56. Verma Sustainable Agricultural PDF

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See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283047642 56. Verma sustinable agricultural Data · October 2015 CITATIONS READS 0 108 1 author: Ram Swaroop Meena Banaras Hindu University 390 PUBLICATIONS 12,947 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Ram Swaroop Meena on 21 October 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.  Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2015) 1e2 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Cleaner Production journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro Book review Issues and challenges about sustainable agriculture production example, higher use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides were for management of natural resources to sustain soil fertility and recommended earlier to attain the higher food grain production health for providing feed to increasing population (Tilman et al., 2002; Verma et al., 2014). Alternatively, after realizing the potential of Sustainable Agricultural Development-Recent Approaches in environmental hazards caused by chemical fertilizers and pesti- Resources Management and Environmentally-Balanced Produc- cides, the human being slowly started advocating controlled and tion Enhancement, Mohamed Behnassi, Shabbir A. Shahid, balanced use of fertilizers and pesticides (Verma et al., 2013). Joyce D'Silva (Eds.). Springer (2011). 275 pp. Price 107.09 V, The concepts of sustainable agriculture with integrated nutrient ISBN: 978-94-007-0519-7 management and integrated pest management under organic farming system attained significance in the context of sustaining The book “Sustainable Agricultural Development-Recent Ap- soil fertility and health, and environmental protection proaches in Resources Management and Environmentally- (Brahmanand et al., 2013). Balanced Production Enhancement” edited by Behnassi Mohamed, Therefore, sustainable agricultural production needs to revive Shabbir A. Shahid, and Joyce D'Silva and published by Springer soil fertility and health by managing agricultural practices like Netherlands (2011), 275 page, 119,59 V price and eBook ISBN. application of drought resistance varieties, irrigation, crop rota- 978-94-007-0519-7, Hardcover ISBN 978-94-007-9037 and DOI: tion, crop diversity, biofertilizer, microbial consortia, and 10.1007/978-94-007-0519-7. This book is the outcome of an Inter- improving rural infrastructure including processing, marketing national Conference “The Integration of Sustainable Agriculture, and storage, education, and enhance the rural financial markets Rural Development, and Ecosystems in the Context of Climate (Vaidyanathan, 1994). The above concerns will encourage a reader Change, the Energy Crisis and Food Insecurity”, chaired by to read the book for learning a novel and simple ideas to enhance Mohamed Behnassi that was held in Agadir (Morocco) in November the sustainable agriculture production for increasing yield, nutri- 2009. This book mostly covers sustainable agriculture for soil and tional quality as well as soil fertility and health for present and water management and conservation, plant production, soil reme- future generation. In general, this book covers a complete over- diation, livestock development, land governance, and environ- view in relation with sustainable farming, sustainable manage- mental protection. In India, agriculture is the main source of ment of water and land resources, and innovative processes in economy and sustenance of life of human beings. Sustainable agri- livestock production. It also aims at providing inputs to decision culture is the successful management of resources for agriculture to making processes and encouraging the transfer of relevant satisfy the changing human requirements whilst maintaining or know-how, technologies and expertise to different countries enhancing the quality of environment and conserving natural re- where similar agro-climatic conditions may exist; thus saving sources (Sinha, 2009). Sustainable agriculture is consolidation of precious resources and promoting sustainable agricultural devel- three main goals such as environmental health, economic profit- opment as a relevant approach to tackle the food security chal- ability, and social equity. Success in sustainable agriculture can be lenge. The book provides a descriptive idea regarding the achieved by application of various agricultural practices such as current issues and challenges for sustainable development. This crop diversification, genetic diversity, integrated nutrient manage- book will be useful for teaching and research of agricultural scien- ment, integrated pest management, sustainable water manage- tist, academician and policymakers about agriculture, soil and wa- ment, post-harvest technology and sound extension programmes ter management, conservation, plant production, soil remediation, (FAO, 1991). livestock development, land governance, and environmental Food securities will remain a concern in the worldwide for the protection. next 50 years and beyond. There has been no significant change in The book focuses on four aspects having twenty chapters. Part I agricultural production in many areas stressing the need for deals with sustainable use of available resources for sustainable higher investments of money in research and infrastructure, as agricultural development, including aspects like land resources well as addressing the issue of water scarcity, salinity and soil governance, land grabbing, and implications for food security, degradation (Brahmanand et al., 2013). After green revolution, turning adversity into an