Sustainable Intensification of Crop Production

This book outlines a new paradigm, Sustainable Intensification of Crop Production (SICP), which aims to produce more from the same area of land by increasing efficiency, reducing waste, conserving resources, reducing negative impacts on the environment and enhancing the provision of ecosystem services. The use of ecologically based management strategies can increase the sustainability of agricultural production while reducing off-site consequences.

The book also highlights the underlying principles and outlines some of the key management practices and technologies - such as minimum soil disturbance; permanent organic soil covers; species diversification; selection of suitable cultivars, planting time, age and spacing; balanced plant nutrition; agro-ecological pest management; efficient water management; careful management of farm machinery; and integrated crop-livestock production - required to implement SICP.

The green revolution (by using high-yielding crop varieties, mono-cropping, fertilization, irrigation, and pesticides) has led to enormous gains in food production and improved world food security. In many countries, however, intensive crop production has had negative impacts on production, ecosystems and the larger environment, putting future productivity at risk. In order to meet the projected demands of a growing population expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, farmers in the developing world must double food production, a challenge complicated by the effects of climate change and growing competition for land, water and energy.

This book will be of immense value to all members of the scientific community involved in teaching, research and extension activities concerning sustainable intensification. The material can be used for teaching post-graduate courses, or as a useful reference guide for policy makers.

Dr. P. Parvatha Reddy obtained his Ph.D. degree jointly from the University of Florida, USA and the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.

Dr. Reddy served as the Director of the prestigious Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) at Bangalore from 1999 to 2002 during which period the Institute was honored with "ICAR Best Institution Award". He also served as the Head, Division of Entomology and Nematology at IIHR and gave tremendous impetus and direction to research, extension and education in developing bio-intensive integrated pest management strategies in horticultural crops. These technologies are being practiced widely by the farmers across the country since they are effective, economical, eco-friendly and residue-free. Dr. Reddy has about 34 years of experience working with horticultural crops and involved in developing an F1 tomato hybrid "Arka Varadan" resistant to root-knot nematodes.

Dr. Reddy has over 250 scientific publications to his credit, which also include 30 books. He has also guided two Ph.D. students at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.

Dr. Reddy served as Chairman, Research Advisory Committee, Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi; Member, RAC of National Research Centre for Integrated Pest Management, New Delhi; National Research Centre for Citrus, Nagpur and the Project Directorate of Biological Control, Bangalore. He served as a Member, QRT to review the progress of AICRP on Nematodes; AINRP on Betelvine; Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Trivandrum and AICRP on Tuber Crops. He also served as a Member of the Expert Panel for monitoring the research program of National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) in the theme of Horticulture including Pest Dynamics and Pollinators. He is the Honorary Fellow of the Society for Plant Protection Sciences, New Delhi; Fellow of the Indian Phytopathological Society, New Delhi and Founder President of the Association for Advancement of Pest Management in Horticultural Ecosystems (AAPMHE), Bangalore.

Dr. Reddy has been awarded with the prestigious "Association for Advancement Pest Management in Horticultural Ecosystems Award", "Dr. G.I. D'souza Memorial Lecture Award", "Prof. H.M. Shah Memorial Award" and " Hexamar Agricultural Research and Development Foundation Award" for his unstinted efforts in developing sustainable, bio-intensive and eco-friendly integrated pest management strategies in horticultural crops.

Dr. Reddy has organized "Fourth International Workshop on Biological Control and Management of Chromolaena odorata", "National Seminar on Hitech Horticulture", "First National Symposium on Pest Management in Horticultural Crops: Environmental Implications and Thrusts" and "Second National Symposium on Pest Management in Horticultural Crops: New Molecules and Biopesticides".