Integrated Crop and Resource Management in the Rice-Wheat System of South Asia

Abstract

Rice and wheat feed more than 3.1 billion people living in South Asia and the People's Republic of China. The rice-wheat cropping system is the major food production system in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Integrated Crop and Resource Management in the Rice-Wheat System of South Asia covers the history of the Rice-Wheat Consortium and explains the importance of resource-conserving technologies developed for this system, such as laser land leveling, zero-till and reduced-till drill-seeded wheat, direct seeding of rice, and a leaf color chart for nitrogen management. Through integrated crop and resource management, farmers can combine their practices with these new technologies. This 395-page book presents the outputs of the Asian Development Bank project titled 'Enhancing Farmers' Income and Livelihood through Integrated Crop and Resource Management in the Rice-Wheat System in South Asia.' The goal is to produce more food at less cost (by improving yield per unit area) and improve water productivity. This is necessary because there will be an additional 20 million people per year in this area to feed. The book helps explain how this can be done.