Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Development Goals: Potential Opportunities and Strategies in India

Abstract

To meet the demands of its population is the primary objective of a civilization. The peace and prosperity of its citizens has always been the priority for all the public policy thinktanks and implementation units before drafting of a strategy. With burgeoning population and limited availability of resources, synergy in human-nature interaction has become the pivotal necessity in strategy planning and its implementation.

Full text

Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Development Goals:
Potential Opportunities and Strategies in India
S.K. CHAUDHARI1*, M.L. JAT2, DEBASHIS CHAKRABORTY3, A.K. BISWAS4,
P. PRAMANIK MAITY3 AND T. MOHAPATRA5
1Division of Natural Resource Management, Krishi Anusandhan Bhawan-II, New Delhi-110 012
2CIMMYT, India
3ICAR- Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi-110012
4Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal-462038 , Madhya Pradesh
5Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi-110 001
ABSTRACT
To meet the demands of its population is the primary objective of a civilization. The peace and prosperity
of its citizens has always been the priority for all the public policy thinktanks and implementation units
before drafting of a strategy. With burgeoning population and limited availability of resources, synergy
in human-nature interaction has become the pivotal necessity in strategy planning and its implementation.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, adopted by the United Nations, is the latest endeavor
by the global community in this regard. The core agendas of SDGs include poverty, hunger, health,
education, energy, peace, justice and economic growth. Multi-dimensional approach at both regional
and global level is required to achieve the SDGs with contributions from all stakeholders. Agriculture
encompasses all SDGs, either directly or indirectly. More specifically, SDG indicator 2.4.1. under the
zero huger goal (SDG-2), refers to the proportion of land under productive and sustainable agriculture,
which supports three dimensions of sustainable production: environmental, economic and social. New
generation agriculture systems must be more productive and less wasteful. Growing scarcity of good
quality soil and water poses challenge in improving yields with minimum environmental footprints.
Conservation agriculture (CA) with its three basic principles of minimum soil disturbance, permanent
soil cover, and crop rotation could be a viable option for meeting the targets of SDGs. The present
review will focus on the contribution of CA towards achieving the SDGs. It discusses the important
strategies for achieving this over an Indian context.
Key words: Agriculture, food security, zero hunger, sustainable intensification
concern not only at regional level but at global
level also. India alone would be requiring about
333 MT of food grains for its projected population
of about 1.64 billion by that time (Hamshere et
al., 2014). With limited available resources and
anticipated climate change eventuality,
environmentally sustainable enhanced producti-
vity will be a global challenge. Certainly, there is
no solution fitting in all situations but efforts
*Corresponding author,
Email: ddg.nrm@icar.gov.in
Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 1-9 (2021)
Journal of Agricultural Physics
ISSN 0973-032X
http://www.agrophysics.in
Introduction
World population trajectory would reach
about 10 billion by 2050 as predicted. The need
of this population will be many with wide
regional variation. Food security will be a major
Special Issue Article

