More than 60,000 Indian farming families are reducing their carbon footprint by practicing natural farming and agroforestry on almost 165,000 hectares of land.
A 2020 report by India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change stated that these farming practices can help India reach its goal of having 33% forest and tree cover to meet its carbon sequestration commitments under the Paris climate agreement by 2030.
Some farmers have also installed solar panels to power groundwater pumps. To date, about 250,000 solar irrigation pumps out of an estimated 20 million to 25 million total groundwater pumps in the country. If all farmers shifted to solar energy, India’s carbon emissions could be reduced by between 45 million and 62 million tons annually, according to a 2020 report in Carbon Management.
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More on sustainable farming practices:
Precision land leveling for sustainable rice production: Case studies in Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and India
Laser land leveling strongly complements sustainable rice production practices as it can help increase water, seed, and fertilizer use efficiency by at least 12, 27, and 10%, respectively. Already widely adopted in developed countries and recently in India and China, it is still not significantly adopted in countries such as Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. The major reasons may be the lack of demonstration, operation, and management capability; little understanding of the benefits; the need to depreciate the relatively high cost of the service over a 5-year period; and the lack of policy advocacy to promote this technology.
Weed management in dry direct-seeded rice: A review on challenges and opportunities for sustainable rice production
Dry direct-seeded rice (DDSR) offers several advantages: rapid planting, easy mechanization, less labor and water requirement, and early maturity with fewer environmental footprints. Despite these recompenses, the major snag with practicing DDSR is the potential biotic threat posed by weeds. The yield losses under DDSR are estimated as high as 75%. Thus, weed management shares a very high relative importance, ranking among different agronomic management options for higher productivity in DDSR.
Improving nitrogen-use efficiency: A key for sustainable rice production systems
The orientation of producing more food, associated with fertilizer overuse, particularly nitrogen (N), has caused a deterioration in soil physical, chemical, and microbiological properties and functions and increased soil and water pollution. With increasing pressure to meet global food demand while fostering environmental sustainability, a paradigm shift is needed to a more judicious use of N fertilizer.
