eChapters

Introduction

The term “Remote Sensing” was coined in 1950s by Ms. Evelyn Pruitt, a geographer with the U.S. Office of Naval Research, and the term is now commonly used to describe as the science and art of identifying, observing, and measuring an object on the earth surface, without having any direct contact. This process involves the detection and measurement of radiation of different wavelengths reflected or emitted from distant objects or materials through which they may be identified and categorized by class/type, substance, and spatial distribution (National Aeronautics and Space Administration—NASA). Remote sensing technology has been widely applied in various applications such as water resources, agriculture, geological studies, forestry, land use, resource exploration, etc.

Elements of Remote Sensing

The remote sensing process involves an interaction between the incident radiation and the targets of interest, exemplified by the use of imaging systems in which the following seven elements are involved; however, remote sensing also involves sensing of emitted energy and using non-imaging sensors

10.1. Introduction

Irrigation facilities are created by the Government at huge cost for supplying water to the farmers for raising crops to increase agricultural production. The major and medium irrigation projects are planned, constructed, managed, operated and maintained by the Irrigation Departments, wherein certain procedures and rules are evolved and followed to the delivery schedule of canals, frequency of supply and distribution of water to the farmers, and closing of canals. The creation of such facilities resulted in ushering the green revolution in the sixties and seventies in the production of food grains and also employment generation in the country, thereby improving the socio-economic condition of Indian farmers. However, optimized management of irrigation water is the key to the sustainable development of agriculture and livestock. Since management of water for irrigation is highly location-specific, depending upon agro-ecological and socio-economic conditions, type of irrigation project and land use pattern, it differs from project to project and region to region in the country.

9.1. Introduction

Human dependence on natural processes for the goods and services provided by nature, especially food, fuel and fibre, has been a known fact. In recent times, the value of less tangible services, such as climate control, water f iltration, and soil fertility, as well as recreational and cultural services has been emphasized also. Ecosystem services underpin human existence, health, and prosperity. It has been beneficial to humans through the transformations of resources (or environmental assets, including land, water, vegetation, and the atmosphere) into a flow of essential goods and services like clean air, water, and food (Costanza et al., 1997). Ecosystem services are those functions of ecosystems- including agroecosystems that are useful to humans or supportive of human well-being (Kremen, 2005). Services provided by ecosystems receive little notice for their support to human civilization often leading to poor management of the ecosystems. Land use systems influence ecosystem functions, which determine the supply of ecosystem services. Land and water resources are under considerable pressure from the expansion of cultivated and residential lands. Diverse land use in agrarian landscapes not only fosters biodiversity, but also provides potential ecosystem services such as air cleaning by vegetation, natural water filtration by plant roots, natural pest suppression, soil conservation, nutrient retention, and crop pollination by insects, etc. Lowland floodplains or waterlogged land areas are generally more conscious of the benefits provided by ecosystem services. It is important to create awareness among the people on provisioning services provided by ecosystems, such as crops, biofuel, fresh water, natural medicine, wildlife, and several cultural services. Managing ecosystem services, which link human well-being to conservation outcomes, is essential for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (Zhang, 2017).

8.1. Biofloc aquaculture

Among the innovations in the field of aquaculture, biofloc technology (BFT) has attracted great attention due to its ability to foster the goals of sustainable aquaculture (Khanjani et al., 2022a). If implemented correctly, BFT capitalizes on the existing organisms in water to significantly reduce water use and environmental impact and increase biosafety at farms (Avnimelech, 2012).

7.1. Introduction

The integrated farming system (IFS) is becoming increasingly important for effective farm resource management in order to increase farm productivity, reduce environmental degradation, improve the quality of life for resource-poor farmers, and ensure sustainability. Integration happens when one production sub-system's outputs (typically by-products) are used as inputs in another within the farm unit (Radhammani et al., 2003; Lightfoot and Minnick, 1991). IFS are a mixed farming system made up of at least two distinct but logically linked components of crop and animal enterprises. The integrated farming system is effective in reducing risk, increasing productivity and revenues, and improving the use of organic waste and agricultural leftovers.

