The rice-wheat production system has major role in food security in the region and provides livelihood and income to millions of farmers in IGP. The lack of suitable mechanization and modernization with proper soil-crop management strategies is probably the cause of higher cost requirement and low return in the system. Current crop cultivation practices in rice-wheat systems degrade the soil and water resources thereby threaten the sustainability. The concept of alternative agricultural system is put forward to improve in net return with minimum resource use from crop cultivation is conservation agriculture (CA) the best alternative to protect soil, water, environment, time and cost. CA practices in Nepalese context have drastically reduced tillage intensity, reducing the cost of cultivation and allowing timely sowing with comparable yield.

Autorentext

Mr. Santosh Marahatta is an assistant professor at IAAS/TU, Nepal (http://www.iaas.edu.np). He received his B. Sc. Agriculture and M. Sc. Agronomy in 2005 and 2008 respectively, from IAAS/TU, Nepal. His research interests in field crop management, cropping system, climate change and conservation agriculture.