System of crop intensification for more productive, resource-conserving, climate-resilient, and sustainable agriculture: experience with diverse crops in varying agroecologies

With continually increasing demand for food accompanied by the constraints of climate change and the availability and quality of soil and water, the world’s farmers are challenged to produce more food per hectare with less water, and with fewer agrochemical inputs if possible. The ideas and methods of the system of rice intensification which is improving irrigated rice production are now being extended/adapted to many other crops: wheat, maize, finger millet, sugarcane, tef, mustard, legumes, vegetables, and even spices. Promoting better root growth and enhancing the soil’s fertility with organic materials are being found effective means for raising the yields of many crop plants with less water, less fertilizer, reduced seeds, fewer agrochemicals, and greater climate resilience. In this article, we review what is becoming known about various farmer-centred innovations for agroecological crop management that can contribute to agricultural sustainability. These changes represent the emerging system of crop intensification, which is being increasingly applied in Asian, African, and Latin American countries. More research will be needed to verify the efficacy and impact of these innovations and to clarify their conditions and limits. But as no negative effects for human or environmental health have been identified, making these agronomic options more widely known should prompt more investigation and, to the extent justified by results, utilization of these methodologies

The system of crop intensification: Agroecological innovations for improving agricultural production, food security, and resilience to climate change

There is growing consensus that to meet global food-security requirements, agricultural sectors will need to pursue appropriate strategies for sustainable intensification of production. This volume reports on current ‘work in progress’ to achieve this via an approach known as System of Crop Intensification (SCI). Collated from the contributors’ work with farmers in their respective countries – and illustrated throughout with case studies, data, pictures and feedback – it presents a set of ideas and experiences to encourage people to think ‘outside the box’ of current practices

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Not AvailableAbstract Sugarcane is a significant crop in contributing to the country’s economy and farmers’ livelihood development. In India, sugar is a 550 billion rupees worth industry, supporting more than 50 million farmers. There is a growing demand for sugar in India. Hence, there will be more and more stress on the sugarcane eco-system in future. But, the present scenario of cane cultivation is not sustainable enough to meet this demand as the input and labor costs are increasing and the national mean cane productivity (2007–10) is at 66.9 t ha-1only. So, it is necessary to improve the cane productivity in a sustainable way with minimum usage of inputs through some alternate methods on the principles of ‘‘more with less’’. A research study with the objectives of developing a methodology for sustainable sugarcane productivity was carried out at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics during 2008–11. As a result, a methodology was evolved encompassing six principle components, including improved bud chip method, under a concept called ‘‘Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative (SSI)’’. The evaluation trials conducted on the principle components revealed the optimum size and age of the bud chips (4–10 months old) and suitable media combination (cocopith +sawdust) for raising better seedlings. SSI field trials resulted in about 20 % higher yields. The state governments are showing interest in covering larger areas under SSI. SSI method can revamp the sugarcane sector by its merits like ensuring of quality seed materials, increase in yield and income generating opportunities.Not Availabl

Spectrophotometric Determination of Lamivudine in Pure and Tablet Forms

Two visible spectrophotometric methods have been developed for the determination of Lamivudine(LMV) in pure and tablet forms. Method-A is based on oxidation of 3-methyl-2-benzathiazolinone hydrazone (MBTH) in the presence of iodoso benzene diacetate (IBDA) to form electrophilic intermediate which is an active coupling species that reacts with the coupler (LMV) by electrophillic attack on the most nucleophilic site on cyclic ring of the coupler. Method-B depends on diazonium salt formation and consequent reaction with resorcinol producing colored product. The absorbances are measured at 590 nm and 540 nm for Method-A and Method-B respectively. Beer's law is obeyed in the concentration range of 10.0-60.0 μg/mL for both the methods. The correlation coefficient which is very close to unity indicates that there is good correlation between concentration and absorbance. LOD, LOQ, confidence levels and relative standard deviation are calculated for the developed methods. The developed methods were successfully applied to tablet forms

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Not AvailableSugarcane is a significant crop in contributing to the country’s economy and farmers’ livelihood develop-ment. In India, sugar is a 550 billion rupees worth industry, supporting more than 50 million farmers. There is a growing demand for sugar in India. Hence, there will be more and more stress on the sugarcane eco-system in future. But, the present scenario of cane cultivation is not sustainable enough to meet this demand as the input and labor costs are increasing and the national mean cane productivity (2007–10) is at 66.9 t ha-1 only. So, it is necessary to improve the cane productivity in a sustainable way with minimum usage of inputs through some alternate methods on the principles of ‘‘more with less’’. A research study with the objectives of developing a methodology for sustainable sugarcane productivity was carried out at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics during 2008–11. As a result, a methodology was evolved encom-passing six principle components, including improved bud chip method, under a concept called ‘‘Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative (SSI)’’. The evaluation trials conducted on the principle components revealed the optimum size and age of the bud chips (4–10 months old) and suitable media com-bination (cocopith ? sawdust) for raising better seedlings. SSI field trials resulted in about 20 % higher yields. The state governments are showing interest in covering larger areas under SSI. SSI method can revamp the sugarcane sector by its merits like ensuring of quality seed materials, increase in yield and income generating opportunities.Not Availabl