1- Land Preparation

Transcript

We start the third week of CASI course by looking at how land preparation is done for CASI and what type of soil type we need. We would also be looking at the prerequisites of zero tillage technology.

By land preparation we mean preparing a suitable environment for the plant. This includes weed control and nutrient management in order to prevent soil deficiency. To do proper soil management, we take care of the following things.

First of all, we should completely know the properties of the soil, what is the soil type and the particle density of the soil in which we are going to practice conservation agriculture. We should minimize the use of tillage and have the right amount of organic carbon in the soil. We need to provide such an environment to the soil so that flora and fauna develops in the right way.

Under CASI, as part of land preparation, we practice minimum tillage. By harrowing, we break big lumps of soil into smaller ones and also laser level the land.

In the previous classes we had explained how laser levelling works. It is a machine by which we flatten the level of our agriculture land. It reduces the amount of water needed for irrigation by 30% and reduces labor cost by 25 – 30%. It also helps in weed control which is an important requirement of CASI. The pesticide or herbicide is evenly applied to the crops and thus increasing its efficiency. Basically, laser levelling prevents over flooding during irrigation and saves labor and increases our productivity by 25 – 30%.

Now, we look at the type of soil needed for CASI. Usually for DSR, we choose a land where there is no water logging. During land preparation, we have to keep in mind that the moisture in the soil should be within the field capacity level. We can do DSR if the field capacity of the soil is say less than 50%. This is possible as under zero technology, we do not have to till the land. We do minimum tilling and then just drop the seed and fertilizer.

In lowland farms where there is possibility of water logging, we first examine the condition of the land by walking on it. If the soil sticks to our feet then we wait for sowing and can use the zero tillage machine or any other machine only after the soil stops clinging to our feet when walking.

If our farm is sloppy or undulating land, then we have to make sure that our work is done across the slope. Even after using the laser leveler on a sloppy land, we should do the work across the slope.

Now, we look at the prerequisites of zero tillage farming. The most important thing for zero tillage is that our land must be laser levelled before we can use the zero tillage technique in our farm. We have already looked at the benefits of laser land levelling like labor and energy savings and productivity increases.

Another prerequisite for zero tillage technology is that we should retain the residue in our farm. It is advised to retain at least 25 – 30 % residue in our soil. This reduces the erosion of soil in our farm and saves the soil from loo and frost. This not just leads to an increase in soil efficiency and utilization but also increases the soil micro flora and fauna and organic carbon. It overall improves the health of the soil.

Another prerequisite for zero tillage is that we know in today’s time a lot of machinery is used in farming. We had earlier looked at the use of combined harvester. So whenever a combined harvester is used, we have to use a baler or straw chopper after that.

Doing these things has numerous benefits. Zero Tillage not only saves labor but also reduces our energy requirement by 70 to 80%. It also increases the crop duration for the next crop. This is very advantageous for our wheat crop as the more time the wheat crop gets, the more its yield increases.

So if we use zero tillage in the rice-wheat cropping system then our rice matures seven days in advance and this gives more time to the wheat crop. If we use zero tillage in CASI then not only it is environmentally friendly but it also increases our yield and productivity.

Zero tillage saves our environment as it reduces the emission of greenhouse gases and helps with carbon sequestration. With more carbon sequestration, the carbon content in our soil increases and ultimately it improves the soil health and fertility.

Laser land levelling and residue retention are two important prerequisites for zero tillage.

Also, in order to do good agriculture management practice, we have to keep a record of our activities like how much tilling did we do, how did we do sowing and what is the amount of residue retention. We have to maintain a crop friendly environment in the soil and stop soil compactness and maintain soil environment in such a way that there is more and more micro fauna and flora in the soil,

So for land preparation under CASI, we need to know how to do soil preparation and how to manage it so that we can get the most benefit.