crop management practices which ensure slower microbial decomposition of organic materials, cause a net buildup of carbon in soils, and potentially mitigate the negative effect of global warming and climate change. Biochar and other organic materials have been applied to soil as most valuable amendments for increasing carbon sequestration, soil health improvement, and reduction of greenhouse gas emission from soil. Being recalcitrant in nature, biochar is highly efficient in storing carbon in soils. Biochar possesses a larger surface area and therefore is capable of holding and exchanging cations in soils. Quantity and quality of biochar produced from different organic materials are highly variable because of various production temperature and meager oxygen control system. This review contributes to understanding details of production technologies and performance mechanisms of biochar and other organic amendments in soil. Biochar and organic materials improve soil bio-physicochemical properties, serve as a sink of atmospheric CO2, and ensure ecological integrity and environmental sustainability.

Polyculture is a system for the cultivation of a few crops together, in the same space and at the same time. These methods of crop production have been known and used for thousands of years. Since the 1970s, the system of intensive agriculture has dominated, and the use of environmentally friendly methods for food and feed production has been limited, as has the use of the polyculture system (PS). This paper presents different methods of PS, and special attention is paid to the importance of methods for sustainable agriculture, with a focus on soil protection and the effect of polyculture on soil fertilities. A special issue presented here are living mulches and companion crops (CC) methods in agriculture and horticulture production. Soil surface cover is an important practice for the slowdown of degradation processes to increase soil fertilities. Polyculture and plant cover (companion crop or living mulches) have many environmental benefits: protection of soil against water and wind erosion, stabilization of soil temperature, reservoir of water in the soil profile, effect on soil fertilities, biological activity, and physical soil characteristics. Living mulches or CC are an element of biological control and compete with weeds and reduce pest attacks and disease infection.

The pressure due to global population increase and rising environmental damage has the unfortunate consequence that world food production may shortly become inadequate to feed all the mouths of the world. It is therefore indispensable that agricultural productivity be significantly improved within next couple of decades. To achieve this, agricultural practices are approached in a more sustainable and eco-friendly manner. Further, the substantial use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in conventional farming has led to the accumulation of harmful chemical remnants and heavy metals in the environment leading to degradation of agroecosystem and incidence of unpredictable chronic diseases in human. Therefore, biofilmed biofertilizers (BFBFs) have become a viable alternative for chemical fertilizers in agriculture. BFBFs, in addition to their fertilizing task, accomplish a variety of processes such as reinstating agroecosystem, maintaining regulated metabolic and biochemical processes, improving soil quality, suppression of pests and diseases, amelioration of plants from stress and synthesis of plant hormones. The consortia of microbes in BFBFs add an array of benefits together for the soil-plant system to support plant growth and development thereby to enhance the yield. Moreover, BFBF itself is a sustainable system which can ensure the sustainability of agroecosystem. Therefore, the use of BFBFs in agriculture would lead to a more eco-friendly approach in crop production with many health, environmental and economic benefits.

Climate change is a variation in atmospheric properties due to natural and human activities over a long period of time. In the last few decades, there was a significant change in the gaseous composition of earth’s atmosphere, mainly through increased energy use in industry and agriculture sectors, viz. deforestation, intensive cultivation, land use change, management practices, etc. These activities lead to increase the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), etc., popularly known as the “greenhouse gases” (GHGs), and rise up the temperature. These GHGs cause regional and global changes in the climate-related parameters such as rainfall, soil moisture, and sea level. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected temperature rise from 0.5 to 1.2 ° C by 2020, 0.88 to 3.16 °C by 2050, and 1.56–5.44 °C by 2080 for India. To mitigate this climate change, among the different means, soil is also one of the key components of the agricultural production system, and it needs to be relooked in the view of the environment. Soil not only acts as a sink for GHGs but also as a source from agriculture. In this regard, concerted efforts are necessary for adverse climate change impact to reduce the vulnerability of agriculture. To meet out these issues, sources and mitigation options for individual gases from the soil are discussed in this chapter. Sources of CH4 emission are due to microbial decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) under the submerged condition, burning of crop residue, and the enteric fermentation. The N2O is through fertilizers by the process of nitrification and denitrification. The major carbon (C) sources are tillage, burning of crop residue, and fossil fuel combustion. To overcome the emission of GHGs from the soil, the nature of the release of individual gas and its specific management can give an idea of sustaining soil health to safeguard the environment. Hence, reducing these GHGs emission from the soil through light to overcome the climate change effect. Reduction of CH4 gas mainly from rice can be done by the adoption of intermittent irrigation, planting methods, fertilizer type, etc. Nitrification inhibitors from plant-derived organics such as neem oil, neem cake, and Karanja seed extract could also reduce the N2O emission. Also, the demand-driven nitrogen (N) application using a leaf colour chart (LCC) reduces N2O emission. By using legume crops in rotation helps to reduce the N2O emission besides fixing long time C in the belowground. To reduce CO2 emission from the agriculture, sequestering C through agroforestry system, conservation agriculture, perennial crops, etc. could be the effective strategies for assimilating and storing C for a long time in soil.

