Soil Health as a Growth Engine for Sustainable. Challenges & Learnings

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1 Soil Health as a Growth Engine for Sustainable Agriculture Development Challenges & Learnings Girish Chander, SP Wani, KL Sahrawat and team/ Soil Health Workshop/Ranchi/13January 2016)

2 Why to Transform Agriculture in India Food and nutrition security for burgeoning population Finite land resources Rainfed regions neglected Strengthening agri-based livelihoods Declining fertilizer/input use efficiency Resilience-building for climate variability and climate change

3 Continent Regions Rain-fed Agriculture has the Potential Total arable land (million ha) Rainfed area (million ha) % of Rainfed area World Africa Northern Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Americas Northern America Central America and Caribbean Southern America Asia Middle East Central Asia Southern and Eastern Asia Europe Western and Central Europe Eastern Europe Oceania Australia and New Zealand Other Pacific Islands % 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Zambia Tanzania Kenya Uganda Ethiopia Burkina Faso Niger Botswana Zimbabwe Observed Yield Gap between Farmers Yield and Achievable Yields Long-term experiment at ICRISAT: Large untapped potential Vietnam Thailand India Iran Iraq Jordan Morocco Pakistan Syria Yemen

4 Widespread Soil degradation Participatory R4D thru strategic partnerships Soil sampling and soil test-based fertilizer management as an Entry Point Activity More than 1,00,000 soil samples analyzed Deficiencies of secondary and micronutrients State % Fields with % deficiency w.r.t. available low levels of nutrients soil Org C P K S B Zn Karnataka b Andhra Pradesh a Gujarat c Kerala d Madhya Pradesh a Rajasthan a Tamil Nadu c Jharkhand (Gumla) e Jharkhand (Saraikela) e a Wani, Chander, and Sahrawat (2012); b Waniet al. (2011); c Sahrawatet al. (2007); d Chanderet al. (2015); e Chanderet al. (2012) OC= Organic carbon; Zn=Zinc; B=boron; S=sulphur; P=Phosphorus; K=Potassium

5 Bhoochetana: GoK-ICRISAT Innovative Scaling-up Initiative to Bridge Yield Gaps Bhoochetana means Reviving the land Exemplar model of scaling-out soil test-based nutrient management Demand driven ICRISAT-led consortia as facilitator DoA as nodal agency Capacity building Master trainers to Line-staff to farmers Farm-facilitators to bridge human resource gap Soil sampling by farmers with handholding support Stratified soil sampling technique toposequence, color, texture, cropping system, farm size Soil analysis in state-of-art laboratories Towards Inclusive Market Oriented Development thru Consortium; Collective action, Convergence, Capacity building

6 Soil health Mapping and Soil Test- Based Recommendations Delineation of deficient and sufficient regions Individual nutrient deficiencies scattered differently Block level recommendations compared to state level Incentivized deficient micro & secondary nutrient fertilizers made available at farmers doorsteps Groundnut on BBF, Kurnool, A.P. Organic C Phosphorus Boron Zinc

7 Knowledge Dissemination and Implementation Wall writings in each village Tablet based extension system Farmer to farmer videos Regural monitoring and evaluation Pocket soil health cards FFs, each for 500 ha Championing at higher level

8 Area coverage and participating farmers Progressive expansion of area under improved management *Figures in parentheses indicate No. of farmers (million) participated

9 Increased on-farm Yields Haveri Maize Kolar Groundnut % 31% Grain / Pod yield (kg ha -1 ) % 33% 33% Farmers' practice Improved practice % 33% 43% 37% Farmers crop yields in Karnataka, rainy season Maize 4 Years G.nut 3 Years Crop yields in Haveri and Kolar, Response of Millets to balanced fertilization, Increased crop yields by 20% to 66% Rise in agricultural growth annually above 5% Millets significantly respond to balanced nutrient management even in below average rainfall years 2011 and 2012

10 Increased Benefits and Income for Smallholders Benefit cost ration for farmers 3-14:1 Net benefit in 4 yr: 240 million USD/Rs 1260 cr Increased Incomes due to Bhoochetana Year Total Net income (Rs in Crores) Net income (Million US$)

11 Soil Test-Based Fertilization for Enhanced Nitrogen Use Efficiency ICRISAT, Patancheru, Maize crop, rainy season 2010 Treatment NUpE NUtE NUE NHI (kg kg -1 ) (kg kg -1 ) (kg kg -1 ) (%) NP NP+SBZn-(every yr) NP+50%SBZn-(every yr) NP+SBZn-(once in 2 yr) NP+50%SBZn-(once in2 yr) LSD (5%) NUpE(Nitrogen uptake efficiency) = Total plant N uptake/n supply [N-supply means sum of N applied as fertilizer and total N uptake in control] NUtE(N utilization efficiency) = Grain yield/total plant N uptake; NUE (N use efficiency) = Grain yield/n supply; NHI (N harvest index) = N in grain/total N uptake Chander et al. 2014

