Preface Agricultural wastes are obtained after the production and processing of agricultural products. It is possible that these can benefit the human mankind. The economic values should be more than the cost of collection, transportation and processing for beneficial use and should be economically feasible. In Agriculture many wastes are obtained. The use of chemicals in agriculture also affects the environment which causes a lot of pollution. The wastes generated from crop have a good potential to convert into energy or can be converted into useful products. The waste produce from animal waste and crop residues has many physicochemical properties. The present book deals with the research work carried out in the past related to conversion and utilization of agricultural waste into useful products and to increase their economic values. The book mainly aims in analysing the various application and research carried in the fields of potential utilization of agricultural wastes. The recycling and utilization of agricultural wastes is an important step forward towards environmental protection, energy structure and agricultural development. The recycling and utilization pathway of agricultural wastes have also been discussed. The book also deals with the laws and regulations and strengthening of rural market. It will provide more comprehensive fundamental information for the recycling and utilization of agricultural wastes during the modernization and urbanization around the globe.

In today’s times, a lot of innovation has come into agriculture. This very hard occupation requires an amalgation of farmers with the scientists. From the rural areas after education the technocrats are moving to the cities and this is creating a great loss to the agriculturists. As the population is growing so is the demand for food. Due to shortage in the storage systems the amount of wastage has increased a lot. It is an important aspect to be looked into. A lot of waste material is seen in the vegetable markets, city markets and near the slums. This causes a lot of pollution and spoils the environment. It is important to know why is it increasing and why the facilities for wastes do not exist.

After the agricultural activities a number of by-products are obtained and these are known as agricultural waste. These include residues of different crops like stalks, straws, leaves, roots, husks and shells. The animal waste is in the form of manure. All these agricultural wastes are free of cost however; they can be utilized as an important resource (Lionel and Arnold, 1931). Agrawal (1998) has mentioned India as the final dumpyard. The wastes obtained from various resources can be converted into heat, steam, charcoal, methanol, ethanol, biofuel, compost, energy, biogas, construction and high valued chemical compounds. Many times these agri-industrial wastes are not completely utilized and either they rot in open areas or are burned in the fields.

3a. Sources and problems of agricultural wastes 3b. Waste Reduction 3c. Waste Treatment 3d. Waste Disposal 3e. Clean Technology Different Kinds of Agricultural Wastes Table 1: Common Hazardous Wastes: Community Source

All these methods of utilization and the conversion to useful energies depend on the climate, population density of the area and the basic infrastructure. It is important to work out the market for the products which are produced.   Bio-waste management: It needs to take from small actions to the ambitious ones. European Commission proposes to use wastes which could make up to 25% of total energy consumption by 2020. They propose to have directives for the promotion of renewable electricity (Directive 2001/77/EC) and biofuels (Directive 2003/30/EC). The waste production in Europe has gone upto 2 kg per capita per day. Recycling rates are also rising (European Commission, 2017). The Member states must develop a national action plan and outline the national policies to develop existing biomass resources and mobilise new biomass resources for different uses. A European project has studied the amount of renewable energy to be used in 2020. According to them it will be around 195 million tons of oil equivalents (Mton) of biomass which is biodegradable part of MSW. This will be 20% of renewable energy target. It has also been estimated that the amount of bio-energy from the MSW will be 20 Mton, which would account for around 7% of all renewable energy in 2020. This may be available after composting and anaerobic digestion (Atanasiu, 2010).

The possibility of making genetic changes in the laboratory in plants, animals and microbes used in food started almost 10,000 years ago. Along with natural changes taken place during the evolution totally different species have come into existence. This has helped in increased food production with better taste and nutrition. The losses caused by biotic and abiotic stresses from fungi and bacterial pathogens have reduced.

In the Asian and Pacific ‘region, it is China alone which produces the largest quantities of agricultural waste and also crop residues. This is followed by India. From the production of rice, corn and wheat alone 587 million tons of residues are generated per year in China. Maheshwari (2014) has surveyed the proportions of waste that Malaysia generates from the production of rice, palm oil, rubber, coconut and forest products. In Myanmar the crop waste and residues constitute about 4 million tons per year out of which more than half constitutes rice husk.

Future Implications and Prospects With the growing population the farmers must produce more food per unit of land, water and agrochemicals. However, they will be facing many challenges like that of climate change, volatility, shifting nutrition needs and scarcity of the physical factors of production. There is a paradigm shift taking place in agriculture. If one looks into the most important priorities for sustainable food and agriculture systems in the next 20 years then farming has enormous impact on the world’s most critical resources. The resources versus needs have to be looked into so that enough food is provided to every body. Small and medium farmers need to work together in a progressive manner. The focus needs to be on the use of natural resources in a sustainable manner with better production and better food systems. Newer and innovative approaches need to be undertaken with checking the environmental impacts and simultaneously looking into the social consequences in evolving agri-food systems. It has been seen that in developing countries large amount of food produced does not reach the market each year. Also in developed countries much food is wasted. In a statistical study it has been found that the obese/malnutrited people are almost equal in number. Therefore, from growing more food the attention should be on more nutrition or healthier food. The food resources are being used in an inefficient manner bringing crises and volatile market dynamics.