what are the challenges for diversified use of crop residue in high cropping intensity areas?
Answers
Crop residues help in preventing the hardening of the soil and therefore, they facilitate the easy emergence of crops. It also helps in improving the cation exchange capacity of the soil and therefore allows easy availability of all the important micro elements and nutrients to the crops.
However, the challenges to be faced due to crop residues especially in areas which have high crop intensity include -
Fencing is an effective crop residue protection measure but small-scale farmers do not have the funds to fence their fields using barbed wires or other biological fences.
Also, removing the crop residues for protection from its natural surfaces may decrease the residual nitrogen which may be lost from the natural and diverse cropping system due to volatilization.
Also, if it rains during the off-season, it may impact the soil surfaces and the residues may be removed. If this happens then soil erosion may occur.
large no crops are destroyed