IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zib/zbrfna/v6y2025i2p67-70.html

Zero Tillage (Zt) Wheat Cultivation In Nepal: Exploring Its Methods, Benefits, Challenges And Limitations

Author

Listed:
  • Dinesh Yadav

    (Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan)

Abstract

Wheat (Triticum spp.), king of cereals is a staple crop that feeds nearly 40% of the global population. It occupies about more than 6 lakhs hectare of land with a production of over 2 million metric tons in Nepal. Zero tillage is a form of conservation agriculture that has emerged as a sustainable alternative of traditional conventional tillage minimizing soil disturbances, retaining crop residues and improving soil health and ultimately productivity. Despite, challenges such as soil surface acidification, low soil temperature, seedling emergence issues and compaction under prolonged zero tillage remains prevalent. Yet, global adoption of zero tillage has expanded significantly driven by its positive sides. Its future prospect is promising, particularly in the context of climate change and the need for sustainable intensification. Its role in carbon sequestration, cost reduction and resilience against resource degradation makes it highly relevant for smallholder farmers in Nepal. This article explores the various methods of zero tillage cultivation, its benefit, challenges and limitations in context of Nepal.

Suggested Citation

  • Dinesh Yadav, 2025. "Zero Tillage (Zt) Wheat Cultivation In Nepal: Exploring Its Methods, Benefits, Challenges And Limitations," Reviews in Food and Agriculture (RFNA), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 6(2), pages 67-70, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:zib:zbrfna:v:6:y:2025:i:2:p:67-70
    DOI: 10.26480/rfna.02.2025.67.70
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://rfna.com.my/archive/2rfna2025/2rfna2025-67-70.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.26480/rfna.02.2025.67.70?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alwin Keil & Alwin D’souza & Andrew McDonald, 2015. "Zero-tillage as a pathway for sustainable wheat intensification in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains: does it work in farmers’ fields?," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 7(5), pages 983-1001, October.
    2. Laxmi, Vijay & Erenstein, Olaf & Gupta, Raj K., 2007. "Impact of Zero Tillage in India's Rice-Wheat Systems," Impact Studies 56093, CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dutta, S.K. & Laing, Alison & Kumar, Sanjay & Shambhavi, Shweta & Kumar, Sunil & Kumar, Birender & Verma, D.K. & Kumar, Arun & Singh, Ravi Gopal & Gathala, Mahesh, 2023. "Sustainability, productivity, profitability and nutritional diversity of six cropping systems under conservation agriculture: A long term study in eastern India," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    2. Keil, A. & Mitra, A. & Srivastava, A. & McDonald, A., 2018. "Dynamics of zero-tillage wheat adoption in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains: socially inclusive use through custom-hiring services?," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277026, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Lopez-Ridaura, Santiago & Frelat, Romain & van Wijk, Mark T. & Valbuena, Diego & Krupnik, Timothy J. & Jat, M.L., 2018. "Climate smart agriculture, farm household typologies and food security," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 57-68.
    4. Alwin Keil & Alwin D’souza & Andrew McDonald, 2017. "Zero-tillage is a proven technology for sustainable wheat intensification in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains: what determines farmer awareness and adoption?," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(4), pages 723-743, August.
    5. Ladha, J.K. & Yadvinder-Singh & Erenstein, O. & Hardy, B. (ed.), 2009. "Integrated Crop and Resource Management in the Rice-Wheat System of South Asia," IRRI Books, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), number 164458.
    6. Krishna, Vijesh V. & Mehrotra, Meera Bhatia & Teufel, Nils & Bishnoi, Dalip Kumar, 2012. "Characterizing the Cereal Systems and Identifying the Potential of Conservation Agriculture in South Asia," Socioeconomics Program Working Papers 147109, CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
    7. Alwin Keil & Alwin D’Souza & Andrew McDonald, 2016. "Growing the service economy for sustainable wheat intensification in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains: lessons from custom hiring services for zero-tillage," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(5), pages 1011-1028, October.
    8. Keil, Alwin & Mitra, Archisman & Srivastava, Amit K. & McDonald, Andrew, 2019. "Social inclusion increases with time for zero-tillage wheat in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    9. Solomon, Divya & McDonald, Andrew & Barrett, Christopher B & Veettil, Prakashan Chellattan & Dhillon, Buta Singh, 2026. "Understanding the persistence of rice residue burning in northwestern India: A mixed methods approach," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    10. Khan, Md. Tajuddin & Kishore, Avinash & Pandey, Divya & Joshi, Pramod Kumar, 2016. "Using zero tillage to ameliorate yield losses from weather shocks: Evidence from panel data in Haryana, India," IFPRI discussion papers 1562, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. Gathala, Mahesh K. & Laing, Alison M. & Tiwari, Thakur P. & Timsina, Jagadish & Rola-Rubzen, Fay & Islam, Saiful & Maharjan, Sofina & Brown, Peter R. & Das, Kalyan K. & Pradhan, Kausik & Chowdhury, Ap, 2021. "Improving smallholder farmers’ gross margins and labor-use efficiency across a range of cropping systems in the Eastern Gangetic Plains," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    12. Tripathi, R.S. & Raju, R. & Thimmappa, K., 2013. "Impact of Zero Tillage on Economics of Wheat Production in Haryana," Agricultural Economics Research Review, Agricultural Economics Research Association (India), vol. 26(01), June.
    13. D’Souza, Alwin & Mishra, Ashok K., 2018. "Adoption and Abandonment of Partial Conservation Technologies in Developing Economies: The Case of South Asia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 212-223.
    14. Vijesh Krishna & Prakashan Veettil, 2015. "Productivity and Efficiency Impacts of Zero Tillage Wheat in Northwest Indo-Gangetic Plains," Working Papers id:7716, eSocialSciences.
    15. Erenstein, Olaf & Thorpe, William, 2011. "Livelihoods and agro-ecological gradients: A meso-level analysis in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, India," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 42-53, January.
    16. Pal, Suresh, 2011. "Impacts of CGIAR Crop Improvement and Natural Resource Management Research: A Review of Evidence," Agricultural Economics Research Review, Agricultural Economics Research Association (India), vol. 24(2), December.
    17. Krishna, Vijesh V. & Veettil, Prakashan C., 2014. "Productivity and efficiency impacts of conservation tillage in northwest Indo-Gangetic Plains," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 126-138.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zib:zbrfna:v:6:y:2025:i:2:p:67-70. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Zibeline International Publishing The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Zibeline International Publishing to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rfna.com.my/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.