Integrated Crop Management Practices for Improving Productivity and Environmental Sustainability

Intensive production system substantially improves crop productivity and sustains food/nutritional security. However, over the past decades, the climate change and associated problems have intensified the production and resource vulnerability in South Asian agro-ecologies. Consequently, there is an urgent requirement for climate-resilient and cost-effective practices to conserve available natural resources and enhance farm profitability. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), integrated crop management (ICM) is a contemporary concept in agriculture aimed at long-term productivity and sustainability. It is a comprehensive approach that combines different farming practices, viz., crop selection, tillage, integrated weed and water management, nutrient management, disease-pest control, and energy management, to maximize crop production without any adverse effect on the environmental quality. Further, the ICM practices help in conserving farm energy by 5–15.6% and thus reduce the need for external inputs and greenhouse gas emissions and enhance crop yield by 10–14% compared to conventional practices. Beside this, ICM practices improve the soil quality through crop residue recycling, and reduce crop-weed competition, along with insect–pest and disease management. Additionally, it considers postharvest management and horizontal diversification in agriculture for minimizing food loss and maximizing farm income. Studies conducted in India, China, and Nepal have shown a superiority of ICM practices in terms of crop yield, water use efficiency, economics, and soil quality. Thus, the adoption of ICM practices in conventional production system could be viable option for crop diversification, climate resilience, achieving green and circular economy, and agriculture-related United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs).