ROLE OF ORGANIC FARMING IN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Dr. Anju Pathak

Vol. 4, Jan-Dec 2018

Page Number: 324 - 328

Abstract:

According to FAO “Organic farming is a unique production management system which promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. This is accomplished by using on-farm agronomic, biological and mechanical methods in exclusion of all synthetic off-farm inputs”. Sustainable agriculture is a system of agriculture that maintains its productivity over the long run. This system of agriculture seeks to integrate three main objectives into their work: a healthy environment, economic profitability and social and economic equity. Sustainable agriculture systems are designed to take maximum advantage of existing soil nutrient and water cycles, energy flows and soil organisms for food production. Also, such systems aim to produce food that is nutritious, without being contaminated with products that might harm human health. Organic farming has emerged as a sustainable agriculture system which has great impact on socioeconomic status of small farmers in rural areas, particularly of developing countries. It is now established that current farming practices are disrupting the natural cycles of nutrients and soil, these are not sustainable, and must be transformed. In due course, excessive soil and nutrients are lost from farmland. Organic farming tries to protect the natural cycles of nutrients, so that off-site losses are minimum and the effectiveness of nutrient cycling may be enhanced. Organic agriculture places value not only on the production of the present but also on future production and the future capability of the earth to sustain mankind and diverse ecosystems. In the present scenario organic agriculture needs substantial new developments so that it can effectively and efficiently supply a large proportion of human needs. This field needs to be explored with a higher level of creativity and innovation so that current systems of productivity can be replaced by organic farming and it has huge prospects in the long term scenario of sustainable agriculture.

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