5.1. Introduction

Rice-fallows are a rainfed rice mono-crop production system, where only a single crop (rice) is grown and these lands remain without any crop for the rest of the period of the year (fallow). An estimate shows that rice-fallow areas extended over 22.3 M ha in South Asia, maximum in India ( 88.3%) followed by Bangladesh (8.7%), Nepal (1.4%), Sri Lanka (1.1%), Pakistan (0.5%), and Bhutan (0.02%) (Gumma et al., 2016). The eastern part of India accounts for ~ 84% (9.7 million ha) of the country’s total rice-fallow area (i.e. 11.7 million ha) (Ali et al., 2014; Singh et al., 2017), despite high rainfall during rainy / monsoon season. The reasons are that after the rainy season, irrigation facilities are lacking, very fast depletion of the soil residual moisture due to temperature rise, the poor economic condition of the farmers, and a lack of awareness or knowledge of available technologies. Additionally, delayed harvesting of long-duration rice (150-160 days) results in late sowing of winter crops, which, in turn, exacerbates the temperature and moisture stresses in winter crops (Kumar et al., 2018a; 2018b). Overall, the challenges of growing another crop in rice-fallow areas are the lack of irrigation facilities including declining groundwater levels, the dominance of the long-duration rice varieties cultivation, higher evaporative loss of the residual soil moisture, degradation of soil quality, and poor financial conditions of the farming community with diminishing profit. Recently, climate change with erratic rainfall and delayed monsoon arrival added more challenges for these areas in several places. Deficit soil moisture imposes stress on the crops and negatively affects the winter crops productivity in the rice-fallow system, and several times it results in complete crop failure (Singh et al., 2012; Ghosh et al., 2016).

4.1. Introduction

Globally, rice is cultivated on about 165 million ha of land, which provides around 787 million tons of paddy annually (FAO, 2023). In Asia, 708 million tons of paddy is produced from nearly 143 million rice-cultivated areas. Rice crop is grown in a wide range of climates, varied soil types, and hydrological situations. Rice is the lone cereal crop that grows well in floods.

The rice habitat can be divided into four groups based on the hydrology of the rice field: irrigated lowland rice (79~80 million ha), rainfed lowland rice (54~55 million ha), upland rice (14~15 million ha), and flood-prone rice (11~12 million ha) (Table 4.1) (Bouman et al., 2006).

3.1. Introduction

Rice is grown in varying geographical locations and climatic situations. Most of the rice area lies between the equator and 400 N latitude and between 700 and 1400 E longitude. It grows well from tropical to sub-tropical warm and temperate climatic regions up to 400 S and 500 N of the equator. However, the highest yields are obtained in the region between 300 and 450 N of the equator. The average yield generally increases as the countries are situated further away from the equator (Chatterjee and Maiti, 1985). In India, rice grows in regions from 80 N to 350 N latitudes under widely varying conditions of the land, rainfall, altitude and climatic conditions. It is grown at the sea level in river deltas as in parts of Kerala, as deepwater in states of West Bengal, Assam and Bihar; at high altitudes of 914 to 1524 m or even more as in Kashmir, and in the slopes of the Himalayas. A temperature range of 200 C to 37.70 C is required throughout the life period of rice crop.

2.1. Introduction

Water plays a pivotal role in this earth system. The withdrawal of water for irrigation is about 70% of the global freshwater. Water use efficiency is less than 50% in many countries. It has been forecasted by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO, 2015) that global water requirements will be increased by 50% by the year 2050 to meet the demands of agricultural water use. This is so because food demand will be higher for the growing human population. We have entered into an earth system where everything living has evolved and developed (Cosgrove and Loucks, 2015). There has been a new geological scenario, some say Anthropocene (Crutzen, 2002; Williams et al., 2011). Consequently, freshwater will increasingly be a scarce and the costliest resource in the future, which needs to be managed properly.

