Synopsis The world population is continuously increasing especially in developing countries.This jeopardises food security and is a serious cause of concern for the governments, policy planners and development fuctionaries globally and in particular countries locally. In order to achieve food security for all, it would be imperative to enhance crop and live stock production and productivity in a sustainable manner. Climate change, and dwindling earth oil resources impact agricultural production and call for more resilient energy alternatives like biomass-energy. This would necessitate identifying fast growing plants adapted to tropical as well as temperate environs, and an efficient bio-fuel production technology. Global agricultural production has registered spectacular growth during past few decades.This has been possible through the expansion of areas under cultivation, the introduction of improved agro-technology, the intensification of cropping patterns, use of high yielding crop varieties and the increased use of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and irrigation. However, this growth has been accompanied by land degradation, salinization, chemical pollution of land and water, over extraction of underground water, deforestation, susceptibility to disease and built up of pest resistance favored by the spread of monocultures.Therefore, research and development efforts are needed for natural resource management forfood and biomass energy as well to ensure adequate agri-based employment and livelihood opportunities for poverty alleviation-all coherent elements of sustainability.

The papers included in this book pertain to plant nutrition, rhizosphere and biofertilizers, integrated natural resource management, crop improvement strategies in wheat, maize, clusterbean and Enset, biodiversity policies and genetically modified cotton hybrids, agricultural production practices, remote sensing, trade policies, pollution control, livestock production and management, livelihood strategies and women empowerment.