2 Journal of Agricultural Physics [Vol. 21
should be made to maximize food and crop
production considering trade-offs amongst inputs
within local complexities. Keeping in mind the
existence of nature and human being and its
interdependencies, sustainability of the enhanced
production and associated systems would be the
major challenge. Multi directional short and long
term approach, stakeholders’ participation and
their concerted and coordinated effort would be
essential with an eye on socio economic
acceptability and inclusiveness. The contribution
of scientific community, farmers, civil society,
and social leaders along with institutional &
economic support would be the key.
The constraints of crop production differ
widely across regions. The availability of water
and good soils are major limiting factors.
Significant losses in crop yields occur due to
pests, diseases and weed competition is also of
concern. Current approaches to maximizing
production within agricultural systems are
unsustainable. Agricultural systems demand a
diversity of approaches, specific to crops,
localities, cultures and other circumstances.
Intervention on regional and global scale is
required from experts and end-users. India being
an agriculture-based economy the better
agricultural practices would be key in achieving
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
thereby enhancing peace and prosperity of its
citizens.
Indian Agricultural Scenario
India’s economy is predominantly Agriculture
based. About 54.6% of the total workforce is
engaged in agricultural and allied sector activities
(Census 2011) and accounts for 17.8% of the
country’s Gross Value Added (GVA) for the year
2019-20 (at current prices). About 57.8% of rural
households are engaged in agriculture (Annual
Report, 2020-21, Department of Agriculture
Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Govt of India).
As per the Land Use Statistics 2016-17, the total
geographical area of the country is 328.7 million
hectares, of which 139.4 million hectares is the
reported net sown area and 200.2 million hectares
is the gross cropped area with a cropping intensity
of 143.6%. The net area sown works out to 42.4%
of the total geographical area. The net irrigated
area is 68.6 million hectares. (Annual Report,
2020-21, Department of Agriculture Cooperation
& Farmers Welfare, Govt of India). Food grain
production in the country is estimated to be a
record 291.95 million tonnes, according to the
second advance estimates for 2019-20. As per the
estimates of Indian Council for Agricultural
Research (ICAR), demand for foodgrain would
increase to 345 million tonnes by 2030.The
average productivity of many crops in India is
quite low (Sustainable Framework for realizing
SDG2, Vision 2030, Department of Agriculture
Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Govt of India).
Major constraints in Indian agriculture
includes 85% of land holdings are in marginal
and small farm categories of less than 2 ha (GOI,
2014), low access of credits, less use of
technology and mechanization, poor infrastructure
making more dependence on weather and
unsuitable marketing and supply chain for high
value crops. Addressing these concerns require
innovative technological interventions with strong
scientific base, community participation along
with sound policy and infrastructure support.
Challenges in Agriculture Sector
Agriculture practices varied widely
throughout world. There are large variations
within countries as well. Therefore, there are
various challenges the sector faces on regional
and global basis. Some of the challenges are listed
below;
•There is a need for fundamental revision of
the present-day agricultural systems for
unfavorable resources, climatic, economic and
social conditions.
•Climate change adaptation on the conven-
tional, resource-intensive agricultural systems
and ensure enhanced productivity.
•Improvements in the water use efficiency of
plants in irrigated systems.
•Maintenance of soil fertility, health and
nutrient availability.

2021] Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Development Goals 3
•Reduction in losses through pests, diseases
and weed competition.
•Agriculture will have to become less reliant
on sources of non-renewable energy derived
from fossil fuels.
•Ensuring the diversity of crop germplasm to
facilitate crop breeding in a changing climate
to ensure resilience of production.
•Biological science-based technologies and
approaches for improved food crop produc-
tion in a sustainable way.
•Improvements to crop management and
agricultural practice.
•Different approaches will be needed for
different regions and circumstances.
•There is a need to balance investment in
radical new approaches that may have major
consequences on productivity with investment
in approaches which deliver modest
improvements on a shorter timescale
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and
Role of Agriculture in its Achieving
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development adopted by all United Nations
Member States in 2015, provides a shared
blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and
the planet, now and into the future. The agenda
includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all
countries - developed and developing - in a global
partnership. They recognize that ending poverty
and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with
strategies that improve health and education,
reduce inequality, and spur economic growth –
all while tackling climate change and working to
preserve our oceans and forests. The SDGs are
intended to be achieved by the year 2030. The
SDGs were developed in the Post-2015
Development Agenda as the future global
development framework to succeed the
Millennium Development Goals which ended in
2015. Agriculture is pivotal in achieving SDGs.
It is fundamental to food security, its quality and
nutritional diversity thereby address hunger and
malnutrition, poverty; water and energy use;
climate change. It contributes to nutritional
security, improve living standard for low-income
communities in rural areas.
Among all the SDGs, most complex is SDG
2 (zero hunger i.e food and nutritional security)
which is achievable through sustainable
agriculture. Sustainable agriculture should have
at least six different things (Dobermann, 2016):
•It is a feasible income and livelihood option
for farmers along the whole value chain in
any country.
•It could supply nutritious foods for the whole
world population
•It should be climate resilient.
•It should be able to reduces greenhouse gas
emissions
•It should be able to reduce environmental
degradation like loss of biodiversity, invasive
species, freshwater depletion, soil degradation,
destruction of habitat, chemical pollutants
from pesticides and herbicides, etc.
•It could maintain local cultures and supply
cuisines, etc.
The 17 SDGs, its targets and contribution of
agriculture are explained in Table 1.
Sustainable Intensification in Agriculture
Sustainable intensification (SI) is defined as
a process or system where yields are increased
without adverse environmental impact and
without the cultivation of more land (Royal
Society, 2009). The concept is thus relatively
open, in that it does not articulate or privilege
any particular vision of agricultural production
(Garnett and Godfray, 2012; Smith, 2013). It
emphasizes ends rather than means, and does not
pre-determine technologies, species mix or
particular design components (Jules Pretty and
Bharucha, 2014). Agricultural intensification is
maximization of agricultural production with
optimization of inputs i.e., labour, land, time,
fertilizer, seed, feed or cash. Given the challenge
of global food security, intensification with focus