1.1. Introduction: India’s present population, growth rate & projections

India is the second-most populous country in the world after China with its population of about 1.38 billion in the year 2020. The Population Division under the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, of the United Nations, has projected the country’s population to be growing to about 1.50 billion by the year 2030, and 1.64 billion by 2050, of course with its decreasing annual growth rate from 1.04 to 0.25% or so during the period of next thirty years (Fig. 1.1; UNDESA, 2019). The projection says the Indian population will exceed China by the year 2030 even with its decreasing rate i.e. India will be the most populous country by then. As agriculture and allied sectors are the backbone of this country and the largest livelihood source, it support this growing human and livestock population with diversified natural resources and varied agro-climatic conditions. However, the sustainability of agricultural production should be maintained in the face of perturbation and stress on the agro-ecosystem especially the degraded natural resource base and changing climate.

6.1. Introduction

The growing human population presents a number of issues, including food scarcity, malnutrition, inadequate natural resources (land and water) for agricultural production, and environmental deterioration (MacDonald, 2010). Today, viable intensification of agri-production systems can fulfill rising food, nutrition and environmental demands (Pretty and Bharucha, 2014). Production of rice (Oryza sativa L.), a vital element of food security, which feeds nearly half of the world's population, occupies 143 million hectares of land (FAOSTAT, 2023), and uses up to 90% of all irrigation water in Asia (Liu et al., 2018). For instance, it has been determined that systems for producing rice are one of the main industries that wastes water resources and greatly increases greenhouse gas emissions (FAO, 2013). Therefore, it is necessary to look for ways to manage the rice production system more effectively. In paddy rice systems, co cultivating aquatic animals (fish, shrimp, crab, shellfish, and ducks) and rice has been suggested as a way to reduce the risks of environmental pollution/ contamination linked with rice production while simultaneously optimizing the use of land and water resources to provide humans with both grains and meat (Hu et al., 2016; Ahmed and Garnett, 2011). Co-culture systems have drawn more interest recently due to their potential to reduce the stresses associated with environmental and food insecurity.

Introduction

The rhizosphere plays a pivotal role in the boundary where biological and chemical activities profoundly impact various landscape and global-scale processes. Understanding these processes is crucial for maintaining planetary health and sustaining the organisms inhabiting it (Morrissey et al., 2004). To enhance the yield potential of staple food crops, leveraging the root systems of plants becomes essential to meet the anticipated doubling of global food demand in the future (Gewvin, 2010; Zhang et al., 2010). Amidst the challenges posed by global climate change and the burgeoning global population, there’s an increasing need for greater productivity from cultivated food, animal feed, and fibers on less favorable and often infertile lands—conditions already prevalent in many developing nations (Tilman et al., 2002). Advancing our understanding and control of rhizosphere processes stands as a critical frontier in research for the next decade.

Introduction

Increasing fresh water demands for ever growing population and it has increased by 600% over the past 100 year (Wada, et. Al, 2016) the annual increment rate 1.8 % whereas the present growth rate is less, only 1 % but this figure may be optimistic. The global water demands will grow significantly over the next two decades in all three components as: Industry, domestic and agriculture (U.N, 2018) industry and domestic demand will grow faster than agriculture, but agriculture demands will remain largest (U.N, 2018). The global water demands for all purpose will increase 20% to 30% by 2050, up to 5,500 to 6,000 km3 per year (Burek et.al, 2016), whereas, agricultural demands will increase by 60% by 2025 (Alexandrators and Bruinsma, 2012).

Introduction

Agroforestry being old as an art and new in its scientific terms has been gaining importance in the modern era due to shift of world from technology to nature in search of resilient way of sustaining livelihood (Dutta et al., 2023, Sharma et al., 2023 Bishaw et al., 2022, Agnoletti et al., 2022). The simplicity of the agroforestry system is the flagship reason of its widespread applicability and reliability in agricultural domains. There has been change in the world perspective regarding the nature and natural resources in recent times. Although there has been forest over 31 per cent of the world’s total geographical area (FAO and UNEP, 2022) but the stabilization of ecosystem and sustainable development is difficult without subsequent interaction between the tree, crop and livestock component on farm lands, being collectively called as agroforestry.

