Role of conservation agriculture in protecting land and improving soil quality amidst changing climate

Abstract

Conservation agriculture (CA) defined (see FAO CA web site: http://www.fao.org/ag/ca/1a.html) as minimal soil disturbance (no-till, NT) and permanent soil cover (mulch) combined with rotations, is a recent agricultural management system that is gaining popularity in many parts of the world. Cultivation is defined by the Oxford English dictionary as ‘the tilling of land’, ‘the raising of a crop by tillage’ or ‘to loosen or break up soil’. Other terms used in this dictionary include ‘improvement or increase in (soil) fertility’. All these definitions indicate that cultivation is synonymous with tillage or ploughing. The other important definition that has been debated and defined in many papers is the word ‘sustainable’. The Oxford English dictionary defines this term as ‘capable of being borne or endured, upheld, defended, maintainable’. Something that is sustained is ‘kept up without intermission or flagging, maintained over a long period’. This is an important concept in today's agriculture, since the human race will not want to compromise the ability of its future offspring to produce their food needs by damaging the natural resources used to feed the population today. This paper will introduce and promote CA as a modern agricultural practice that can enable farmers in many parts of the world to achieve the goal of sustainable agricultural production. But first, the paper discusses some issues related to tillage.