4 Journal of Agricultural Physics [Vol. 21
Table 1. Sustainable Development Goals and contribution from agriculture
SDG Goals Targets Direct Contribution of Agriculture
No.
1. No Poverty End poverty in all its form from 70% of the world’s population is
everywhere extreme poor, so scope of agriculture
in reducing poverty is much more
than other sector
2. Zero Hunger End hunger, achieve food security and Indirectly related
improved nutrition and promote
sustainable agriculture
3. Good Health and Ensure healthy lives and promote Indirectly related
Well-being well-being for all at all ages
4. Quality Education Ensure inclusive and equitable quality Improved agriculture extension
education and promote lifelong learning activities provides the scope to the
opportunities for all farmers to access to different modern
skills, tools, inputs, and knowledge
necessary for better growth
5. Gender Equality Achieve gender equality and empower Better of less access to the resources,
all women and girls woman farmers produce 20–30% less
than their male counterparts. They
play a very important role in
producing food worldwide. So
reducing this gap, could minimize
global hunger
6. Clean Water and Ensure availability and sustainable Water demands for all sectors is
Sanitation management of water and sanitation growing day by day and by 2030,
for all total water demand will have
doubled, so demand of agriculture
sector will be more and that should
be met to feed the world
7. Affordable and Ensure access to affordable, reliable, By 2030, energy demand for all
Clean Energy sustainable and modern energy for all countries will be doubled, especially
the developing countries. More crops
are expected to be grown for use as
biofuels
8. Decent Work and Promote sustained, inclusive and Indirectly related
Economic Growth sustainable economic growth, full and
productive employment and decent
work for all
9. Industry, Innovation Build resilient infrastructure, promote Indirectly related
and Infrastructure inclusive and sustainable
industrialization and foster innovation
10. Reducing Inequality Reduce inequality within and among Indirectly related
countries
11. Sustainable Cities Make cities and human settlements Indirectly related
and Communities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Responsible Ensure sustainable consumption and Average consumption per capita is
Consumption and production patterns expected to grow through 2030, even
Production if about one third of what food is
produced goes to waste Contd...

