What is organic farming?
System to grow crops with avoiding or excluding the synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides is called Organic Farming.
Component of organic farming:
1. Farm Yard Manure
2. Sheep and Goat Manure
3. Poultry Manure
4. Green Manure
5. Sheep and Goat Manures
6. Crop Residues
Why organic farming?
In India, there are 49 (IES 2018 report) percent population is generating its income by Agriculture and allied sector. Out of 130 crore people mean 66 crore people directly involves in the agriculture sector it means we required more food compare to other countries and it happens only by producing more food grain, vegetables, and fruits. Due to this high demand of food many farmers are applying inorganic fertilizer like UREA, DAP, KCL. These all are slow poison for soil and disease generating agents for the human body. These inorganic fertilizers are too much costlier compare to biofertilizers and bio enzymes. The best thing about organic farming is that anybody can do this. No special skill requires to do this and it requires small amount of investment. After this pandemic COVID 19 India will be struggling with its current economy so if the farmer will go with organic farming then they don’t require high capital investment for purchasing inorganic fertilizer, insecticide, pesticide, and herbicide.
Comparison between organic fertilizer and inorganic fertilizer
Normally, in India we use three major fertilizer Urea, DAP, KCL. According to ICAR (Indian council of agricultural research) Nitrogen, Phosphorus, potassium ratio is required NPK (4:2:1) but nowadays we are reached at NPK (6:4:1) some states like Punjab reached NPK(7:5:1) it is highly dangerous for the human body. If we talk about organic fertilizer it is made organic waste so it maintains NPK (4:2:1) ratio and it is an ideal proportion for any soil. More importantly, inorganic fertilizer is too costly compare to organic fertilizer, and the making of organic fertilizer is too easy, you can make it in your farm, home anywhere you want. You just required organic waste, soil, and water that’s it. More importantly soil requires 17 essential elements for proper growth of the plant and a large amount of food production. Three macronutrients (N, P, K) , Three secondary (Ca, Mg, S) and rest of micronutrients. From this inorganic fertilizer y\plant will get only three nutrients but if you use organic fertilizer or biofertilizer plant will get all essential nutrients because it is made of all organic waste, animal waste, fruit, and vegetable waste so it is made of essential nutrients.
Benefits of organic farming
- To accrue the benefits of nutrients
- Stay away from genetically modified foods(GMO)
- Natural and better taste
- Direct support to farming
- To conserve agricultural diversity
- To prevent antibiotics, drugs, and hormones in animal products
- Free of poison
- Organic foods are highly authenticated
- Large shelf-life
Case study:
AS BAHADUR RAI – PROGRESSIVE GINGER GROWER
Jas Bahadur Rai of village Salghari, South Sikkim has earned fame through organic ginger cultivation. A farmer having about 3.5 ha land has changed the future of his family with sheer dedication and scientific organic innovations delivered to him by Department of HCCD in a remote village in drought-prone area of South District.
Father of Jas Bahadur, Shri Pradeep Rai used to grow maize in kharif season and millets in rabi season. The produce was just enough to meet their direct family needs with very little or no surplus for market sale. Jas Bahadur inherited the legacy but growing needs and requirements made life miserable. In spite of all four family members working in the field, output was not sufficient to meet their demand. In search of additional enterprise, he started rearing some local poultry birds, sometimes goats, pigs etc for sale in the local market. This although, supplemented his income but still was not sufficient.
In the year 1997, Sri Jas Bahadur Rai was provided with 80 kg ginger seed and technical know-how on scientific cultivation practices from the HCCD Department. He planted 80 kg ginger seed and harvested 400 kg organic ginger. He had sold the mother rhizomes and recovered some of the expenditures involved in cultivation. Out of 400 kg, he sold 200 kg and got good return while remaining 200 kg was sown in the field. The next year he harvested 1100 kg of organic ginger. Out of which he sold 500 kg and the remaining 600 kg was planted in the field. Likewise, he started multiplying ginger seed continuously. In the year 2000, he was enlisted in the list of certified ginger seed grower of HCCD Department with more than 60 mounds (2400 kg) ginger seeds. He received training on ginger disease management through organic technology. Field staff and officers started visiting his field regularly. His ginger samples were analyzed in laboratory to ascertain its health. Finally, his ginger was certified for seed and he harvested 275 mounds (11000 kg).
Shri Rai supplied about 100 mounds (4000 kg) seed to the Department, earning about Rs 80000. Since then, he is continuously enlisted in the list of certified ginger seed growers for supplying quality seeds to the Department. Soon he became one of the well-
known ginger seed growers in the village. At present, he is economically sound, has constructed RCC building in the village, and started running ration shop but still growing ginger on a large scale.
Yearly production and Income
| Ginger harvest | Production | Returns (Rs) |
| Mother rhizomes | 15.00 | 18000.00 |
| Seed quality ginger | 130.00 | 195000.00 |
| General quality ginger | 80.00 | 80000.00 |
Conclusion
- In conclusion, the benefits to organic farming are numerous. These farms provide us with nutrient dense, antibiotic, and pesticide free food that’s good for our health while the environment is benefitting as well.
- Whether it’s preserving wildlife biodiversity in an ecosystem or reducing the amount of waste and energy that is expended, organic farming is a more natural and efficient alternative to organic farming. Returning to the basics would have a positive impact on the planet and all its inhabitants. Even though the prices are not so inviting, eating organically will help promote the organic farms, and eventually, will cause a decrease in prices because of support and popularity that these farms would be gaining over time
- Now India is at the crossroads. It has the responsibility of maintaining a reasonable buffer stock for over a billion populations; it has to find solutions to the problems that have arisen out of the green revolution technologies, and their impact, particularly on declining soil fertility and productivity. There is a strong lobby against going organic in its true spirit, fearing that the production would go down drastically and may turn the country into a ‘begging bowl’ to import food.
- However, to set right the soil conditions and to sustain the productivity on which 48 per cent of our population depends for their livelihood, it is imperative to go in for an alternative agriculture.