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Macro-Benefits from Micronutrients for Grey to Green Revolution in Agriculture

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/6972/
 
Title Macro-Benefits from Micronutrients for Grey to Green Revolution in Agriculture
 
Creator Dar, W D
 
Subject Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics
 
Description The Semi-Arid Tropics (SAT), spread over 11.6 million sq km worldwide, is home to millions of
poor people. Its soils are low in fertility and degraded to varying extents, with a climate
characterized by undependable rainfall, high average temperatures and water stress situations for
crop growth. The SAT is densely populated and a large number of its poor live off subsistence
agriculture. The Green Revolution in Asia bypassed these large tracts of rainfed systems.
ICRISAT is committed to improve livelihoods of millions of poor living in the SAT by
undertaking agricultural research for impact in a partnership mode. Our new watershed model
emphasizes the management of water as an entry point for improving livelihoods through
convergence of natural resource-based activities. Our on-farm community watershed research in
Asia revealed that the SAT’s subsistence agricultural systems have depleted soils not only for
macronutrients, but also for micronutrients such as Zn, B, and secondary nutrients like S beyond
the critical limits. Wide spread (80-100%) deficiencies of micro and secondary nutrients were
observed in farmers’ fields in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan states of India.
Substantial increase in yields by 20 to 80 percent due to micronutrient amendments, and a further
increase at 70 to 120 percent micronutrient and adequate N and P amendments in a number of
crops (maize, sorghum, greengram, pigeonpea, castor, chickpea, soybean and wheat) in the
farmers fields were observed. Increased use efficiency of the inputs such as N and P fertilizers,
as well as rainwater, resulted in increased profits and increasing productivity besides minimizing
land degradation in the tropics. We are integrating these natural resource management (NRM)
interventions with improved genotypes to harness the full benefits in the watershed. The
integrated genetic and natural resource management (IGNRM) approach adopted in watersheds
will thus make the Grey to Green revolution a reality.
 
Date 2004
 
Type Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
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Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/6972/1/MacroBenefits_WDDar_IFACnf_2004.pdf
Dar, W D (2004) Macro-Benefits from Micronutrients for Grey to Green Revolution in Agriculture. In: IFA International Symposium on Micronutrients, , 23-25 February 2004, New Delhi, India.