Conservation agriculture for sustainable and resilient agriculture: global status, prospects and challenges

Abstract

This chapter discusses the following topics: conservation agriculture as the way forward for sustainable agricultural production; definition and concept of conservation agriculture; and the global history, current status and prospects of conservation agriculture. The chapter also includes reports of research studies conducted on: soil and water conservation; soil quality; rainwater use efficiency; nutrient use efficiency; input use efficiency; insect-pest, disease and weed dynamics; crop productivity; climate change mitigation and adaptation; benefits at ecosystem level; and farm profitability