Organic Farming

Environment and Ecology Sustainable Development

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Organic Farming

Definition:

According to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) “organic farming is a system which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetic inputs (such as fertilizers, pesticides, hormones, feed additives etc) and to the maximum extent feasible rely upon crop rotations, crop residues, animal manures, off-farm organic waste, mineral grade rock additives and biological system of nutrient mobilization and plant protection”.

FAO (Food And Agriculture Organization)suggested that “Organic agriculture is a unique production management system which promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity, and this is accomplished by using on-farm agronomic, biological and mechanical methods in exclusion of all synthetic off-farm inputs”.

Components of Organic Farming:

Major components of organic farming are crop rotation, maintenance and enhancement of soil fertility through biological nitrogen fixation, addition of organic manure and use of soil microorganisms, vermiculture, crop residues, bio-pesticide, biogas slurry, waste etc. The various components of organic farming have been discussed in details below:

Crop rotation:

Crop rotation is very important for soil fertility management, weed, insect and disease control. Legumes are essential in any rotation and should 30 to 50 percent of the land. A mixed cropping, pasture and livestock system is desirable or even essential for the success of sustainable agriculture.

Crop Residue:

In India there is a great potential for utilization of crop residues/ straw of some of the major cereals and pulses. About 50% of the crop residues are utilized as animal fed, the rest could be very well utilized for recycling of nutrients. Adequate care is required to use the residues after proper composting with efficient microbial inoculants. While the incorporation of crop residues e.g. Wheat and Rice straw, as such or inoculated with fungal species had beneficial effects on crop yields and important in physico-chemical properties of soil.

Organic manure:

The organic manure is derived from biological sources like plant, animal and human residues. Organic manure act in many ways in augmenting crop growth and soil productivity. The direct effect of organic manure relates to the uptake of humic substances or its decomposition products affecting favourably the growth and yield of plants. Indirectly, it augments the beneficial soil microorganisms and their activities and thus increases the availability of major and minor plant nutrients. Organic manure is divided into two types:

a) Bulky organic manure: It generally contains fewer amounts of plant nutrients as compared to concentrated organic manure. It includes FYM, compost and Green manure.

• FYM(Farm yard Manure): It refers to the well-decomposed mixture of dung, urine, farm litter and left over or used up materials from roughages or fodder fed to the cattle.

• Compost: Large quantities of waste material are available as vegetable refuse, farm litter, such as weeds, stubble, bhusa, sugarcane trash, Sewage sludge and animal waste in houses and in areas like human and industrial refuse; therefore, excreta can be converted into useful compost manure by conserving and subjecting these to a controlled process of anaerobic decomposition.

• Green Manure : The green manure essentially comprises of green rotten crops or plants. Certain agricultural practices involve growing of certain useless crops simply to plow them under so as to provide green manure to the agricultural land. This crops when rotten nourish the soil with their nutrients. Mainly these crops are described as cover crops which are meant to serve the purpose of nourishing the dead soil. However not only this, these cover crops also serve the fertility of the soil in various other means as well. These cover crops are more often leguminous crops which along with the rhizobium bacteria synthesize nitrogen and thus enhance the soil fertility. These multipurpose crops also increase the biomass of the soil by great margins, and promote water retention, aeration, and other soil characteristics. By exerting the soil in the roots, these cover crops like vetch or clover also prevent soil erosion and prevent flooding of the soil. The strong root system of the cover crops help the main crop to quarry the essential nutrient from inside the deep soil. Certain examples of cover crops which act as green manure are oat, rye,fava beans, mustard, clover, fenugreek, lupins, sunn hemp, vetch, alfalfa, tyfon, buckwheat and ferns of all kinds, etc. these cover crops are also used as mulch in the soil.

b) Concentrated Organic Manure: Concentrated organic manures are those materials that are organic in nature and contain higher percentage of essential plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potash, as compared to bulky organic manures. These concentrated manures are made from raw materials of animal or plant origin. The concentrated organic manures commonly used are oilcakes, blood meal, fishmeal, meat meal and horn and hoof meal.

Waste:

Industrial waste: Among the industrial by products, spent wash from ditilisers and molasses and pressmud from sugar industry have good manurial value.Coir waste is the by-product from coir industry and can be used as manure after proper decomposition.

