Organic farming is a challenging type farming because of its initial less production rate but could prove to be a boon if we do proper planning and management.

1. Organic Farming is a Challenging
Conservation Agriculture : Critical
Assessment of Organic Farming and
The Potential Environmental Benefits
of No-till Agriculture
Speaker
Shaheen Praveen
Ph.D. (Ag.)
COA, Raipur, C.G.

2. Index
 Issues
 Causes for returning towards organic farming
 Why farm Organically
 Introduction
 History of organic farming
 Organic farming status in the world and India
 Basic principles and Steps
 Criteria of assessment of organic farming
 Potential environmental benefits of No-tillage
 Case study
 Conclusion

3. Issues
Agriculture Globally
 Declining fertility & loss of
soil productivity
 Soil erosion
 High cost fertilizers,
unavailability and their
harmful residual effect
 Increasing population
requirement burden
 Global Warming
 Loss of biodiversity
 Climate Change

4. Agriculture
Plants and
crops
Mitigation of
CO₂
Deforestation
Global
Warming,
Green House
Effect etc.

5. Reasons Behind Going Back to
Initiation
• Land exhaustion – Loss of soil fertility
• Nitrate run-off – water contamination
• Soil erosion
• Reduced soil porosity due to soil compaction
• Excessive use of pesticides, weedicides, fungicides
• Cruelty to animals due to over-crowding
• Loss of cultivated biodiversity
• Threat to indigenous seeds and animal breeds and species
• Habitat destruction
• Contaminated food
• Destruction of traditional knowledge systems and traditions
• Control of agriculture inputs and food distribution channel
• Threat to individual farmers

6. What is Wrong with Intensive
(Conventional) Agriculture
 Artificial fertilisers and herbicides are easily washed from the
soil and pollute rivers, lakes and water courses.
 The prolonged use of artificial fertilisers results in soils with a
low organic matter content which is easily eroded by wind and
rain.
 Dependency on fertilisers. Greater amounts are needed every
year to produce the same yields of crops.
 Artificial pesticides can stay in the soil for a long time and enter
the food chain where they build up in the bodies of animals and
humans, causing health problems.
 Artificial chemicals destroy soil micro-organisms resulting in
poor soil structure and aeration and decreasing nutrient
availability.
 Pests and diseases become more difficult to control as they
become resistant to artificial pesticides. The numbers of natural
enemies decrease because of pesticide use and habitat loss.

7. Why Farm Organically?
Organic farming aims to:
 Increase long-term soil fertility.
 Control pests and diseases without harming
the environment.
 Ensure that water stays clean and safe.
 Use resources which the farmer already has,
so the farmer needs less money to buy farm
inputs.
 Produce nutritious food, feed for animals and
high quality crops to sell at a good price.

8. Continued...
 In addition, organic matter through their
agglutinating effect causes stabilization in
nano-soil structures.
 Development of biochar soil management
technology that improves soil fertility,
sequesters carbon and reduces off-site
pollution.

9. Introduction
 Organic farming is the production of crops
and livestock without the use of synthetic
chemicals and inorganic fertilizers.
 Organic agriculture aims at the human
welfare without any harm to the
environment which is the foundation of
human life itself.

10. History of Organic Farming
 Organic farming was practiced in India since
thousands of years. Agriculture was practiced
using organic techniques, where the
fertilizers, pesticides, etc., were obtained
from plant and animal products.
 Post-independent India witnessed severe
food crisis.
 India depended on heavy imports of food-
for-aid from western countries.
 Green Revolution introduced in 1970’s
changed the situation from food importer to
food exporter by 1990

11. Present Status of Organic
Farming In World
 Nearly 70 million hectares of farmland are
organic. ( IFOAM, 2019)
 The global organic market continues to
grow worldwide and has reached 97
billion US dollars.
 Almost three million producers
worldwide- In 2017, 2.9 million organic
producers were reported, which is 5 percent
more than in 2016. India continues to be the
country with the highest number of
producers (835,200), followed by Uganda
(210,352), and Mexico (210,000).

12. Record growth of the organic farmland: 20 percent
increase
1. A total of 69.8 million hectares were organically
managed at the end of 2017, representing a growth of
20 percent or 11.7 million hectares over 2016, the
largest growth ever recorded.
2. Australia has the largest organic agricultural area (35.6
million hectares), followed by Argentina (3.4 million
hectares), and China (3 million hectares).
Ten percent or more of the farmland is organic in
fourteen countries- Globally, 1.4 percent of the
farmland is organic. However, many countries have far
higher shares. The countries with the largest organic
share of their total farmland are Liechtenstein (37.9
percent), Samoa (37.6 percent), and Austria (24
percent).

