Natural resources like land, water and biodiversity are the key to sustain agricultural productivity. Growing pressure of intensive agriculture and other non-farm enterprises on natural resources like soil and water is leading to their degradation, threatening the food security and ecosystem stability. A comprehensive understanding of the natural resources endowment of the country and its scientific management is a key to sustain agriculture and livestock productivity. This volume gives a comprehensive coverage of the status of natural resources and its efficient management, its role in food production and meeting other needs like fodder, fuel wood, fibre, etc. The book has been prepared as a treatise with extensive illustrations and basic data with a national perspective. The unique features of the volume are the comprehensive coverage of the latest information from leading ICAR research institutes and State Agricultural Universities of the country. The strategies for efficient management of soil fertility, conservation of soil and water, coping with climate on-farm water management in irrigated and rain fed production systems are covered in detail. The last chapter on integrated farming systems links the scientific utilization of natural resources to total farm productivity. The authors of the book are from leading institutes of the ICAR and are well known researchers in their field. It is hoped that this book will be useful to researchers, teachers, students, NGOs and all other readers interested to learn about natural resources management and its role in sustainable agriculture.

Dr. B. Venkateswarlu holds a Doctorate in Soil Microbiology and is currently the Director of Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad, India. He is leading the national research programs of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) on rainfed agriculture and climate change. His research experience is mainly on quantifying the impacts of abiotic stresses of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in legumes and understanding plant-microbe interactions in arid and semi arid ecosystems. Dr. Venkateswarlu published over 150 research papers on abiotic stress management and crop nutrition in drylands and authored six books. He has participated in several academic visits to US, UK, Canada, Australia and China and received many national awards for his work on rainfed farming and abiotic stress management. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences of India and serving on key committees set up by the Government in the areas of drought management, rainfed farming and climate change.Prof. Anil Kumar Singh acquired his M.Sc. (1972) and Ph.D (1977) degree from the prestigious IARI, New Delhi; did his Post Doctoral Research as DAAD Fellow in University of Hohenheim, Germany (198283) and IRRI, Manila (199395). He obtained a Diploma on On Farm Water Management from the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA in 1992. Work Experience: Scientist S-1, 197682, and Scientist S-2/Senior Scientist, 198289, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi; Principal Scientist& I/charge Soil Physics Unit, Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, 198990; Principal Scientist, 199099 and Project Director, Water Technology Centre, IARI, New Delhi,1999 to 2007; Acting Director, IARI, New Delhi 200506. Currently, holding the position of Deputy Director General (NRM), ICAR, New Delhi since September 2007. Prof. Singh has been working on increasing crop production and water use efficiency through soil and water management in a career spanning more than three decades. He has contributed significantly in modeling crop responses, nutrient losses through runoff in watersheds as well as developing decision support systems on various aspects of water management. He has worked upon understanding the soil-water-solute interactions, dynamics of nutrients in soil including fertigation systems. He was a member of the team which identified four spectral bands for identifying water stress in wheat, mustard and chickpea for the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite. He initiated the first systematic studies on aerobic rice cultivation in the country and has demonstrated the potential of aerobic rice production systems in water savings on the farmers fields. His contribution to teaching was recognized by IARI Best Teacher Award and Bharat Ratna Dr. C. Subramaniam Best Teacher Award by ICAR. As Deputy Director General (Natural Resource Management) in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), his major responsibilities include developing policy guidelines, setting up research priorities, overall supervision, monitoring and review of all natural resources related programmes in the country as well as developing linkages with other national and international agencies.