A prerequisite for detecting sources of resistance to insect pests is to have diversified crop germplasm. Information on major sources for obtaining germplasm plays a crucial role in developing resistant crop varieties. This chapter indicates 220 sources of germplasm centres for more than 25 crop plants. Monoculture and intensive cultivation practices endanger the local germplasms, and care should be taken to conserve them. Wild species of the cultivated crops need also to be conserved. Local expertise, manpower and resources need to be best utilized for identifying resistant sources.

Tea is a popular beverage made from the leaves of evergreen shrub Camellia sinensis, family Theaceae. It is an important cash crop as well as exportable commodity in Bangladesh. The first tea garden of Bangladesh was opened in Chittagong in 1840. Bangladesh tea grows in three fairly divergent ecological zones – namely Surma valley in greater Sylhet, Halda valley in Chittagong and Karatoa valley in Panchagarh. Now, there are 162 tea estates having about 60,179 hectare of tea plantation producing about 67.38 million kg of finished tea per annum with an average yield of about 1270 kg per hectare in Bangladesh and the tea sector contributes 0.11% of GDP. Twenty one high yielding and quality clones and five hybrid seed stocks of biclonal and polyclonal were released by Bangladesh Tea Research Institute (BTRI). Fertilizer policy for mature tea and young tea was upgraded. Integrated pest management method was optimized and decision analysis was developed. Awareness on MRL of pesticides was created and safe harvest index was optimized. As there is no surplus khas land available, the only possible alternatives are: intensive cultivation of comparatively young and mature tea areas; extension on the available virgin areas with high yielding cultivars; uprooting and replanting on un-economic plantation; setting up small holding tea plantations in CHT, Panchagarh, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, etc. These approaches will bring a significant increase in tea production to meet the internal consumption as well as to earn foreign exchange through export of tea.

Small farm holdings, which are the main source of food, nutrition and livelihood security in India, are exposed to numerous stresses. Their capacity to serve as engines of growth is further compromised by climate change impact. This chapter helps develop an understanding of the dynamic nature of small farm holdings, which, based on the geographic location and economic development of the state, have differentiated capacity to change from subsistence to profitable to commercial farming. A suite of climate-smart agro-technologies, which impart resistance and resilience to the farming enterprise by improving the use efficiency of water, fertilizer, pesticides and energy, are suggested. The chapter also outlines policies to mobilize institutions and resources that will enable small farm holders to grow faster through building databases on climate change impacts at the household level; building human capital; linking farming-nutrient health, and propagation of the concept of bio-industrial watersheds to take care of the population moving out of agriculture, to retain them remaining within the rural surroundings, is outlined.

Food insecurity and loss of biodiversity are the two major juxtaposed challenges facing the humanity. The situation is further aggravated by resource degradation mostly as a result of intensive agriculture and climate change impact particularly in the coastal areas of tropical countries. This calls for alternative approaches to conventional intensive farming that should enhance agricultural production and ecosystem services besides achieving agricultural diversification to instil stability and sustainability to the production system. In this chapter the status of coastal agriculture is reviewed vis-a-vis challenges and threat to agricultural production with the focus on the impact of modern agriculture on biodiversity, ecosystem, and the society. The importance of diversification to ensure regional food security and conservation of agro-biodiversity is discussed in details. This chapter also attempts to justify the need for alternative farming systems, its definition, major types, and the major alternative farming systems suitable for the tropical coastal region. At the end the impacts of these alternative farming systems were compared in terms of its suitability, promotion of diversity, input use, ecosystem services, resilience capacity, labour engagement, and use of traditional knowledge biodiversity conservation.

