Organic Farming - Boon or Bane?

Entire globe is going behind the buzzword, “Organic Products”.

What does this Organic Products mean? How is it produced? Where shall we buy these products?

These sorts of mind bogging questions are striking in the minds of ultimate consumers.

Organic products are nothing but the outcome of Organic farming or Organic agriculture, which is carried out without the usage of chemical/synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Actually speaking this is not a new practice, but new concept. Yes, our ancient people were following this system unknowingly and the results of green revolution swapped away these practices substituting with chemical inputs aiming for higher yields.

The concept is commercialized with the inception of International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) on 6th November 1972 in France. Presently farmers from more than 100 countries are practising this organic farming. Ultimate aim of this organic farming is eliminating the artificial/synthetic inputs and encouraging the ecofriendly management system.

Australia is the global leader in organic farming, which is followed by China, India and Russia respectively. Asia has about 13 per cent of world’s organic farming area.

The growing health consciousness among the people leads the organic farming to gain a greater momentum. World bank has also sanctioned several projects to encourage the rural poor to reach the export market for selling their organic produce.

Talking about the boon of organic agriculture it safeguards the environment pollution by reducing the residual effects of synthetic inputs and substituting the same with proper organic inputs like FYM, Compost, Biofertilizers, Biopesticides etc.

Hence soil structure, soil fertility and water holding capacity will be enhanced due to the enriched soil organic content. Soil micro flora and micro fauna are safeguarded. Thus the healthy soil biological activities binds the soil by producing humus and thus controls soil erosion.

Biological means of pest and disease management paves way for residue free farm produce, which is superior in quality and nutritious that contributes for healthy well being of human society. The shelf life of organic produce is also comparatively longer than the synthetically produced stuffs.

Coming to the next side –the bane , it is highly time consuming and labor intensive process where there are ample of chances for yield reduction in initial period of adoption.

Appropriate package of practices for all agriculture and horticulture crops are not available. Training needs of the organic growers are also not met satisfactorily.

Because of these inadequate regulatory and quality control mechanisms it is difficult for the ordinary organic growers to come out of the costly certification process. If they are coming out also it is very difficult for them to find a market for their produce.

Above all it is difficult for the highly populated countries like China, India etc to meet the production volume for feeding the growing population with the inadequate organic inputs.

For example in India it is estimated that the gap between the available and required organic inputs will be around 30 million tonnes in 2025.

Hence it is wise to use both organic and inorganic sources in a balanced manner to get sustained crop yields, which is broadly called as “ Integrated Crop Management Approach”.