2021] Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Development Goals 5
13. Climate Action Take urgent action to combat climate By 2030, agriculture’s carbon
change and its impacts* mitigation potential could reach as
much as 7.5% of total global
emissions, depending on the price of
carbon and adoption of agricultural
productivity measures
14. Life Below Water Conserve and sustainably use the Indirectly related
oceans, seas and marine resources for
sustainable development
15. Life On Land Protect restore and promote sustainable Improving the efficiency of farmland
use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably can help meet the demand for food
manage forests, combat desertification, and curtail the conversion of natural
and halt and reverse land degradation habitats and forests for additional
and halt biodiversity loss cultivation
16. Peace, Justice, and Promote peaceful and inclusive Indirectly related
Strong Institutions societies for sustainable development,
provide access to justice for all and
build effective, accountable and
inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Partnerships for the Strengthen the means of implementation Indirectly related
Goals and revitalize the global partnership for
sustainable development
In addition to the above SDGs, SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 14 (Life below Water)
if also related to agriculture in wider consideration.
on increased production is critical when
expanding the food supply with due consideration
to the environmental problems or social issues is
essential (The Royal Society, 2009).
The desire for agriculture to produce more
food without environmental harm, or even
positive contributions to natural and social capital,
has been reflected in calls for a wide range of
different types of more sustainable agriculture:
for a ‘doubly green revolution’ (Conway, 1997),
for ‘alternative agriculture’ (NRC, 1989), for an
‘evergreen revolution’ (Swaminathan, 2000), for
‘agroecological intensification’ (Milder et al.,
2012), for ‘green food systems’ (DEFRA, 2012),
for ‘greener revolutions’ (Snapp et al., 2010) and
for ‘evergreen agriculture’ (Garrity et al., 2010).
All centre on the proposition that agricultural and
uncultivated systems should no longer be
conceived of as separate from each other. In light
of the need for the sector also to contribute
directly to the resolution of global social–
ecological challenges, there have also been calls
for nutrition-sensitive (Thompson and Amoroso,
2011), climate-smart (FAO, 2013) and low-carbon
(Norse, 2012) agriculture. Sustainable production
systems should attribute to utilization of crop
varieties and livestock breeds with a high ratio of
productivity, unnecessary use of external inputs,
agroecological processes, minimize use of
technologies or practices that have adverse
impacts on the environment and human health,
productive use of human capital and social capital
to resolve water, pest or soil management issues
and minimization of impacts of system
management on externalities such as GHG
emissions, clean water, carbon sequestration,
biodiversity, and dispersal of pests, pathogens and
weeds (Jules Pretty and Bharucha, 2014). The role
of agriculture in enhancing food system
productivity is given in Fig. 1.
Global sustainable food security demands
enhanced productivity along with optimized
resource utilization, care for the environment and
conserving natural & agricultural biodiversity.
Sustainable Agricultural Intensification is inherent
in various Sustainable Development Goals

6 Journal of Agricultural Physics [Vol. 21
(SDGs) like SDG 15, Life on Land and SDG2
Zero hunger. Sustainability is connected with
social equity pre requisite for inclusiveness. Given
the productive and environmental benefits in
intensification, it should ensure upliftment of the
poorer sections of the farming population and
address the issues of gender equality.
Conservation Agriculture (CA)
Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a subset of
agricultural intensification with sustainability.
The concept of conservation agriculture
encompasses conservation, improvement and
judicious utilization of natural resources i.e., soil,
water and biological resources besides external
inputs. The four basic principles of CA i.e.,
reduction in tillage, retention of crop residues,
crop diversification and controlled traffic (FAO,
2011) are applicable to a wide range of agro
ecosystems and contribute to environmental
protection as well as improved and sustained
agricultural production (FAO, 2017). Widespread
degradation of soils and natural resources is a
concern and opportunity for researchers/scientists
to come out with an advanced natural resource
management practice for sustainable productivity
(Jat et al., 2014) and improved soil health
(Bhattacharya et al., 2020). The concept of
conservation agriculture (CA) is becoming an
viable alternative to maintain soil health and
agricultural sustainability (Somasundaram et al.
2020).
Researchers found that many conservation
agriculture practices had significant benefits for
agricultural, economic and environmental
performance indicators, whether implemented
separately or together. CA has been identified as
an agricultural practice that ensures agricultural
sustainability, associated with a potential to
mitigate greenhouse gas emissions (Paustian et
al., 1997; Schlesinger, 1999) and enhance SOC
sequestration (Parihar et al., 2018a; Bhattacharya
et al., 2020). Managing agro-ecosystems for
sustaining enhanced productivity, farm
profitability and food security, along with
protecting the environment and improving soil
health, enhancing C sequestration and natural
resource base are the characteristics of CA
(Bhattacharya et al., 2020). JK Ladha, adjunct
professor at the University of California, Davis
has rightly mentioned that Conservation
agriculture (CA) would prove to be key in
meeting the targets of Sustainable Development
Goals.
Fig. 1. Enhancing food system productivity and value in the entry point for enabling farmers to take their place
within a virtuous circle of sustainable agricultural production and livelihood (Dobermann et al., 2013).
Raise system
productivity,
efficiency, resilience
to improve value
chain
Sustainable systems
with reduced
environmental foot
print
Investments in
sustainable practices
become attractive
Improved
profitability &
income, food,
security, nutrition
and health
Raised
income from
higher value
Diversification
becomes an
option