The natural resources are continuously depleting because of the intensive agricultural operation, the insufficient return of organic matter (OM) to the soil, and continuous monocropping system. Along with OM depletion, erosion and soil salinization are aggravating the problems of resource depletion several times. For achieving food security and alleviation of hunger and poverty, there is a need of a sustainable agricultural production technology, which will be able to conserve the natural resources and will be capable of reducing the harmful effect on the environment. Under these circumstances, conservation agriculture (CA) has come to be a promising production technology which consists of minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover maintenance by means of cover crops and/or crop residues, and crop diversification for attaining higher crop productivity and subsequently decreasing the adverse environmental effects. It is also referred to as resource efficient or resource effective agriculture. The ultimate aim of CA is to achieve satisfactory returns and greater plus persistent crop production and, at the same time, to conserve the environment. The prime goal of CA is to reduce the adverse impact of traditional agriculture and burning or removal of crop residue. Right now, CA is followed on approximately 157 million ha arable land worldwide. CA can effectively conserve and use the natural resources as it involves integrated management of soil, available water, and biological resources along with the judicial use of external inputs. In CA, good agronomic practices like timely farm operations, quality seeds use, and integrated weed, nutrient, pest, as well as water management are followed. The yield under CA system is at par with the conventional system. Residue retained on the surface of soil helps in improving soil quality, plant health, and overall resource use efficiencies. CA practices can improve the water and nutrient use efficiencies by enhancing nutrient balances and availability, infiltration, and water retention in soils; by reducing evaporation losses; and by enhancing the surface and subsurface water quality and availability. As the pragmatism of CA in various parts of the globe is governed by the biophysical and socioeconomic challenges, an adaptation of CA should be as per the site and farmer’s condition. As CA requires better understanding and knowledge, convincing the farmers through proof is the most important task in motivating the farmers for adopting CA. In this chapter, an attempt has been made to describe how CA can modify and improve the soil physical environment.

India is an agricultural country, 70% people depend on agriculture, because the only major means of farmer’s income is agriculture. Intensive agriculture practiced without observance to the scientific principles and ecological aspects has led to loss of soil health, and reduction of freshwater resources and agrobiodiversity. With progressive diversion of arable land for non-agricultural purposes, the challenge of feeding the growing population without, at the same time, annexing more forestland and depleting the rest of life is indeed daunting. Additional, even with food availability through production, millions of marginal farming and landless rural families have very low or no access to food due to lack of income-generating livelihoods. Approximately 200 million rural women, children and men in India fall in this category. Under these circumstances, the evergreen revolution such as pro-nature, pro-poor, pro-women and pro-employment/livelihood oriented ecoagriculture under varied terms are proposed for achieving productivity in perpetuity. Indian farmers are becoming poor due to the daily deterioration in agriculture, the main reasons for this, not receiving quality based seeds, delay water irrigation, reduced soil fertility and excessive use of chemical fertilizers. In order to remove these problems, we have been to develop a new strategy which will double the income of the farmers and make the soil fertile without the use of chemical fertilizers. Our government is constantly trying for it, which help farmers to get maximum benefit and improve our agriculture from launch new schemes for water, seed, nutrients and insurance the crops are started and organizing time to time a mega fair for providing basic knowledge for the farmers. So that more and more farmers are aware of it and use good machinery, seeds, and biofertilizers in their agriculture, so that their income accompanied, soil fertility can also be increased. Agricultural research are constantly probing fertile seeds, improve nutrition and organic fertilizers which will help us to grow agriculture. Fifty decades before came green revolution, which improved crops yield and productivity, while today need to be evergreen revolution for agricultural improvement, for doubling farmers income, enhance crop productivity and also improve soil fertility. The principles, strategies, models for sustainable agriculture and pathways for doubling farmers income are described in this book chapter.

Herbicides have become popular for weed control in field and horticultural crops globally as well as in India. Though herbicides provide economical and selective control of weeds and significantly enhance crop productivity, their extensive and indiscriminate use is likely to exert residual toxic effects on non-target species including crops, aquatic life and human health. In this context, the judicious use of herbicides and the regular monitoring of build-up of herbicide residues in different commodities their bio-magnification and bio-accumulation in the environment is of utmost importance. The soil-environment interactions determine the fate of the herbicide after application on target species. Rice-wheat is the most dominant cropping system in Indian Punjab. The environmental aspects of long-term herbicides use in rice-wheat and other cropping systems like maize followed by wheat, chickpea or fieldpea, and crops with particular reference to sub-humid and sub-tropical climate of have been reviewed and discussed in this chapter. In this region, the harvest time residues in soil and crops produce of commonly-used herbicides when applied at field doses were found either below the detectable limits or below the maximum residue limit, even after their continuous and long-term application. The half-life of popular herbicides in soil varied from 6.4 to 48.5 days. The herbicides adsorption was positively related to soil organic matter and clay content, and herbicides moved up to 30 cm soil depth. It was concluded that the use of herbicides at recommended doses for weed management in different crops, can be considered safe to food and environment under Indian Punjab conditions.

