Consider the following agricultural practices:
- Contour bunding
- Relay cropping
- Zero tillage
In the context of global climate change, which of the above helps/help in carbon sequestration/storage in the soil?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2012 Prelims]
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) None of them
Answer: (b)
Explanation:
- Contour bunding (or contour bundling), which involves the placement of lines of stones along with the natural rises of a landscape, and contour farming. These techniques help to capture and hold rainfall before it can become runoff. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
- Relay cropping is essentially a special version of double cropping, where the second crop is planted into the first crop before harvest, rather than waiting until after harvest as in true double-cropping. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
Zero tillage:
- It is the process where the crop seed will be sown through drillers without prior land preparation and disturbing the soil where previous crop stubbles are present.
- Zero tillage not only reduces the cost of cultivation it also reduces the soil erosion, crop duration, and irrigation requirement, and weed effect which is better than tillage.
