Asian Farmers Moving to [replace with] Give Up the Plow

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, October 3, [replace with] 2001 (ENS) -  [replace with]

A major agricultural transformation is [replace with] sweeping across Asia's breadbasket regions, scientists announced Tuesday. [replace with] The move toward low till agriculture could help chart a course toward more [replace with] ecologically friendly, higher producing, cost effective agriculture among [replace with] all groups of farmers in Asia, the researchers said.

So called low till farming, which does [replace with] away with intensive and repeated plowing of farmers' fields, is increasing [replace with] harvests, reducing water use by as much as 30 to 50 percent, and requiring [replace with] less fuel for running tractors on farms, reported scientists from the [replace with] International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Because there [replace with] are one-half to two-thirds fewer weeds on low till farms, herbicide use is [replace with] also reduced. [replace with]

Farmers living in four countries - [replace with] Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan - are taking up low till agriculture [replace with] in such numbers that scientists say the impact in the region could be as [replace with] great as the Green Revolution of the 1970s. [replace with]

The success of the approach comes at an [replace with] opportune time as water scarcity across Asia and a three year drought in [replace with] Pakistan threaten the region's rice and wheat yields. The transformation [replace with] in farming is largely the result of pioneering agricultural research and [replace with] promotional work begun in the region by the Mexico based CIMMYT. [replace with]

"This region of 1.3 billion [replace with] inhabitants is beset by overcrowding, poverty and misery," said [replace with] professor Timothy Reeves, director general of CIMMYT. "To feed [replace with] soaring populations, farmers must increasingly use more fertilizer, water, [replace with] and herbicides to get the same or greater crop yields from their land. Low [replace with] till agriculture enables them to increase their productivity while at the [replace with] same time decreasing - not increasing - these inputs. This new [replace with] agricultural revolution in South Asia is poised to be a greener revolution [replace with] than the one that took place in the 1970s." [replace with]

More than 150 million people depend [replace with] solely upon the region's rotational cropping of rice and wheat during the [replace with] wet and dry seasons. In terms of intensity of food production, it is the [replace with] most important agricultural system for feeding South Asia's burgeoning [replace with] population, both urban and rural. [replace with]

"South Asia is facing an extreme [replace with] crisis in water - the lifeblood of this region - and that could be [replace with] absolutely devastating," said Peter Hobbs, PhD, a natural resource [replace with] agronomist with CIMMYT and one of the lead scientists on these efforts in [replace with] the region. "Without conservation of water through practices like low [replace with] till agriculture, this region will become dependent upon imported food, [replace with] which no one can afford. This would create inevitable food shortages and [replace with] severe malnutrition in a population where 40 percent of the people live on [replace with] less than US$2 per day." [replace with]

Many parts of the world, including the [replace with] European Union, are debating the restructuring of agricultural policy to [replace with] be more focused on environmental and food security needs. Low till [replace with] practices are part of an overall trend toward more ecological farming in [replace with] developing countries. [replace with]

"Low till is one of the best [replace with] examples in the world of technologies working for both people and the [replace with] environment," said Reeves. [replace with]

Currently, low till practices are being [replace with] used for sowing wheat after the harvesting of rice. An example of its [replace with] rapid spread is found in India and Pakistan, where the area sown to low [replace with] till agriculture increased from a modest 3,000 plus hectares in 1998-99 to [replace with] more than 100,000 hectares in 2000-2001. [replace with]

LOW TILL AGRICULTURE: LOW TECH, LOW [replace with] COST [replace with]

Plowing is customarily done to break up [replace with] soil into smaller particles that form a better soil structure for planting [replace with] the next crop. In Asian rice-wheat cropping systems, farmers must make as [replace with] many as six to 12 tractor passes across the field when they plant wheat [replace with] after rice, because the soil is wet and muddy or cloddy. [replace with]

To grow rice, farmers plow the wet soil, [replace with] which breaks down the soil structure and allows water to puddle rather [replace with] than sink into the soil. To plant wheat, farmers have to rebuild the soil [replace with] by repeated plowing. [replace with]

"Plowing significantly delays [replace with] planting of wheat," said Hobbs. "As a result, the crop often [replace with] does not mature before the onset of the hot, dry season before the [replace with] monsoon. The dry heat shrivels the grain and reduces harvests and [replace with] incomes." [replace with]

Plowing also exposes the soil to air, [replace with] which oxidizes soil matter and roots. Over time, organic matter - an [replace with] important source of nutrients in the soil - is depleted. Soil moisture is [replace with] also depleted, increasing the need for water through irrigation. [replace with]

Low till agriculture, however, leaves [replace with] much or all of the soil surface and existing ground cover undisturbed [replace with] during the planting process. It generally makes use of a planter or seed [replace with] drill. [replace with]

In one pass across a field, the planter [replace with] places seeds and fertilizer through the rice straw left standing from the [replace with] previous harvest into the soil below. Because the leftover straw remains [replace with] anchored into the soil, those roots provide channels for wheat roots to [replace with] grow; a habitat for beneficial insects to prey on invasive insects; and, [replace with] as it decomposes, a natural fertilizer of organic matter for the wheat [replace with] crop. [replace with]

Locally manufactured planters are fairly [replace with] inexpensive at US$400-500 each and can sow about 80 hectares (200 acres) [replace with] per cropping season. Farmers with little cash can rent this equipment. [replace with]

The low till technology is designed to be [replace with] accessible to farmers with limited resources who have no equipment, little [replace with] cash, and often very little land. Seventy-four percent of the farmers who [replace with] used low till between 1999-2000 in Haryana State, India, did not own [replace with] tractors, and rented planters at a low cost. [replace with]

Other low till practices are also being [replace with] used in the region, such as raised soil beds - or bed planting - and [replace with] direct seeding of presoaked wheat seeds into still moist rice fields - or [replace with] surface seeding. [replace with]

"Low till practices have caught on [replace with] like wildfire among farmers, with the area being planted to low till [replace with] agriculture increasing ten fold per year," said Hobbs. [replace with] "Manufacturers cannot make planters fast enough to meet the demand [replace with] from farmers." [replace with]

CIMMYT works in partnership with the [replace with] national research programs of South Asia in an alliance known as the [replace with] Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains, which also includes [replace with] the Philippines based International Rice Research Institute. [replace with]

Both CIMMYT and the Rice Research [replace with] Institute are Future Harvest Centers. Future Harvest is a global, [replace with] nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC that builds awareness and [replace with] support for food and environmental research around the world. [replace with]

Source : Environment [replace with] News Service (ENS)October 4, 2001

  [replace with]

© [replace with] Copyright and Fair Use
[replace with] SDNP Bangladesh holds the © copyright to [replace with] its publications
[replace with] and web pages but encourages duplication of these materials for
[replace with] noncommercial purposes. Proper citation is required.
[replace with] Sustainable Development Networking [replace with] Programme (SDNP)
[replace with] E-17 Agargaon, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh.
[replace with]  Email: info@sdnbd.org