Introduction

In recent decades, integrating trees with crops for food and wood production has received considerable attention in both tropical (Garrity et al., 2010) and temperate regions (Palma et al., 2007). The growing of trees in combination with the agricultural crop is a land management practice that farmers have been practicing since the ancient period. Seasonal agricultural/horticulture crops, woody perennial trees (multipurpose), and/or animals are major components of various agroforestry systems. According to Sanchez (1995), the science of agroforestry revolves around four aspects: competitiveness, complexity, sustainability, and profitability, and all of these factors must be balanced in order to produce beneficial outcomes. In fact, agroforestry is significantly assisting in meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) such as poverty and hunger eradication, improved health, nutrition, and education for people, gender equality, and environmental sustainability, particularly in developing countries (Garrity, 2004, 2006).

Introduction

`The living and nonliving components of ecosystems, as well as the conditions and processes that occur within them, create services thus connecting ecosystems and human cultures. The preservation of Earth’s biological diversity and the protection of the benefits, or “ecosystem services,” those functioning ecosystems bring to humanity are two primary goals of environmental conservation. Agroforestry is increasingly viewed as providing ecological services, environmental advantages, and economic gains as part of a multifunctional working landscape. The multifunctional importance of agroecosystems was emphasized in both the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MES 2005) and the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (2008).

Introduction

More than a third is covered by drylands in the terrestrial land surface, which have a harsh and vulnerable natural condition (Maier et al., 2014). Due to insufficient water availability, dry areas have a scant population of vascular plants, as well as poor availability of the nutrient turnover with poor availability of the resources as a result of severe temperatures (Adeel, 2008). Biological soil crusts or Biocrusts commonly protects the soil surface in dry environments and it is considered “ecosystem engineers” of arid and semiarid areas, as well as signs of ecosystem health (Briggs and Morgan, 2011; Bowker et al., 2008). They are connected in dryland ecosystem restoration level or degradation (Assouline et al., 2015). When compared to chemical or physical crusts, biocrust is the largest word that explicitly implies that these are the crusts which are dependent on the living organisms’ activity.

Introduction

According to the Forest Survey of India (FSI) “all lands, more than one hectare in area, with a tree canopy density of more than 10% is defined as Forest” (FSI 2009). The status of forests and forest management systems contribute to the vulnerability of forests to climate change. Indian forests are extremely diverse and heterogeneous. Forests and Climate Change are intimately intertwined. Forests have regulated the climate, rain, groundwater, soil of the earth over millennia. Their transpiration act as a regulator of the balance of oxygen and carbon-di-oxide: the world’s forests and forest soils currently store more than one trillion tons of carbon – twice the amount found floating free in the atmosphere. The forest and soils are home of biological diversity.

Introduction

Future agricultural production potential is in danger due to the existing cropping system, characterized by irresponsible chemical utilization, extensive tillage, monoculture, and soil health degradation. Consequently, a significant challenge for modern agriculture lies in ensuring adequate nourishment for the entire world’s population while also safeguarding the environment. The intensification of agricultural practices negatively impacts vital natural resources like soil, water, air, and biodiversity throughout various developmental stages. While the conventional cropping system have enhanced crop productivity, its consequences including land degradation, resource depletion, reduced organic matter insoil, draught, soil salinity, erosion, and climate change pose significant global threats (Tomar et al. 2014; Yadav et al. 2014; Mandal et al. 2020; Rani et al. 2021).

Introduction

Soil is a vital, complex, and firm layer of the land surface that provides a source of minerals and organic matter interacting with air and water to harbor life forms. (Lobmann et al., 2022). Versatile micro and macro living organisms, i.e., bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes, inhabit soil and contribute to its quality, health, and inevitable role in serving the environment (Elsakhawy et al., 2022). Soil roots for a variety of crucial functions which involve ecosystem services or socioeconomic activities, e.g., biomass production, climate gas fluxes of CO2 , N2 O, and CH4 , water cleaning, storage and supply, foundation of construction and provision of construction materials, or provision of habitats etc. The responsibility of soil in sustaining life on earth by providing and conserving resources is not negotiable.