2021] Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Development Goals 7
Role of CA in achieving SDGs
•Conservation agriculture aims to increasing
productivity of food and crop with
environmental sustainability which is central
to the issues of hunger, poverty, health,
sanitation and education the overarching
priorities in the identified SDGs.
•Climate change is going to be a major concern
for future. CA practices have the potential to
mitigate the negative effects of climate change
in agriculture.
•CA practices reduce the pollution to a certain
extent which is beneficial for the
environmental and health perspective.
•Use of newer technology and biological
intervention in CA will be instrumental in
enhancing productivity.
•Given low land holding capacity of majority
of the farmers, regional needs can be taken
care of with CA which will be helpful in
reducing inequality.
Opportunities
In meeting food and energy needs, there is a
need to address the issues like natural resource
degradation, escalating production costs and
climate change in Indian context. Conventional
agricultural practices are non sustainable for
future demand. No tillage CA has the potential to
meet the needs. The promotion of CA in Indian
context has the prospects of reduction in cost of
production, reduction in incidence of weeds, water
and nutrients savings, increased yield, Crop
diversification, resource improvement and
environmental benefits (Bhan et al., 2014)
India Vision for Sustainable Agriculture and
Food Security
Government of India’s vision for making
Indian Agriculture Sustainable to ensure food
security and enhanced nutrition levels necessary
for ending hunger in line with Agenda 2030 in
general and SDG2 in particular are as below:
(Sustainable Framework for realizing SDG2,
Vision 2030, Department of Agriculture
Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Govt of India).
•Economically viable, technically sound,
environmentally non-degrading and non-
hazardous and socially acceptable use of
natural resources of the country for promoting
the concept of sustainable agriculture.
•Land pooling should be given priority so that
FPOs, contract farming can take the
advantage of the scales of economy. Further
it will help in leasing without comprising the
original right & title of the tenants.
•Supply chain management as an umbrella
concept for the day to day management of
agriculture.
•Food Security: Sufficient food production /
purchasing capacity of the people (increase
in the income levels) / restructured and
targeted subsidy for those who can’t purchase
at normal rate / mechanism for easy access to
affordable food products.
•Enhancing nutrition levels: Food Basket filled
with options of nutritious food (horticulture-
fruits / vegetable / dairy products / poultry /
fisheries / Agro forestry -forest produce like
honey / Revival of climate resilient and
nutritious Agro-biodiversity / In -situ
conservation etc.). Again, here mechanism for
easy access to affordable nutritious food
products to every citizen is a must.
•Encourage application of biotechnology
(especially drought tolerance technology,
remote sensing technologies, energy saving
technologies, pre- and post-harvest techno-
logies, and technology for environmental
protection. Moreover, an attempt by the
government is needed to move towards a
regime of financial sustainability of extension
services in a pleased manner.
•Ending hunger.
•Special attention to be focused on application
of breakthrough technologies for substantive
increase in yield by cultivation of genetically
drought and pest resistance varieties with the
aim to use low consumption of water.

8 Journal of Agricultural Physics [Vol. 21
Conclusion
The notion of ‘intensification’ remains
controversial, as recent successes in increasing
food production per unit of resource have often
also caused environmental harm and disruption
to social systems. However, sustainable
intensification could both promote transitions
towards greener economies and benefit from
progress in other sectors. Sustainability of any
system depends on its adaptation in a given
environment and concerned long and short-term
strategies for its going forward form the all-stake
holders. Sustainability of any development is
associated with society upliftment through
enhanced income and equitable distribution. Since
food security is pivotal for achieving targets of
SDGs, the role of agricultural development is
pivotal and needs focused and prioritized actions.
Conservation agriculture, has the potential to
achieve the targets of SDGs through intervention
in small land holders farms besides others and
the same has been established through various
researches in India and outside. The essence of
sustainability i.e. ameliorates poverty, equitable
resource distribution, peace and prosperity of
society and individual, ecosystem balance, etc.,
are inherent in CA. Governmental commitment
towards sustainable agriculture and food security
and concerted and coordinated efforts of all
stakeholders will help in achieving the targets of
SDGs.
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Received: January 05, 2021; Accepted: March 17, 2021