13. Organic Farming Status in India
 India has 6,50,000 organic producers, 699
processors, 669 exporters and 7,20,000
hectares under cultivation but only 0.4% of
total agricultural area under organic
cultivation. (Bordolo, 2016).
 India produced around 1.35 million MT
(2015-16) of certified organic products
which includes all varieties of food products
namely Sugarcane, Oil Seeds, Cereals &
Millets, Cotton, Pulses, Medicinal Plants,
Tea, Fruits, Spices, Vegetables, Coffee etc.

14. Continued...
 Madhya Pradesh has maximum area under
Organic farming (1.1 mha or 52%)
 Maharastra at second with 0.96 mha or
33.6% contribution.
 Odisha at 3rd position with 0.67 mha or
9.7% area under organic farming.
 Sikkim and Uttrakhand are organic states.

15. Export of Organic Agricultural
Commodity from India (2014-15 to
2016-17)

16. Basic Principles of Organic
Farming
 The principle of health – Organic farming should
sustain and enhance the health of soil, plant, animal,
human and planet as one and indivisible.
 The principle of ecology – Organic farming should be
based on living ecological systems and cycles, work
with them, emulate them and help sustain them.
 The principle of fairness – Organic farming should
build on relationships that ensure fairness with regard
to the common environment and life opportunities.
 The principle of care – Organic farming should be
managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to
protect the health and wellbeing of current and future
generations and the environment.

17. Basic Steps of Organic Farming
Organic farming approach involves following five principles:
1. Conversion of land from conventional management to
organic management
2. Management of the entire surrounding system to ensure
biodiversity and sustainability of the system
3. Crop production with the use of alternative sources of
nutrients such as crop rotation, residue management, organic
manures and biological inputs.
4. Management of weeds and pests by better management
practices, physical and cultural means and by biological
control system
5. Maintenance of live stock in tandem with organic concept
and make them an integral part of the entire system

18. Critical Assessment of Organic
Farming
1. Is a low organic yield level is more natural
2. Why are organic yields lower
3. Is soil fertility better on organic farms
4. Is soil structure is better on organic farms
5. Do organic soil have greater microbial activity
6. Do soluble minerals damage the soil
7. Do conventional farms pollute water ways with
nitrite and organic farms not
8. Is mineral cycling on organic farms sustainable
9. Is manure better than minerals

19. Continued...
10. Is organic food products more nutritious,
tastier and healthier than conventional
food products?
11. Is organic farming environmentally
superior
12. Changing to organic farming would
lower the cost?
13. Organics use overall less energy

20. Potential Environmental Benefits
of No-till Agriculture
 No-till farming, often when paired with crop covering (a
technique in which a crop is planted for the express purpose of
soil health), reduces carbon emissions through greater
sequestration of carbon dioxide by the soil.
 Over half of the potential carbon sequestration from farmlands
comes from conservation tillage
 Carbon dioxide isn’t the only greenhouse gas reduced by no-till,
the release of nitrous oxide, a very dangerous greenhouse gas, is
also reduced through no-till. As more nitrogen is immobilized in
the soil there is a reduced need for the application of nitrogen
rich manure.
 Reduction in atmospheric temperature
 Reduction in acid-rain, less contribution in acid soil formation

21. No-tillage Vs. Conventional
Tillage

22. Case Study
(Integrating Conservation Agriculture in Organic
Farming)
Raghavendra Singh*, Subhash Babu, R K Avasthe and G S
Yadav
(ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Sikkim Centre,
Tadong, Gangtok)
(ICAR-National Organic Farming Research Institute)
Effect of tillage practices and organic N sources on yields economics and
EUE of rice (pooled data over 2 years)

23. Short term effect of different tillage practices on
organic carbon and biological
activities
Treatment SOC (%) SMBC (mg/g
soil)
Conventional
Tillage
2.05 100.3
Reduced
Tillage
2.10 132.0
No-tillage 2.22 145.0

24. Conclusion
 On long term basis, Conservation Agriculture
(CA) in organic farming may sustain and maintain
the natural resources and sustain the livelihood
security of resources poor farmers of mountain
region.
 CA may also reduce the cost of cultivation by
saving in labour, time and farm power and also
reduce pollution of environment.
 Farm litter generally considered harmful, if left as
such, but may be good sources of crop nutrition, if
utilized properly by adopting suitable
conservation practices under organic farming.

25. To Forget how to dig the earth and to tend to soil is to
forget ourselves.
mahatama gandhi

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