organic farming and sustainability

320 Pages·2014·12.46 MB·English

SP5-2014
Editors
P K Shetty
Claude Alvares
Ashok Kumar Yadav
ORGANIC FARMING
AND SUSTAINABILITY
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDIES
Bangalore, India

Organic Farming and
Sustainability
Editors
P. K. Shetty
Claude Alvares
Ashok Kumar Yadav
NatioNal iNstitute of advaNced studies
Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bangalore-560012
© National Institute of Advanced Studies 2014
Published by
National Institute of Advanced Studies
Indian Institute of Science Campus
Bangalore - 560 012
Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
SP5-2014
ISBN: 978–93–83566–03–7
Disclaimer: The responsibility for opinions and factual matter as
expressed in this document rests solely with its author(s), and its
publication does not constitute an endorsement by NIAS of any
such expressed opinion, nor is it affirmation of the accuracy of
information herein provided.
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ii
Preface
Environmental preservation, resource conservation and assuring
of food quality for the ever growing population had been the
major challenges in agriculture during the last two decades.
Growing awareness among consumers for safe and healthy food
grown in tandem with nature has triggered the growth of another
food segment across the world. Organic farming was found to be
the most viable and effective option to address all these concerns
and to address the consumers need. Although modern organic
agriculture has its roots in consumers’ desire for safe and healthy
food and has emerged from western developed economies, of
late it has also caught the attention of sustainability promoters
and has been found to address all the global concerns. Organic
farming in its modern form is not only productive enough to
meet our growing demands but is also resource conserving and
continuously contributing to the improvement of soil health
and fertility. Ardent promoters of organic farming consider that
present day organic agriculture, which is a mix of traditional
wisdom and modern science and technology, can meet emerging
demands and become the means for complete development of
rural areas, especially in the developing countries like India
where large chunk of farmers are small, with limited resources
and with limited access to water, mainly through seasonal rains.
With increasing hazards caused by the use of synthetic
chemicals in agro ecosystems, organic farming provides an
alternative option, not only for sustaining productivity and
retaining soil health but also promising chemical residue free
food. Today, organic farming is a well-researched science
that combines the knowledge of soil fertility, plant pathology,
entomology, and other biological and environmental sciences.
Globally organic agriculture is being adopted by more than
162 countries and more than 37.2 million ha of land is registered
under organic certification process. This does not include
the traditional and/or default organic areas which remained
untouched from green revolution era and may comprise of
three times the certified area, located mainly in Africa and
India. Besides this approximately 32.5 million ha of wild harvest
collection area is also registered for organic certification. India is
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the second largest producer of organic agriculture commodities
in Asia after China. As per the latest survey conducted by
FiBL and IFOAM (2014) India’s share in the global market for
organic food is although less than 1% but there is tremendous
scope to increase it. Hopefully, India can soon become the leader
in organic agriculture and accelerate the growth towards a
sustainable future.
In India, agriculture has been practiced for thousands
of years, which was essentially organic, is also the repository
of traditional wisdom and genetic germplasm. Civil society
organizations and innovative farmers have developed
technologies which are not only effective and productive, but
are also explainable and accepted by the modern science. Many
farmers with their farms are acting as centres of learning and
serves as source of inspiration to thousands of upcoming organic
agriculture enthusiasts.
Organic farming has many advantages such as energy
efficiency, preservation of traditional knowledge, eco-
friendliness, profitability, reduction and mitigation of Carbon
emissions, etc. However, there are various queries regarding its
contribution in sustaining food security and nutritional quality,
adoptability, organoleptic quality, certification, economic
feasibility and the resistance capacity of organic produce towards
pests and diseases, etc.
This book contains lead papers from distinguished experts,
policy makers and dedicated researchers. Efforts have been
made to compile the latest information on the present status
of organic agriculture in India and other major practicing
countries. Efforts were also made to record initiations in
organic agriculture by the various governments, farmers, non-
government organizations and other stakeholders. We hope that
this book will be of immense help to researchers in planning
their future line of research, for policy makers to take rational
decisions on organic agriculture for the benefit of farmers as well
as consumers and for students and the general public to obtain
a wealth of information on organic agriculture in India. It must
be mentioned here that while the scholarly papers included in
this volume do help enrich the readers’ understanding on the
issues related to organic agriculture, the views expressed by the
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authors in their respective papers are their own and the editors
do not necessarily subscribe to them.
We thank all the contributors of this volume and are grateful
for their valuable contributions. Our sincere thanks to Dr V S
Ramamurthy, Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies
and Dr Parveen Arora, Sc-`G’/Advisor, Department of Science
and Technology, Government of India for their support and
encouragement at every stage of its preparation. We are grateful
to Ms I S Shruti, Mrs V B Mariyammal, Shri Krishna Prasad, Shri
N R Shetty, Ms G F Aiyasha and Mr Thomas K Varghese for their
support and involvement.
P K Shetty
Claude Alvares
Ashok Kumar Yadav
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Contents
India’s Organic Farming Movement
Claude Alvares ...................................................................................1
Future Sustainable Food Security of India through Organic
Farming: Myth or Reality
Ashok Kumar Yadav .......................................................................13
Current Status and Relevance of Organic Farming in Indian
Agriculture
P Ramesh ...........................................................................................29
Policies, Programs and Institutional Initiatives on Organic
Farming in India
K Ramakrishnappa ..........................................................................43
Organic Livestock Production in India: Why, How and Road
Ahead
Mahesh Chander ..............................................................................51
Scope and Potential of Organic Farming in Vegetable Crops
M Prabhakar, S S Hebbar, A K Nair, K S Shivashankara,
P Panneerselvam, R S Rajeshwari and K Bharathi .....................69
Maximising Yields in Organic Farming: Three Case Studies
Leena Chandran-Wadia ..................................................................83
Bhaskar Save, the Gandhi of Natural Farming
Bharat Mansata .................................................................................99
Organic Farming and Food Security: A Model for India
C P S Yadav and Harimohan Gupta ...........................................121
The Full Value of Organic
K C Raghu .......................................................................................135
Organic Farming in an Era of Climate Change
M B Rajegowda, L Nagesh and Pradeep Gopakkali .................141
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Biofertiliser Use in Organic Farming: A Practical and
Challenging Approach
P Bhattacharyya ..............................................................................157
Integrated Pest Management Strategies in Organic Farming
C T Ashok Kumar and Sanjay Topagi ........................................171
Crop Production and Plant Protection in Organic Farming
S R Sundararaman .........................................................................195
Weed Management in Organic Farming
J P Saini ............................................................................................213
Organic Seed: Traditional Varieties and Technologies
K Vanangamudi .............................................................................225
Safety, Quality and Certification in Organic Agricultural
Produce
Bobby Issac ......................................................................................245
Rapid Growth of Eco-friendly Low Cost Sustainable Organic
Agriculture Production Systems in the World
R Srinivasa Murthy, P Mazumdar, Manisha Rani, Sahina
Tabassum and Krishan Chandra ................................................249
Role of Indigenous Liquid Organic Manures in Organic Crop
Production
N Devakumar, A C Somanatha, S Shubha and B Latha ..........259
Potential Demand for Organic Products/Farming in India and
Abroad: An Overview
S C Panda ........................................................................................273
Organic Farming from Farmers’ Perspectives
Deepak Suchde, B N Nandish, A P Chandrashekhar and Syed
Ghani Khan ....................................................................................288
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