Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) in a Sustainable Rice-Wheat Cropping System

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With depleted soils and reduced ground water levels from intensive agriculture, Indiax2019;s rice and wheat crops are in crisis. Yet the nationx2019;s population will rise from todayx2019;s 1.18 billion people to as many as 1.5 billionby 2020, with 25 per cent more mouths to feed. The x2018;Green Revolutionx2019; of the 1970s saw Indiax2019;s rice production keep pace with population growth, but only up to the late 1990s when soil fertility and ground water problems worsened. Coupled with the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and the neglect of organics, soil damage was compounded by health hazards to humans and animals. This trend, recognized elsewhere in Asia, led to the concept of the x2018;Integrated Nutrient Management (INM)x2019; system in sustainable rice-wheat cropping. INM advocates the use of both inorganic and organic plant nutrients and is gaining growing recognition. Here, the authors analyze the rice-wheat cropping crisis and its remedies together with the importance of the INM system in modern Indian agriculture.