Strip Tillage is a way to reduce production costs, save soil moisture, and improve soils in the long term, and can be accomplished using simple equipment attached to a two wheel tractor. By removing half the blades from a power tiller operated seeder (PTOS), strip tillage can be performed for many crops, including rice, maize, mungbean, wheat, and others. The required number of furrow openers is set according to line to line distance of a particular crop.
Using strip tillage, crops can also be sown quickly because tillage and seeding is performed in a single day, rather than tilling, waiting to till again, then sowing, and then tilling seeds again into the soil. This can reduce turnaround time between crops by a number of days, which can increase yields. Depending on the crop, strip tillage saves about 25% time and cost of a farmer, and yields of wheat as well as other Rabi crops can be increased when practiced with other best management principles. This short video shows how the Strip till can increase efficiency and secure profit margin both for farmers and local service providers.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), partnering with iDE and different Public and Private organizations is promoting Strip Tillage along with other machinery with necessary training to the farmers of Southern Bangladesh under CSISA-MI project. This is a USAID funded five year project initiated in 2013 that targets sustainable intensified and diversified agricultural production to increase household income.
This video production was supported by USAID through the CSISA-MI project, and European Union through ANEP project. The contents and opinions expressed in this video do not necessarily reflect views of USAID or the United States Government, and European Union.