Organic farming: Present status, scope and prospects in northern India

Abstract

Organic agriculture has emerged as an important priority area globally in view of the growing consciousness for safe and healthy food, long term sustainability and environmental concerns despite being contentious in history. Green revolution although paved way for developing countries in self-sufficiency of food but sustaining production against the limited natural resource base demands has shifted steadily from “resource degrading” chemical agriculture to “resource protective” organic agriculture. The essential concept remains the same, i.e., to go back to the arms of nature and take up organic farming to restore the loss. Organic farming emphasizes on rotating crops, managing pests, diversifying crops and livestock and improving the soil. The rainfed areas particularly north-eastern regions where least or no utilization of chemical inputs due to poor resources provides considerable opportunity for promotion of organic farming thereby reflecting its vast but unexplored scope. However, significant barriers like yield reduction, soil fertility enhancement, integration of livestock, marketing and policy etc., arise at both macroscopic and microscopic levels; making practically impossible the complete adoption of ‘pure organic farming’; rather some specific area can be diverted to organic farming and thus a blend of organic and other innovative farming systems is needed. Adoption of Integrated Green Revolution Farming can be possible to a large extent, where the basic trends of green revolution are retained with greater efficiency and closer compatibility to the environment. This review paper attempts to present the recent global and regional scenario of organic farming particularly highlighting the scope, prospects and constraints in the northern areas.