Abstract
Modern agriculture, no doubt has paved the way for “Green Revolution”, but it has led to the application of heavy doses of chemical fertilizers and pesticides with the sole objective of maximizing the yield. The unbalanced and continuous use of chemical fertilizers in intensive cropping system is causing deterioration of soil health, multi-nutrient deficiencies, low productivity, poor quality and environmental hazards. Poor quality of food and fodder has caused serious health problems and disorders in both animals and human beings. Now, the agriculture research is focused on evolving ecologically sound, biologically sustainable and socio economically viable technologies like organic farming which includes local organic sources of nutrients without using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Adoption of organic farming minimizes the environmental pollution and maintain long-term soil fertility by improving soil organic matter and essential plant nutrients including secondary and micronutrients. For producing quality food by sustaining the soil productivity and soil health are the challenges before us on one side and minimizing the pressure on non renewable sources or limited available sources on other hand needs immediate attention by all the stakeholders engaged in agriculture. Application of technologies available in organic farming and use of all locally available organic sources particularly on farm biomass which are rich in secondary and micronutrients will meet the twin objective of quality food production and reducing the pressure on non renewable resources.
Highlights
FAO 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”
As mentioned in Arthashastra, farmers in the Vedic period possessed a fair knowledge of soil fertility, seed selection, plant protection, sowing seasons and sustainability of crops in different lands
The farmers of ancient India adhered to the natural laws and this helped in maintaining the soil fertility over a relatively longer period of time
Summary
Organic farming is “a production system that sustains soil health, ecosystem and agriculture production, by relaying on ecological processes, biodiversity and natural cycles and adapted to local conditions than use of inputs with adverse effects”.9 FAO 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”. Organic farming is “a production system that sustains soil health, ecosystem and agriculture production, by relaying on ecological processes, biodiversity and natural cycles and adapted to local conditions than use of inputs with adverse effects”.9. As mentioned in Arthashastra, farmers in the Vedic period possessed a fair knowledge of soil fertility, seed selection, plant protection, sowing seasons and sustainability of crops in different lands. The countries with the largest areas of organic agricultural land are Australia followed by Argentina and China. India stands in 9th position with 1.49 m ha (0.8 % of total agricultural land) and including wild collections it is 4.2 m ha. Among the different organic products that are exported from the country tea stands in first position with 25% share followed by rice (21%) and fruits and vegetables (15%).[19]. It is known that plant absorbs small amounts of many elements, but 17 elements are known as essential elements based on Arnon and Stout criteria of essentiality
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