Page 6 - Nai Udaan march 2023
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Editor’s Choice
Organic Farming;
Organic Farming;
The new normal
A round 10,000 years ago, Organic farming fields, the farmers are exposed to harmful
was practiced by ancient civilizations like
chemicals and lead to occupational
Mesopotamia. Our ancient scriptures too
emphasize that all dead things return to hazards.
earth and get converted into something Organic farming is not just one practice, it is a
that nourished life. It was a well accepted combination of various methods like Crop
fact that healthy growth of plants could be Rotation, Composting, Selection of crops which
ensured through excreta of animals. are adapted to local growing conditions,
sustainable water management practices such
After so many years, we have again as rain water harvesting, Drip irrigation and
returned to our age old practice of organic mulching to save water and use of cover
farming. The reasons are of course many. crops which are planted between cash
The excessive use of chemicals affects the crops to reduce soil erosion and maintain
fertility of soil. It is important to conserve fertility. There are some challenges too.
the ecosystem and adopt natural practic- The methods used in organic farming may
es. be time consuming and costly. It is not
easy to follow strict regulations and
The advantages of organic farming are certification standards especially in terms
numerous. It is not only inexpensive, it of large scale production. It requires a
ensures sustainable development. This large amount of manual labor which can
practice helps in conservation of biodiversity be challenging for farmers if there is
and wildlife. It provides healthy and safe shortage of labor. But, despite all odds,
food for the consumers and also supports there are some inspiring success stories of
local communities by creating jobs. Our farmers .
dependence on imported goods reduces
and we are able to follow our traditional Organic farming is looked upon as
agricultural practices. The nutritional something low key, producing low yield
quality of crops also increases and we are method of farming. But following Padma
able to get crops with Shri awardee farmers of India have
a better taste. proved this notion wrong. These farmers,
While using through years of effort, rode a wave of
chemicals in the change in field of Indian agriculture.
4 xÉ<Ç =cÉxÉ ekpZ -2023
