Conservation Agriculture: A Sustainable Approach for Soil Health and Food Security (PDF)

nature of soil degradation. For the last 25 years, landscape restoration, soil organic matter management, carbon sequestration and nitrogen management, and site-specific management for soil and subsoil and other constraints and sustainable crop and pasture rotations and vegetation management have been the central research platforms across cropping, rangelands and forestry ecosystems. In addition, he is recipient of several awards and honours and also mentored more than 25 PhD Scholars in the span of 4 decades; published more than 400 publications with more than 17000 citations. Prof Dalal was made a member in the general division of the 'Order of Australia (AM)' in 2018 and also awarded 'Medal of Agriculture' by Ag Institute Australia in 2021 for outstanding service to science, and to farming through research and sustainable farming practices.



Dr. Ashok K. Patra has acquired B. Sc. (Agri.) from Banaras Hindu University (Varanasi), and M. Sc. and Ph. D. from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. He is presently serving as Director of the ICAR- Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal. During his scientific career, he has also worked as a postdoctoral fellow at ICRISAT, Hyderabad, and a Visiting Study Fellow at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER), Devon, UK. He was a recipient of the prestigious INRA Fellowship of the French Research Ministry to work on molecular soil ecology in N cycling at the CNRS-Claude Bernard Université Lyon, France. He developed integrated soil quality index, assessed impacts of climate change on soil-plant systems, advanced nano-particle research as nutrient source, and developed a digital soil-testing minilab Mridaparikshak for soil health assessment and fertiliser advisory. He has published about 350 publications, which has been widely cited throughout the world (~4600 citations). He was a faculty of Post Graduate School, IARI, New Delhi and actively involved in teaching and guiding of postgraduate students at IARI for 15 years. Dr Patra is a recipient of several awards and honours, of which Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (2010); Fellow of the Indian Society of Soil Science (2013); Fellow of West Bengal Academy of Science & Technology (2018); Fellow of the Range Management Society of India (2007); and Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (2020) are notable.



Dr. Suresh K. Chaudhari has acquired his B.Sc. (Agri), from JNKVV, Jabalpur, M.Sc. (Agri) and Ph.D from MPKV, Rahuri. He is presently serving as Deputy Director General (NRM) Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. Earlier he served as Scientist, Senior Scientist (SS), in various Institutes, Principal Scientist, and Head (Soil & Crop Management Division), in ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal. His areas of research are dynamics of irrigation induced land degradation, soil hydraulic properties under different quality waters, influence of poor and marginal quality waters on soil properties and plant growth, direct and indirect estimations of soil hydraulic properties, pedo-transfer functions to describe soil hydraulic properties and irrigation water management in field crops. Dr Chaudhari is a recipient several Awards and Honours notable are ICAR- Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award 2015; Salinity Excellence Award, 2010-11, Fellow of Indian Society of Soil Science, Maharashtra Academy of Sciences; National Academy of Agricultural Sciences; and Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India are notable.