Municipal and Sewage waste: It also forms an important component of organic waste. In India, the municipal and sewage waste includes Nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.Sewage sludge particularly from industrialized cities is contaminated with heavy metals and these pose hazards to plants, animals and human beings. Separation of the toxic waste at the source will minimize the concentration of such elements in the sludge.

Biofertilizers:

Biofertilizers are organisms that enrich the nutrient quality of soil. The main sources of biofertilizers are bacteria, fungi, and cynobacteria (blue-green algae). The most striking relationship that these have with plants is symbiosis, in which the partners derive benefits from each other.

Bio-pesticide:

Biopesticides are certain types of pesticides derived from such natural materials as animals, plants, bacteria, and certain minerals. For example, canola oil and baking soda have pesticidal applications and are considered biopesticides

Vermicompost:

Vermicomposting is the breaking down of organic material through the use of worms, bacteria, and fungi. In nature, organic matter is decomposed through these organisms.This speed up nature's process of breaking down organic matter. The end product of vermicomposting is a substance called vermicompost or "worm castings". This is a nutrient rich organic substance that can be added to soil to increase it's organic matter content and available nutrients. A common way to use this process is to build "worm bins"; basically boxes that contain worms. Organic matter is added to the bin for the worms to eat! An advantage of "worm bins" over traditional composting, is that if they are inside during the winter, they allow this process to work all year.

Using earthworms to convert organic wastes is an ecologically safe method that leads to an environmentally safe product. Two types of earthworms are recommended for this, they are: the Red Wiggler or manure worm (Eisensia foetida), and the Red Worm.

Other side of organic farming

Food from organic farms can be prone to bacterial contamination since they do not use crop protection chemicals and put crops at greater risk of contamination from the bacteria from the farm manure. This risk was manifested to the world when E. coli outbreak (which killed over 30 people) in Germany in 2011 was found to be linked to organically grown bean sprout.

Conventional farming methods yield more product than organic farms, concluding that organic farming is inefficient. Organic farming may be attractive to consumers who can afford the foods( or rich). Organic growers do not use genetically modified or engineered food crops, some of which are engineered to tolerate herbicides (e.g. “Roundup Ready Canola”) or resist pests (e.g. Bollworm resistant cotton). Conventional growers, on the other hand, are free to “take advantage” of GM crops. Organic farmers do not have some convenient chemical fix on the shelf for every problem they encounter. They have to engage careful observation and greater understanding in order to know how to tweak their farming system to correct the cause of the problem rather than simply putting a plaster over its effect.

One of the main ways that organic farmers do this farming is by physically incorporating tons of organic matter into the soil in the form of composts. Unfortunately, during the process of composting a substantial amount of methane is emitted which means that broad use of this soil-building approach would be problematic from a climate change point of view.

Organic Farming and India:

Organic food market is one of the fastest growing businesses in India with increase in demand due to the perceived advantage of such food. Even the Indian government is promoting organic food in the country through National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF) scheme. Launched in October 2004 with an initial outlay of Rs 57 crore, NPOF scheme continues till date with substantially enhanced budget.

About NPOF:

To collaborate all stakeholders of organic farming in the country and abroad and act as main information centre on various aspects of organic farming.

Documentation of indigenous knowledge and practices, compilation of integrated organic packages and publication of technical literature in all the languages.

Preparation and publication of uniform and authentic training literature and training course contents.

Publication of Biofertilizers and Organic Farming Newsletters for national and international updates on quarterly and half yearly basis.

To provide necessary technical assistance to production units for quality production of various organic inputs such as biofertilizers, composts etc.

To serve as data collection centre for biofertilizers and organic fertilizer production, biofertilizer and organic fertilizers production units and their production capacities and for details on total area under certification and various crops being grown under organic management.

To maintain National and Regional culture collection bank of biofertilizer organisms for supply to production units.

Development, procurement and efficacy evaluation of biofertilizer strains and mother cultures.

To act as nodal quality control laboratory for analysis of biofertilizers and organic fertilizers as per the requirement of Fertilizer Control Order.

To provide all sorts of technical assistance to implementing agencies for successful implementation of project targets.

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