Evolution and Acceleration of No-till Farming in Rice-Wheat Cropping System of the Indo-Gangetic Plains

Abstract

The major challenge facing the rice-wheat cropping system in India is to sustain its long-term productivity. There are signs that the productivity and economic gains of this cropping system are consistently becoming smaller. For a populous country like India such a slow down amounts to food insecurity. One reason for the slow down in the growth of wheat productivity during the 1990s was the widespread development of herbicide resistance in Phalaris minor. Even though P. minor can now be effectively controlled with technologies introduced over the last 5 years, declining soil health has become an important constraint to the productivity of the region. The adoption of resource conservation technologies such as no-till is considered vital for maintaining the productivity of the rice–wheat system. Research undertaken in wheat has clearly shown the capacity of no-till to dramatically reduce production costs for the farmers while maintaining or sometimes increasing wheat yields. Farmer acceptance of no-till technology only became possible through a concerted farmer-participatory research program that was multidisciplinary in nature and had multi-institutional support. This effort has achieved a paradigm shift in tillage and has the makings of another green revolution to sustain the gains of the first green revolution. The introduction of no-till and other resource conservation technologies into the rice phase of the rice–wheat system has the potential to further increase the long-term profitability on Indian farms. This paper reviews no-till development and its impact on weed management, soil properties and farmer profitability in the Indo-Gangetic plains.