Organic farming is an agricultural production system which avoids or excludes the use of synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides any many others chemical products used to improve the fertility as well as productivity level of soil. However green revolution provided food for millions of people but on the other hand also left many unseen miseries of flaura and fauna on the land. About 60% of agricultural land in India currently suffers from indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and irrigation water.
Australia has the largest (approx .10 million hectare) area of organic farmland in the world. Science increasingly became a toll to demonstrate the benefits of organic agriculture and the problems with industrial agriculture ( pretty.et.all 2000)
Trends of organic agriculture that began in 1970’s ,accelerated through 1980’s continued in during 1990’s and into the new millennium .Demand and production continued to grow exponentially 20-30% per year .Examples of these may be explained as a huge growth in sales through supermarkets and increasing amounts of organic produce being transported large distances to satisfy the demand in affluent countries. In 2004 ,80%of organic farm were located in only two countries ,Australia and Argentina.
To ensure that Organic farming is the answer to the sustainability problem, it has to be adapted to the local farming social ,geographical and climatic factors. In many countries, organic farming has affected most areas of food production ,often starting formulas such as “direct to customer” and ” on-farm production” This has resulted in multiplication, sustainable and profitable organic enterprise emerging around the globe showing that organic agriculture can have a central role in ensuring that agriculture becomes fully sustainable in stead of industrialization.
Organic farming is just a small part of agri-business world which itself is just a small part of wider global socio-economic system and having a large cultural values. The split between organic and industrial agriculture dates back to the start of 19th century when it was discovered that it was the mineral salt contained in the humus and the manure that plant absorbed. Organic agriculture is the original and main system of agriculture that has been following since its inception. Many of the practices of the organic agriculture were the only option for farmers before the invention of chemically synthesized fertilizers , biocides , medicines, mechanization that helped industrial agriculture to grow on.
The organic food production cost are higher in the developed countries as organic farming is labour intensive and labour is costly. However in countries like India where labour is abundant and cheap. Organic farming is seen as good cost effective solution to increasing costs involved in chemical faring. In transition phase, organic farming may be expensive but continuation to the production costs are expected to reduce.
Kamal Nayan is the writer of this article.He is currently pursuing Bsc Agriculture as a student.
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