Conservation Agriculture: A Way to Combat Climate Change

Abstract

Conservation agriculture is an integrated approach to agriculture cultivation that helps enhance food security, allay poverty, conserve biological diversity, and preserve ecosystem services. CA is a set of soil management practices that promotes minimum soil disturbance, diversification of plant species, and surface crop residue retention to reduce soil and environmental degradation while sustaining crop production. It enhances biodiversity and natural biological processes above and below the ground surface, which contribute to increased water and nutrient use efficiency and to improved and sustained crop production. Conservation agriculture (CA) is a sustainable approach to crop production which aims to protect soil from erosion and degradation, improve its quality and contribute to the preservation of natural resources, water and air. CA is one of the many ways for managing resources on the farm to reduce erosion, built resilient soil systems and improve productivity. CA practices are also helpful in making farming systems more resilient to recent climatic changes.