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Sustainable agriculture for UPSC is a topic where most questions test a definition. In Tootler's bank of transcribed papers, 10 General Studies questions between 2010 and 2022 deal with sustainable farming practices and the environmental effects of farm inputs, spread across eight exam years. Nearly every one can be answered from three sources: the Food and Agriculture Organization's definitions, the IPCC's glossary, and India's own climate mission documents.
That makes this a short topic to prepare well. This guide takes the questions in two groups, farming practices and farm emissions, explains the official definition behind each, and ends with the Indian schemes that tie them together.
This guide is part of Tootler's series on environment and ecology for UPSC, which maps all 284 environment questions in Prelims by topic.
Conservation agriculture and eco-friendly practices
The most direct question in this set came in 2018: which practices fall under conservation agriculture? FAO's answer is precise. Conservation agriculture is a farming system built on three principles:
| Principle | What FAO specifies |
|---|---|
| Minimum soil disturbance | Minimum mechanical disturbance, ideally no tillage, with seed and fertiliser placed directly |
| Permanent soil cover | Organic cover on at least 30% of the soil, from crop residues or cover crops |
| Species diversification | Varied crop sequences and associations involving at least three different crops |
Map each option in the 2018 question to one of those three rows, and the ones that fit none of them fall away:
With reference to the circumstances in Indian agriculture, the concept of "Conservation Agriculture" assumes significance. Which of the following fall under the Conservation Agriculture? 1. Avoiding the monoculture practices 2. Adopting minimum tillage 3. Avoiding the cultivation of plantation crops 4. Using crop residues to cover soil surface 5. Adopting spatial and temporal crop sequencing/crop rotations Select the correct answer using the code given below:
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(c) 2, 4 and 5
From a third-party answer key, not yet checked against UPSC's official key.
The 2020 question asked the same thing more broadly, listing crop diversification, legume intensification, tensiometer use and vertical farming as possible eco-friendly practices in India. The 2022 question on the System of Rice Intensification, in which fields are alternately wetted and dried, asked what that method saves: seed, methane or electricity. In both, the skill being tested is whether you can connect a practice to the resource or emission it changes.
Traditional systems and climate-smart farming
Two questions in this group come from international programmes. The FAO's Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems programme, asked in 2016, has for two decades helped farming communities "safeguard traditional agricultural systems and associated landscapes, agricultural biodiversity, knowledge systems and cultures". FAO has designated 104 such systems in 29 countries. The word to notice is safeguard: the programme exists to protect traditional practices.
The FAO accords the status of 'Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS)' to traditional agricultural systems. What is the overall goal of this initiative? 1. To provide modern technology, training in modern farming methods and financial support to local communities of identified GIAHS so as to greatly enhance their agricultural productivity. 2. To identify and safeguard eco-friendly traditional farm practices and their associated landscapes, agricultural biodiversity and knowledge systems of the local communities. 3. To provide Geographical Indication status to all the varieties of agricultural produce in such identified GIAHS. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
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(b) 2 only
From a third-party answer key, not yet checked against UPSC's official key.
The 2021 question on the Climate-Smart Village approach in India asked about the international research programmes behind it, CCAFS and CGIAR, and where they are headquartered. Questions like this reward noting the organisation and its location whenever a programme appears in the news.
Farm emissions: rice, fertilisers and methane
The second group asks how farming adds to greenhouse gases and pollution. Rice is the crop that comes up most, in 2010 and again in 2022.
The IPCC's glossary explains why. Methane is produced naturally "where organic matter decays under anaerobic conditions", and paddy rice production is one of the significant human sources it names. The same glossary identifies agriculture, through soil and animal manure management, as "the main anthropogenic source" of nitrous oxide. Put the two together and you have the 2022 question:
Among the following crops, which one is the most important anthropogenic source of both methane and nitrous oxide?
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(b) Rice
From a third-party answer key, not yet checked against UPSC's official key.
