Sustainable agricultural waste management in India: Innovations, challenges, and future perspectives

Agricultural waste management is crucial for agriculture-based economies like India, generating approximately 500 million tons of agricultural residue annually. The agriculture sector is the second largest contributor to India's total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with a share of 13.72 % compared to global average of 11 %. Furthermore, the agriculture sector is not only strained to secure food production for growing population but also expected to minimize GHG emissions. Intensive farming, while more productive and efficient, poses a threat to the environment due to accumulation of large quantities of agricultural residue. Nevertheless, the sustainable conversion of agricultural residue could offer twin benefits: energy generation and resource recovery. This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of sustainable agricultural waste management practices, challenges, and the role of policy interventions in shaping its future. Agricultural residues have shown potential for value added products and energy feedstocks. Valorization techniques offer sustainable agricultural waste management solutions while recovering energy and promoting the circular economy. This study further explored the recovery of building materials including insulating materials, roofing components, additives, and secondary cementitious materials from agricultural residues. Currently, agricultural residue in India is primarily utilized to produce biofuels with installed plant capacity of 5 million tons, and solid biofuel. Nevertheless, techno-economic, socio-cultural, institutional, and governance challenges still need to be addressed to ensure the sustainable management of surplus agricultural residue through emerging techniques. The goal of this study is to promote integration of academic, scientific, and industrial development while strengthening the circular economy, particularly in agriculture-based economies.