Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
benefits are based on the perceived ability of
(i) vegetative buffer strips to decrease surface transport of agrochemical
pollutants;
(ii) large volumes of aboveground and belowground biomass of trees to
store C deeper in the soil profile; and
(iii) trees enhance soil productivity through biological N 2
fixation, efficient
nutrient cycling, and capture nutrients from depth.
(iv) legume-based agroforestry has the capacity to support biological
N fixation to enhance subsequent soil N availability and therefore
improve soil fertility and crop yields (Rosenstock et. al., 2014).
4.4.4. CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE (CA)
Conservation agriculture refers to a set of principles, grounded in sound science
that is gradually being adopted globally. The concept includes:
(i) causing minimum disturbance to the soil surface by using no- or
minimum-tillage;
(ii) keeping the soil surface covered all the time through practices such as
retention of crop residue, mulching, or growing cover crops;
(iii) adopting crop sequences or rotations that include agroforestry in
spatial and temporal scales; and
(iv) controlled traffic (FAO,2010)
Collectively, these practices lead to an increase in water stable aggregates, greater
SOC concentrations, and protection from wind and water erosion. Conservation
agriculture-based crop management technologies include zero tillage (ZT) with
residue recycling; laser assisted precision land levelling, direct drilling into the
residues, and direct seeding.
The results from a long-term experiment at ICRISAT, Andhra Pradesh, established
that the biological approaches viz., use of plant biomass as surface mulch,
agriculturally beneficial microorganisms, and other practices, have enhanced
Annexures
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