Fertiliser use is the other half of this story. The 2015 question asked what excessive or inappropriate use of nitrogenous fertilisers can do: to soil microorganisms, to soil acidity, and to groundwater through nitrate leaching. In 2019, UPSC named four chemicals, carbofuran, methyl parathion, phorate and triazophos, and asked what they are used as. Both questions test whether you can tell a real effect of a farm input from a plausible-sounding one.
Biochar
Biochar appears in a 2020 question and is worth knowing exactly. The IPCC defines it as a "relatively stable, carbon-rich material produced by heating biomass in an oxygen-limited environment", and separates it from charcoal by its use: biochar goes into soil "to improve soil functions and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from biomass that would otherwise decompose rapidly". That makes it both a soil amendment and a carbon removal method.
What is the use of biochar in farming? 1. Biochar can be used as a part of the growing medium in vertical farming. 2. When biochar is a part of the growing medium, it promotes the growth of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms. 3. When biochar is a part of the growing medium, it enables the growing medium to retain water for longer time. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
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(d) 1, 2 and 3
From a third-party answer key, not yet checked against UPSC's official key.
India's schemes: the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
The Indian policy that connects these ideas is the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. Operational since 2014-15, it aims to make farming "more productive, sustainable, remunerative and climate resilient" through integrated farming systems, soil and moisture conservation, soil health management, efficient water use and rain-fed technologies.
Two parts of it are worth remembering. Soil Health Management promotes integrated nutrient management, combining chemical fertilisers with organic manures and bio-fertilisers, and the Soil Health Card scheme has given farmers soil-test-based nutrient recommendations since February 2015. The mission's water component was later folded into the "Per Drop More Crop" part of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana in 2015-16.
UPSC has asked about both by name, though they sit in the agriculture part of the economy syllabus rather than in this environment set: the Soil Health Card scheme's aims in 2017, and the Rainfed Area Development initiative under the mission in 2026. The environment questions above circle the same problems from the other side: soil health, fertiliser balance and emissions from the field.
How to prepare sustainable agriculture for Prelims
Learn four definitions word for word: conservation agriculture's three principles from FAO, biochar and the farm sources of methane and nitrous oxide from the IPCC, and the purpose of GIAHS. Then read the NAPCC section on sustainable agriculture once. That covers nearly every question here.
For new practices you meet in current affairs, ask one question: which resource or emission does this change, and in which direction? Most statements in this part of the paper are built on that relationship. The climate change guide covers soil carbon and other removal methods in more detail, and the biofuels guide covers the energy side of farm residues.
Frequently asked questions
What is conservation agriculture?
FAO defines conservation agriculture as a farming system built on three principles: minimum mechanical soil disturbance, ideally no tillage; a permanent organic soil cover of at least 30% using crop residues or cover crops; and species diversification through varied crop sequences involving at least three different crops.
What is the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture?
It is one of the eight missions under India's National Action Plan on Climate Change, operational since 2014-15. It aims to make farming more productive, sustainable, remunerative and climate resilient through integrated farming systems, soil and moisture conservation, soil health management, efficient water use and rain-fed technologies.
Why is rice cultivation linked to greenhouse gas emissions?
The IPCC lists paddy rice production among the significant human sources of methane, which forms naturally when organic matter decays without oxygen. It also identifies agriculture, through soils and manure management, as the main human source of nitrous oxide.
What is biochar?
Biochar is a stable, carbon-rich material made by heating biomass with limited oxygen. The IPCC distinguishes it from charcoal by how it is used: biochar is added to soil to improve soil functions and to cut greenhouse gas emissions from biomass that would otherwise decompose quickly.
What are Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems?
They are traditional farming systems designated by the Food and Agriculture Organization for their agrobiodiversity, traditional knowledge, cultures and landscapes. The programme helps farming communities safeguard these systems, and FAO has designated 104 systems in 29 countries.