12 Soil: Key role in C-sequestration Soils play an important role in C cycling 2.1 billion tons C year -1 global potential of C-sequestration in soils of agro-ecosystems 10% increase in soil organic C pool in world soils over the 21 st century implies a drawdown of about 110 ppmof atmospheric CO 2 Biota 600 Pg C Respiration 100 PgYr -1 Photosynthesis 100 PgYr -1 Atmosphere 750 Pg C Soil (to 2-m depth) 2500 Pg C (billion tons) (Batjes, 1999; Lal and Kimble, 1997)

13 Soil Test-based Fertilization & C- Sequestration Long term study at ICRISAT Additional 7.3 t C ha -1 (335 kg C ha -1 yr -1 ) sequestered under IM over 24-year period C inputs increased with continuous cropping and soil test-based balanced fertilizers application and when legumes were included Properties System Soil depth (cm) 0 to to 120 Organic C (t C ha -1 Improved ) Traditional Wani et al An increase of 1 ton of soil carbon pool of degraded cropland soils may increase crop yield by 200 to 400 kg ha -1 for maize, 20 to 70 kg ha -1 for wheat, 20 to 30 kg ha -1 for soybean, 5 to 10 kg ha -1 for cowpeas, 10 to 50 kg ha -1 for rice, 50 to 60 kg ha -1 for millets and 20 to 30 kg ha -1 for beans (Lal 2011). An increase in the soil organic C pool within the root zone by 1 t C ha -1 year -1 can enhance food production in developing countries by 30 to 50 Mt year -1 including 24 to 40 Mt year -1 of cereal and legumes, and 6 to 10 Mt year -1 of roots and tubers (Lal et al. 2007).

14 Recycling Nutrients in On-Farm Wastes Vermicomposting and aerobic composting to recycle on-farm wastes Use of microbial consortia and earthworms in recycling nutrients in on-farm wastes thru composting Urea and rock-phosphate use to improve nutrients in composts Cut in cost & use of chemical fertilizers up to 25% to 50% thru organic composts At par or higher yields under integrated nutrient management compared to balanced fertilization solely thru chemical fertilizers Compost type Essential plant nutrients (mg kg -1 ) N P K Ca Mg S Zn Cu Fe Mn B Vermi compost (with earthworms) Aerobic compost (with microbial culture) Chander et al. 2016

15 Balanced Fertilization for Soil Health Long term study at ICRISAT Soil microbial biomass C serves as a surrogate for soil quality Soil microbial biomass C responds more rapidly than soil organic C to changes in management Higher (10.3 vs. 6.4%) biomass C as a proportion of soil organic C (up to 120 cm soil depth) under improved management Biomass N comprised about 2.6% of total soil N in the improved system, whereas in the traditional system it constituted only 1.6%. Properties System Soil depth (cm) 0 to to 120 Microbial biomass C (kg C ha -1 ) Improved Traditional Organic C (t C ha -1 ) Improved Traditional Microbial biomass N (kg N ha -1 ) Improved Traditional Total N (kg N ha -1 ) Improved Traditional Olsen-P (kg P ha -1 ) Improved Traditional Wani et al. 2003

16 Resilience Building thru Soil Test-Based Application of Micro & Secondary Nutrients Jhabua, MP, soybean crop, rainy season 2012 FP=Farmers practice; BN=Balanced nutrition The benefits of balanced fertilizataionwere observed in next 3 succeeding seasons as enhanced crop yields

17 Soil Test-Based Fertilization for Nutrition and Produce Quality Soybean grain in Raisen, Madhya Pradesh, rainy season 2010 Treatment N (g kg -1 ) P (g kg -1 ) Nutrient contents K (g kg -1 ) S (mg kg -1 ) B (mg kg -1 ) Zn (mg kg -1 ) FP BN % BN+VC LSD (5%) Medak, AP, Sugarcane crop, Chander et al. 2013

18 Soil Test-Based Fertilization for Intensification & diversification Cultivating post-rainy fallows Jharkhand example of cultivating chickpea (KAK-2; JG-11) ( kg ha - 1 yield) Cultivating rainy fallows MP example of cultivating soybean( kgha -1 yield) Enhancing rainwater use efficiency MP & other examples, 2009, 2010: 10% to 60% increase in yield undersame water in crops like soybean, paddy, greengram, groundnut etc For exploiting varietal potential Rajasthan case: 40%increasewithvarbut140%withvar+BN Shifting to high value agriculture Karnataka case, 2011: Rs additional returns

19 Conclusions & Way Forward for Big Fast Results Soil fertility degradation is a major stumbling block Threat to sustainable agriculture and ecosystem Soil health mapping important for future food security State-of-the-art soil testing laboratories needed for analyzing large number of samples Participatory R4D to take soil health management strategies to farmers fields Consortium, Convergence, CB strategy for scaling out Policy support for soil health mapping and soil need-based fertilizer management

20 Thank you! ICRISAT is a member of the CGIAR Consortium