The Soil and Health: A Study of Organic Agriculture

With the Green Revolution in Asia, the gap in agricultural yield with the developed world has been closed, while the gap in farm labour productivity has greatly widened. This reveals a deepening ag...

Theory, Practice and Challenges of Agroecology in India

The world population is increasing in a disquieting rate while the quantity of food to gratify this snowballing human population is an annoyance to agrarian scientists and policymakers around the globe. Today's population is snatching natural resources from the future which can endanger the future generation's right to have nutritious food and clean air. The causes for this challenge can be enumerated and listed out, but singled out as lack of and/or poor implementation of novel approaches and practices for sustainable agriculture. Some of the novel approaches are but not limited to climate smart agriculture (CSA), organic farming, biodynamic agriculture, sustainable intensification and regenerative agriculture; and novel practices as integrated farming system (IFS), precision agriculture, integrated nutrient management (INM) and integrated pest management (IPM). The adoption of these approaches and practices has been proven to safeguard agricultural sustainability. • Novel agricultural approaches are solutions for the sustainable production. • Novel agricultural practices imply sustainable production. • Sustainable agriculture has a direct positive impact on food and nutrition security. • Adopt novel approaches and practices in all scales of agricultural production. 

Novel approaches and practices to sustainable agriculture

Soil pollution, influenced by both the natural and anthropogenic factors, significantly reduces environmental quality. This research was carried out in some micro catchments located on Ordu province of Black Sea Region-Turkey in order to determine potential ecological risk index based on heavy metal elements (HMs) for organic farming. For this purpose, 166 soil samples (0-20 cm) were taken from the study area and some physical and chemical and HM concentrations (Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn) analysis were done. In this study, it was determined; i-) some physical and chemical properties of catchments’ soils, ii-) HM contents and the correlation relation between physico-chemical properties of soil and HM concentrations and iii-) potential ecological risk index (PERI). PERI was calculated using the data obtained to evaluate the environmental risks of HMs in the region. The results showed that Cu concentration in 3%, Cr in 0.6% and Ni in 4.8% of the soil samples exceeded the threshold levels whereas, the concentrations of other HMs were lower than the critical values. Statistically, it was also found significantly positive relationships between sand content and Cu of soils whereas, it was determined significantly negative relationships between EC and Cu. In addition, according to the obtained PERI results, while 54% of total soil samples were low while, 42% of them were moderate class. Only 4% of them were classified as significant ecological risk level. Moreover, according to mean potential ecological risk index of these HMs, it can be ordered as Cd>Pb>Cu>Ni> Zn>Cr.

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Assessment of potential ecological risk index based on heavy metal elements for organic farming in micro catchments under humid ecological condition

Abstract The green revolution and climate change have become a promising Indonesian rice production strategy to reach self-sufficiency through the application of improved agricultural technology such as organic rice farming (ORF). ORF is an eco-friendly agricultural practice that increases production, income, and sustainable agriculture. This study assessed farmers’ perception, motivation, constraints, awareness, and belief in adopting ORF. The study used a multi-stage sampling procedure. The primary data were collected from 203 households in West Java Province using a structured questionnaire. Weighted average index (WAI) was used to assess the farmers’ perception, motivation, awareness, and belief regarding the adoption of ORF. The results reveal a significantly different perception between ORF and conventional rice farming (CRF) farmers on production, quality, health and safety, market price, environmental concern, and certification aspects. ORF farmers had a more positive perception than conventional farmers. The results of the WAI reveal that CRF had a lower yield (0.63), risk-averse (0.70), and no cash compensation (0.62), whereas ORF had a higher price (0.82) and organic farming lifestyle (0.83). The ORF farmers also still have a strong positive belief in organic farming for the future, even though they lack organic fertilizer resources and certification. The strategies for adopting ORF are infrastructure improvement and community empowerment, compensation and incentive strategy, more intensive socialization, provision of assistance and training related to ORF, marketing facilitation, and subsidies on the prices and certification of organic rice.

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/opag-2022-0090/pdf

Farmers’ perception, awareness, and constraints of organic rice farming in Indonesia

Organic farming helps to improve the health of agro-ecosystem by its holistic approach using onfarm agronomic, biological and mechanical methods in exclusion of all synthetic off-farm inputs. Although the organic farming is eco-friendly, question arises about possibility to adopt the organic farming for the large scale and its impacts on maintaining the productivity of land to meet the food security challenges from the ever-increasing population of the world. But at the same time, consumer’s behaviour and consciousness toward the safe and healthy food enforced the thinking of farmers toward the organic farming which is more lucrative due to high market demand and value of organic produce. This paper mainly addresses about the present status and future scope of organic farming especially in North eastern region of India, State of Sikkim, Indian and Global scenario and to investigate the major external and internal factors that influence the whole organic system including production and marketing of organic commodity.

/pdf/impact-of-organic-farming-on-sustainable-agriculture-system-4lchsh219v.pdf

S. N. Kharpude

Papers

Impact of Organic Farming on Sustainable Agriculture System and Marketing Potential: A Review