Being the most widely consumed staple in China, safeguarding rice supply has always been the matter of utmost importance as far as the country’s food security is concerned. As the past practice of intensive farming to maintain a high level of rice output is over and China steps up efforts to clean up the farmland, particularly through crop rotation and fallow land system, the supply and demand gap for rice is expect to widen in the years to come. In this chapter, the author discusses the importance of China’s southern neighbors—the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries as the potential “offshore rice granary” for China. Apart from rice supply, this chapter also covers other key areas of agricultural cooperation between China and GMS countries.

Anthropogenic activities like rapid urbanisation and commercial farming are driving land cover changes. South East Asia alone has witnessed large-scale changes in our environment and biodiversity due to forest conversion into commercial palm, cocoa and rubber plantations. In West Kalimantan of Indonesian Borneo, exponential increase in commercial palm plantation acreage at the cost of depleting rainforests was witnessed in the last three decades. The spatio-temporal variability of such land cover changes are effectively studied by using remote sensing techniques. The impact of such changes on hydrological processes at watershed scales can be established through change analysis. In this chapter, Landsat TM, MSS and ETM+ data between 1992 and 2013 were used to study land cover changes and estimate suspended sediment concentration from river waters. Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was computed for characterising vegetation land cover which was then classified as per the Food and Agricultural Organization schema. Both statistical and spatial change analysis were performed in a Geographical Information System (GIS). The results show a strong relationship between the observed land cover changes and estimated suspended sediment concentrations in the watershed which established a strong relationship between deforestation and erosion. This case study also presents an alternative methodology to link increased erosion to deforestation, especially in regions where applicability of Soil Loss Equation (SLE) based models are not possible due to lack of field collected datasets.

Overuse of nitrogen (N) fertilizer to enhance agricultural production is threatening the environment. The concentrations of reactive forms (e.g., NOx, N2O, NO3−, NH3) of N have increased to around 120% in the atmosphere as a result of different industrial units and use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture. The scenario compels to rethink about the role of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF). Green manuring with inclusion of legumes appears to be the most feasible option. Intensive agriculture with repeated tillage, use of high-analysis fertilizers, burning of agricultural residue, and non-incorporation of biodegradable solid waste from domestic and industrial sectors into soil mass have resulted in the decline of soil organic carbon (SOC). This in turn impaired soil health, decreased soil biodiversity, and aggravated the demand for essential plant nutrients, leading to the agricultural land becoming less productive and sometimes unfit for economic cultivation. The uncontrolled use and improper management of synthetic fertilizers, especially, the nitrogenous fertilizers, emit nitrate (NO3−) causing water pollution and nitrous oxide (N2O), speeding up climate change process and oxides of N (NOx) causing air pollution. The OC and soil nitrogen have a positive correlation. It suggests that soil nitrogen level can be improved with improving levels of soil organic matter (SOM). It will also help in reducing environmental damage due to overuse of nitrogen fertilizers. Green manuring with legumes has added advantage as legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen and are easily decomposable. Legume green manuring (LGM) improves SOC, nutrient availability, physicochemical and biological properties of soil, and crop productivity. Several legumes which were used for green manuring showed high N accumulation rate, i.e., 80–100 kg ha−l in duration of 45–60 days of crop growth. Legume crop cultivation, say seed legumes in symbiotic association with Rhizobium, contributes around 10 Tg N year−1, while forage legumes (cover crops) contribute 12 Tg N year−1. Application of LGM is an important option to optimize the BNF and to ensure soil sustainability. The LGM may have a realistic and applicable potential in the area where soil properties are marginal for crop production.

