India will need to produce 30% more wheat by 2050, and these gains must principally come from intensification in eastern India where low productivity is common. Through a dense network of on-farm surveys for the rice–wheat system in this region, we show that contemporary wheat sowing dates have a central influence on achieved and attainable yields, superseding all other crop management, soil and varietal factors. We estimate that untapped wheat production potential will increase by 69% with achievable adjustments to wheat sowing dates without incurring undesirable trade-offs with rice productivity, irrigation requirements or profitability. Our findings also indicate that transformative gains in wheat yields are only possible in eastern India if rice and wheat are managed as a coupled system. Steps taken to ‘keep time’ through better management of the annual cropping calendar will pay dividends for food security, profitability and climate resilience now and as a foundation for adaptation to progressive climate change.

The highly heterogeneous and complex farm holdings operated by the smallholders in developing countries are often deprived of optimum production and profitability. The farming systems in the state of Jharkhand, India, are heterogeneous due to biophysical (e.g., climatic conditions, fertilizer status, elevation, etc.) and socio-economic (investment potential, production goals, income preferences) factors. The extension interventions to reach the smallholders often face the one-size-fits-all approach making farming less attractive with diminished potential. There is a need to understand the diversity of the farms to classify them into different homogenous groups after studying the nature and characteristics of the farm and operators on the farms. In the current study, twenty-one different variables related to socio-economic,biophysical and geospatial features of the farms from 394 farm households were used for the analysis using Principal Component Analysis to identify six principal components explaining 73.07% of the total variability in the dataset. The first six factors were further analyzed using Euclidean Distance as distance measure and Ward’s technique as agglomerative clustering to form four clusters that were found to represent the farm households in the three villages. The four farm types identified were, Type 1. Large farm household with a diversification of crops and intensification of labour (22%), Type 2. Small farm households with major income from livestock (9%), Type 3. Small farm households with diversified cropping system and income from other sources (17%), and Type 4. Small farm households with monocropping dominated by senior farmers with an additional source of income (51%). The validation of the clusters was undertaken through qualitative methods such as focused group discussions and participatory workshops. The findings back up previous research that showed a positive association between farmer categorization and mathematical classification. The study offers a verifiable scientific methodology that could help scale agricultural technologies by forming a specific cluster of farmers based on their characteristics. The technologies applied to various farm types would be helpful to the extension system to target the interventions among the precise members of the identified farm types. Thus, the study suggests the farming system typology based on socio-economic, biophysical and geospatial factors for targeted farming systems interventions among smallholders.

How effective are climate resilient agricultural technologies (CRATs) in overcoming barriers faced in agri-food system by farmers across the different agro-climatic zones (ACZs) of Bihar? This study examines the barriers that hinder farmers in Bihar from adopting CRATs amidst the growing impacts of climate change on global agri-food systems. It focuses on key CRATs, including zero tillage/minimum tillage (ZT/MT), laser land leveling (LLL), climate-resilient variety selection (CRVS), crop diversification (CD), site-specific nutrient management (SSNM), crop calendar and timely sowing (CCTS), and direct-seeded rice (DSR), and investigates the factors affecting their adoption. Using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and logistic regression, key factors that influence the adoption of CRATs were identified. Descriptive statistics showed moderate levels of soil health awareness (mean value = 2.70) and climate change awareness (mean value = 2.63). Correlation analysis found that social factors like training received had a positive correlation with the adoption of DSR (correlation coefficient = 0.410). Logistic regression results highlighted that technology awareness significantly influences the adoption of DSR (coefficient = 0.400, p = 0.253), while initial investment costs are major barriers for ZT/MT and LLL (coefficient = 0.400, p = 0.267). Results highlight the need to improve awareness through educational programs, provide technical support, and offer financial incentives to overcome the various barriers farmers faced. Targeted efforts in these areas can significantly increase the adoption of the CRATs, leading to more resilient and sustainable farming systems. Study supports not only the sustainable agricultural development but also align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 15 (Life on Land).

