Challenges and Opportunities in Managing Crop Residue for Multiple Benefits

No-till (NT) is a farming system where crop is directly sown in untilled soil. The NT system coupled with crop residues retained on soil surface helps to increase soil organic matter, conserve soil moisture, improve erosion control, enhance agricultural sustainability, and reduced labor requirements. However, the influence of residue management on crop production in NT systems is complex and variable, due to both direct and indirect effects and their interactions in different climatic conditions. Soil organic carbon (SOC), a key indicator of soil health, increases on the soil surface under NT system, although there is often no change or a loss of SOC in deeper soil layers. This review has identified the key technological challenges in adopting NT systems and the strategies to overcome those challenges that relate to agronomic management, packaging, standardization, and adoption of farm machinery for seeding. The major strategies to overcome these challenges are: (i) farmers' participatory research through on-farm trials, including adaptive research; (ii) policy support for capacity building; and (iii) the manufacture of local machinery for implementation of NT technology in a region.