advantage, reforestation and zoo- climate change can be an essential factor for affecting the global ecological remediation of soil quality improvement, transcultural agriculture production in future. The projected global warming gardens, mitigation of salinization, and policy frameworks for and associated climate change would be affected agricultural farmland use. Part II discusses sustainable management of water sector which is one of the sensitive areas (Rajeevan, 2013). The resources at farm level as well as their extension education. Part most significant thing is to keep in mind that some of the agricul- III deals with innovations in agricultural production including tural technologies relating to crop production were found to be slow release nitrogen fertilizers, organic fertilizers, use of waste innovative and quite relevant for higher food production. For as a resource, and the implications of animal breeding http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.04.130 0959-6526 2 Book review / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2015) 1e2 technologies. Part IV focuses on innovative processes in livestock Acknowledgement production such as animal husbandry and the use of sorghum, cactus, and halophytes as animal feed. The editors have attempted We thank to Prof. Rodrigo Lozano, Associate Editor, Journal of to cover the complete aspect about sustainable agricultural Cleaner Production for his valuable comments and suggestions. practices. The first section on sustainable use of land resources that covers References the chapters regarding food security improvement by improving soil quality and production, reforestation, zoo-ecological remedia- Brahmanand, P.S., Kumar, A., Ghosh, S., Chowdhury, S.R., Singandhupe, R.B., tion and transculture gardening. The second section, the editors Singh, R., Nanda, P., Chakraborthy, H., Srivastava, S.K., Behera, M.S., 2013. Chal- lenges to food security in India. Curr. Sci. 104 (7). focus mostly on sustainable management of water resources for FAO, 1991. Sustainable agriculture and rural development. In: Asia and Pacific, irrigation purpose to enhance the sustainable agricultural produc- Regional Document No. 2, FAO/Netherlands Conference on Agriculture and tion. The third sections cover the chapters on application of innova- the Environment, Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, 15e19 April. tive tools and techniques such as inorganic nano materials as slow Rajeevan, M., 2013. Climate change and its impact on Indian agriculture. In: Shetty, P.K., Ayyappan, S., Swaminathan, M.S. (Eds.), Climate Change and Sus- release fertilizer and organic fertilizers. The fourth section focuses tainable Food Security. National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore and on recent innovative process for production of livestock such as an- Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. imal husbandary, farm animal breeding and quality food for animal Sinha, A., 2009. Agriculture and food security: crises and challenges today. Soc. Ac- tion 59. because major population of worlds are non-vegetation which Tilman, D., Cassman, K.G., Matson, P.A., Naylor, R., Polasky, S., 2002. Agricultural sus- depend on animal meet for daily food. The editors attempted to tainability and intensive production practices. Nature 418 (6898), 671e677. incorporate the important and necessary points such as innovative Vaidyanathan, A., 1994. Second India Studies Revisited: Food Agriculture and Water. Madras Institute of Development Studies, Madras. approaches, technologies and researches to enhance the sustain- Verma, J.P., Yadav, J., Tiwari, K.N., Kumar, A., 2013. Effect of indigenous Mesorhi- able agriculture and productivity using modern irrigation systems, zobium spp. and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria on yields and nutrients improved varieties, improved soil quality and preservation of natu- uptake of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under sustainable agriculture. Ecol. Eng. 51, 282e286. ral environment. The editors did not focus on application of bio- Verma, J.P., Jaiswal, D.K., Sagar, R., 2014. Pesticide relevance and their microbial fertilizer as phosphate solubilising microbes, plant growth degradation: a-state-of-art. Rev. Environ. Sci. Biotechnol. 13, 429e466. http:// promoting rhizobacteria, plant growth promoting rhizobacteria dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11157-014-9341-7. Vessey, J.K., 2003. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria as biofertilizers. Plant Soil fungi, mycorrhiza and blue green algae for enhancing plant growth 255, 571e586. and yield as well as improve the soil fertility and health although it is the major component of organic sustainable agriculture practises Jay Prakash Verma*, Durgesh Kumar Jaiswal (Vessey, 2003; Verma et al., 2014). The editors could have discussed Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, details regarding the use and application of genetically modified Banaras Hindu University, microorganism and different verities of crops and animals in sus- Varanasi, 221005, tainable agriculture.k Uttar Pradesh, India Vijay Singh Meena Crop Production Division, Vivekananda Institute of Hill Agriculture, (ICAR), Almora, 263601, India Akhilesh Kumar Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India R.S. Meena Department of Agronomy, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, Uttar Prdesh, India * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ91 9452762725 (mobile). E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (J.P. Verma). 29 April 2015 Fig. 1. Book covering page. Available online xxx View publication stats