Overall high annual precipitation in Sri Lanka belies significant spatial and temporal variation in surface water availability. The ‘dry zone’ comprising two-third of Sri Lanka’s land area receives significantly less rainfall and has high precipitation rates and a five-month dry season. Nevertheless, these regions account for the majority of rice production, the staple crop, thanks largely to the ancient hydraulic civilization based on networks of rainwater harvesting (irrigation) tanks. This manipulation of surface water resources including modern surface irrigation schemes continues to form the backbone of dry zone farming. Groundwater irrigation has remained in the shadows except in the North where surface flows are absent. This scenario is now changing as population growth; poorly maintained infrastructure; commercial agriculture; sectoral competition for water and climate change combine to exert severe pressure on surface water resources. Since the dry zone is also home to a large number of Sri Lanka’s poor households, and a close association exists between high poverty clusters and access to irrigation, the implications of water insecurity for a range of poverty indicators are clear. Not surprisingly, these pressures have prompted an increasing recourse to groundwater in several parts of the dry zone, as governments and farmers recognize the imperative to increase agriculture output, promote crop diversification, and improve agrarian incomes. Yet, with limited groundwater potential, limited detailed knowledge of this resource, and under-developed groundwater-oriented institutions, it is far from certain whether future groundwater exploitation can steer away from anarchy.

Intensive cultivation of grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) leads to serious pest problem in vineyards in major grape-growing areas of India and the world. Climatic conditions in India are congenial for high production of table grapes and thus also for increased incidence of number of insect pests. Pests like mealybugs cause extensive damage in grapes both qualitatively and qunatitatively, thrips, hoppers, etc. and beetle pests like flea beetles, stem borer, stem girdler, chafer beetles, shot hole borer and several lepidopteran, mites, nematodes and vertebrate pests. Latest information on biology, damage, seasonal development and management practices of the pests is covered in this chapter. Many of the pest management practices followed in other countries are also covered in this chapter. Nowadays, pesticide residue is posing a serious problem both for export and internal market in grapes. Therefore, farmers are advised to follow the latest recommendations of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) National Research Centre for Grapes, Pune. A complete information on grape pests (except disease) occurring in different grape-growing regions of the world is also covered in this chapter.

With the rapid development of industrialization, urbanization, and intensive agriculture in China, more and more agricultural soils have been contaminated with persistent toxic substances such as cadmium (Cd), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and this has threatened the security of agricultural production, the natural environment, and human health. Therefore, a better understanding of pollution characteristics has always been the scientific frontier in the field of soil environmental science. How to achieve the green, economic, and sustainable remediation of contaminated agricultural soils is still a topic of global concern. The key to solving the problem is to provide insight into the contamination processes and bioremediation mechanisms of pollutants in the soil. Since the last decade, the research group has selected typical agricultural soils with low-to-moderate pollution levels representing different regions and has made some breakthroughs in basic scientific problems including source identification and bonding mechanisms, chemical speciation and bioavailability, hyperaccumulation and detoxification mechanisms, and microbe-enhanced phytoremediation principles. These studies have provided a theoretical and methodological framework for the green and sustainable remediation of contaminated agricultural soils worldwide.

The soil scientists along with microbiologists had a big responsibility to come forward with a sustainable solution to enhance soil nutrient supplying capacity, without applying the agrochemical and mineral fertilizers. The only way out to this problem is through the use of efficient microbes which plays a vital role as organic or biological agents in facilitating uptake of many primary and secondary nutrients. Moreover, the fertility of any soil is directly proportional to the microbial biomass and its potential of functional activity and diversity. Billions of microbes which are present in soil are major key players of nutrient cycling and their solubilization and mineralization. This fact has been known and scientifically reported for a number of decades, but still its significance has not yet channelized into the mainstream of intensive agriculture. Thus, in this chapter, exhaustive overview of the different groups of agriculturally important microbes has been given which are responsible for enhancing nutrient availability particularly nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, iron and zinc in agricultural soils.

Agricultural sustainability and competitiveness of organic markets are the interlinked areas which jointly needs a serious makeover. In silico approaches generally highlight an insight to the use of signature sequences (promoter elements) and other related flanking elements. Agricultural sector mainly organic sector needs to be linked with modern techniques which can elevate its level and provides a clear explanation about the drawbacks and sources of improvement. The following chapter deals with the association of modern techniques like nanotechnology which can be linked further with agricultural problems to elevate conditions like sustainability and competitiveness of organic markets. Taking into account the various deleterious effects of conventional farming, the need of the hour demands for a technological interventional related with eco-friendly techniques like “green technology,” so that we can improve the status of organic markets and can easily understand the loopholes associated with traditional methodology which are followed by the farmers. Agriculture, natural resources, and food have been always linked to burning challenges (sustainability, susceptibility, human health). The aim of integrating techniques like using nanomaterials in agriculture is to bring reductions in levels of chemicals used, minimize nutrient losses during fertilization, and increase yield.