Sustainable Soil Management Practices in Modern Agriculture: A Systematic Review

Erosion of soils is a significant threat to food security and the sustainability of the environment at the international scale. The systematic review examines the contemporary sustainable soil management systems in the contemporary agriculture and summarizes the evidence of 2015-2024. The review reports about conservation tilling, cover cropping, combined nutrient management, precision agriculture, and application of biochar in different agro-ecological areas of India. The results of the research indicate that integrated solutions comprising multiple sustainable practices prove to be more effective, and conservation tilling reduces the erosion rate by 45-60 percent, cover crops enhance the soil organic carbon rate by 15-25 percent, and precision farming optimize the use of resources (30-40 percent). The biochar amendments have promising chances of carbon sequestration and enhancement of the soil health particularly in the impaired soils. Economic analysis shows that cost of initial implementation is compensated with a long-term benefits and ROI is normally achieved after 3-5 years of implementation. Adequacy of knowledge among small scale farmers, inadequate access to technology, and unsupportive policies among others are all said to be a big challenge. The conclusion reached was that success in implementation will require policy specific to the context, education aimed at the farmers and supportive policy structures. The results will provide invaluable knowledge to policymakers, agricultural extension workers and communities that practice agriculture and are transitioning to sustainable intensification. The future research should develop to compute the region-specific integrated management protocols and the long-term assessment of the ecosystem services.