Organic Farming and India Ranks 1st in terms of Organic Producers

Organic farming is a production system in which all types of agricultural products, such as grains, meat, dairy, eggs, fibres like cotton, flowers, and processed food products, are produced organically.

Introduction of Organic Farming

Before we go on topic, we should know about these words and there meanings-

What is Organic?

Meaning: ”produced by or using natural materials, without artificial chemicals” Or ”produced by or existing in living things”

Farming: Farming, which involves cultivating the land area may be on large scale to produce the crop and raising livestock, is one part of agriculture, which also includes plant science.

What is Organic Farming?

Organic Farming Meaning in Hindi: जैविक खेती – [ जैविक खेती एक उत्पादन प्रणाली है जिसमें सभी प्रकार के कृषि उत्पाद, जैसे अनाज, मांस, डेयरी, अंडे, रेशे जैसे कपास, फूल और प्रसंस्कृत खाद्य उत्पाद, जैविक रूप से उत्पादित होते हैं। ]

Organic Food:

Artificial insecticides, fertilisers, and herbicides are not used in the production of organic foods. Animals fed natural feed and not given hormones or antibiotics to produce organic meat, eggs, and dairy products. Natural foods do not contain any artificial or synthetic components or additions.

Organic Farming

Organic farming is one technique to promote food security or self-sufficiency. Chemical fertilisers and hazardous pesticides are used in large quantities, poisoning the land and water. This has serious environmental repercussions, including loss of topsoil, decreased soil fertility, contamination of surface and ground water, and genetic variety loss.

Organic Agriculture:

Definition of Organic Agriculture: Organic Agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems, and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic Agriculture combines tradition, innovation, and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and good quality of life for all involved stated by IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) General Assembly, 2008.

Organic farms had significantly lower pest and disease incidence due to improved soil health. Synthetic fertilisers, herbicides, growth regulators, and livestock feed additives are avoided or restricted in organic farming.

Crop rotations, use of crop residues, animal manures, legumes, green manures, off-farm organic wastes, biofertilizers, mechanical cultivation, mineral bearing rocks, and aspects of biological control are used to maintain soil productivity and tilth, supply plant nutrients, and control insect, weeds, and other pests to the greatest extent possible.

Organic Food in India: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has the mandate to regulate manufacture, distribute, sell or import “organic foods” as per the provisions, and launch the Jaivik Bharat Logo to mandate it to publishing it on the product.

If organic methods are organised in production, certification, and marketing, they can boost farm productivity, repair decades of environmental harm, and tie small farm families into more sustainable distribution networks, leading to increased food security. Small-scale integrated farming systems have the ability to revive rural communities and economies.

Read More: Agriculture – Farming in India

Interesting Facts about Organic Farming in India

• Did you know that Sikkim has been declared as the India’s first fully organic state?
• Did you know that total area under Organic certification is 5.71 million hectares?
• Did you know that India ranks first in terms of number of Organic producers?
• Did you know that India ranks 9th in area under Organic agriculture?
• Did you know that India exports around 1.35 million MTs of certified organic foods?
• Organic farming is in a nascent stage in India. About 2.78 million hectare of farmland was under organic cultivation as of March 2020, according to the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. This is (two per cent) 2% of the 140.1 million ha net sown area in the country.

Types of Organic Farming

Organic farming is thus significant because it is a holistic production management method that promotes and increases agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity. Organic farming practises have been proved in numerous studies to produce even higher yields than conventional agricultural methods.

There are two types of Organic Farming:

1. Pure Organic Farming: Pure organic farming means all artificial chemicals are avoided in pure organic farming. All of the fertilizers and herbicides used in this farming procedure come from natural sources such as bone meal or blood meal.
2. Integrated Organic Farming: To meet ecological requirements and demands, integrated organic farming include pest management and nutrition management.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Organic Farming

There was also a significant difference in soil health markers like nitrogen, mineralization, potential, microbial population and diversity, which were higher in organic farms, so here is the advantages and disadvantages of organic farming given below:-

Benefits / Advantages of Organic Farming

Organic farming is thus significant because it is a holistic production management method that promotes and increases agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity. Organic farming practises have been proved in numerous studies to produce even higher yields than conventional agricultural methods.

So here is the list of benefits of Organic farming:

• Nutrition: Food with improved soil health has significantly higher mineral content.
• Poison-free: Free of harmful chemicals like pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides that can affect your health.
• Food tastes better due to long duration freshness of raw veggies.
• It lasts longer in storage; and it is disease and insect resistant due to healthy plants.
• Low input costs: No expensive chemicals are used, and nutrients are generated in situ (in the farm).
• Organic produce has a higher food value, so customers are willing to pay a higher price for it.
• Drought resistance.
• Weed competitiveness: Healthier crops able to compete.

Disadvantages of Organic Farming

• Productivity: Low productivity is frequently observed since the amount of fertilizer used is comparably smaller.
• Labour intensive: Cultivation demands more labour, particularly for weed management.
• Organic farming necessitates a high level of ability. For example, selecting pest control options.
• In comparison to easier management methods like as fertilizer application, there is a lack of convenience in management.
• In recent years, an increasing number of farmers have shown disinterest in farming, and many who used to farm have relocated to other locations.

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