Agrochemicals which ushered in the ‘green revolution’ in the 1950-60’s, boosted food productivity, but at the cost of environment and society. It increased food production but also destroyed the ‘physical, chemical and the biological properties’ of soil over the years of use. It killed the beneficial soil organisms and also impaired the power of ‘biological resistance’ in crops making them more susceptible to pests and diseases. No farmland of world is free of toxic pesticides today. Over the years it has worked like a ‘slow poison’ for the soil and society. According to UNEP and WHO nearly 3 million people suffer from ‘acute pesticide poisoning’ and some 10 to 20 thousand people die every year from it in both the developed and the developing countries. Organic farming by earthworms (Sir Charles Darwin’s ‘friends of farmers’) can provide a sustainable and also highly economical solution to the various problems created by the destructive agrochemicals in farm production. Earthworms vermicompost are scientifically proving to be an ‘extraordinary powerful growth promoters and protectors’ for crops (5-7 times over other bulky organic fertilizers and 20-40 % higher over chemical fertilizers). They are rich in NKP, micronutrients, beneficial soil microbes like ‘nitrogen-fixing’ and ‘phosphate solubilizing’ bacteria, ‘mycorrhizal fungi’, humus and growth hormones – auxins, gibberlins and cytokinins. It has very high ‘porosity’, ‘aeration’, ‘drainage’ and ‘water holding capacity’ and makes the soil soft. More significantly it also protect plants against various pests and diseases either by suppressing or repelling them or by inducing biological resistance in plants to fight them or by killing them by their beneficial microbes (chitin and cellulose degraders). ‘Vermiwash’ (liquid filtered through the body of worms) and the ‘vermicompost tea’ (solution of vermicompost) also works as very ‘powerful bio-pesticides’ eliminating the use of toxic chemical pesticides. Agriculture has also been responsible for huge emissions of greenhouse gases and induction of global warming. Of the increase of atmospheric carbon over the last 150 years, about a third (33.3 %) is thought to have come from agriculture. Chemical agriculture has further augmented GHG emissions. From their production in factories to their transport and use in farms agrochemicals generate huge toxic wastes and pollution and greenhouse gases. Aggressive tillage of compacted soils (due to use of agrochemicals) depletes the ‘soil organic carbon’ (SOC) and emits large volumes of CO₂. Chemical nitrogen from the soil is oxidised as N₂O which is 312 times more powerful GHG than CO₂. Organic farming by vermicompost ‘sequesters’ large amount of ‘atmospheric carbon’ and bury them back into the soil as SOC improving soil fertility and also ‘mitigating global warming’. Soil amended with vermicompost have significantly greater ‘soil bulk density’ and hence porous and lighter and never get compacted needing no or low tillage. Production of vermicompost divert huge amount of wastes from ‘landfills’ which emit large amount of powerful greenhouse gases like CH₄ and N₂O along with CO₂. Every 1 kg of waste diverted from landfills prevents 1 kg of greenhouse gas emission equivalent to CO₂. It is like a ‘win-win situation’ for the nation, farmers, environment and the society. The objectives of this review paper is to scientifically prove that vermiculture technology with the aid of earthworms and its metabolic products (vermicast) can boost farm production without agrochemicals (completely organic) and justify the beliefs of Sir Charles Darwin who called the earthworms as ‘friends of farmers’ centuries ago. Besides, it will provide several social, economic and environmental benefits to the society by way of producing ‘chemical-free’ safe, ‘nutritive and protective’ foods (even against some forms of cancers) for the people, salvaging human wastes and reducing the needs for costly landfills, mitigating global warming by sequestering carbon into soil.

Far removed from the agricultural fire “hotspots” of Northwestern India, rice residue burning is on the rise in Eastern India with implications for regional air quality and agricultural sustainability. The underlying drivers contributing to the increase in burning have been linked to the adoption of mechanized (combine) harvesting but, in general, are inadequately understood. We hypothesize that the adoption of burning as a management practice results from a set of socio-technical interactions rather than emerging from a single factor. Using a mixed methods approach, a household survey (n = 475) provided quantitative insights into landscape and farm-scale drivers of burning and was complemented by an in-depth qualitative survey (n = 36) to characterize decision processes and to verify causal inferences derived from the broader survey. For communities where the combine harvester is present, our results show that rice residue burning is not inevitable. The decision to burn appears to emerge from a cascading sequence of events, starting with the following: (1) decreasing household labor, leading to (2) decreasing household livestock holdings, resulting in (3) reduced demands for residue fodder, incentivizing (4) adoption of labor-efficient combine harvesting and subsequent burning of loose residues that are both difficult to collect and of lower feeding value than manually harvested straw. Local demand for crop residues for livestock feeding plays a central role mediating transitions to burning. Consequently, policy response options that only consider the role of the combine harvester are likely to be ineffective. Innovative strategies such as the creation of decentralized commercial models for dairy value chains may bolster local residue demand by addressing household-scale labor bottlenecks to maintaining livestock. Secondary issues, such as timely rice planting, merit consideration as part of holistic responses to “bend” agricultural burning trajectories in Eastern India towards more sustainable practices.