Organic farming for sustainable agriculture

Organic farming has been a popular topic discussed lately.

Most of the people think that it is a traditional old way of cultivating crops that’s a misconception. The idea of organic farming is to grow healthy foods and at the same time, to keep the environment clean. see Organic Modern technique.

It  is defined in many ways by food suppliers, environmentalists, intellectuals and critics. In Lehman’s terms it is a farming method for everyone’s betterment. The organic farming encourages the use of farming techniques like preparing compost, crop rotation, biological pest control, and mechanical cultivation.

Obviously this farming method is against the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and livestock feed additives. The farming practice has gained exponential success during the last 10 years.

It is estimated that around 37,000,000 hectares of land is being cultivated under organic farming. The farmland used for organic agriculture farming should be kept separated from the conventional farming land.

In many states, the organic farm land should be certified by the agricultural department and is inspected regularly to check the if the crops are contaminated with chemical fertilizers.

Benefits of using Organic agriculture Farming

Practicing organic cultivation is not a difficult process. The transition from fertilizer based farming to organic farming takes very less time. It can help the farmers to save money by not using industrial fertilizers.

Instead of using artificial fertilizers the farmer practicing this method can make use of compost, crop rotation and animal dung to increase the fertility of the soil. The food grown using this method is enriched with natural vitamins and nutritional value.

As the harmful chemicals are not used in the farming it produces poison free food grains. The taste of the food is better when grown in this way. The organic food stays fresh for a long time and do not rot quickly. The farmer should understand the resources needed and the management approaches  to efficiently cultivate crops by this method. As the consumers moving towards consumption of organic food this farming method is developing fast.

Disadvantages of organic farming

Organic farming is expensive as it requires a lot of manual work. The natural way of producing crops is inefficient as it is not suitable for the mass production. It requires a higher degree of skill and farmer should spend more time to make plans to alter the farming methods.

Use of organic fertilizer to naturally enhance the food quality.

The most common organic fertilizer is a natural byproduct of living organisms. An organic fertilizer can be a compost, blood meal, fish emulsion, cottonseed meal, or other manures with minerals. It can include sludge from the sewage that is preprocessed before applying into the farmland.

When a farmer wants to apply the organic fertilizers to his farm he must understand the application, their intended use, and precautions before applying it. An ideal organic fertilizer should contain 3 key nutrients, potassium , nitrogen and phosphorous. The amount of these ingredients depends on the type of plant grown. If required different organic fertilizers can be mixed and applied to the plants.

Home gardeners can make up organic fertilizers such as chicken manure, cow manure, compost and green manure. Mixing the chicken manure with the cow manure can be beneficial for gardening. It helps inactivation of enzymes and the nutrients can be absorbed more easily by the plants.

The issue with the home made organic fertilizers is the nutritional value of the fertilizer remains unknown. The compost prepared can be tested with a soil testing kit. It helps in knowing the pH level of the compost and the level of content of the phosphorous , nitrogen and potash. The compost can be mixed with the plant remains and it will help the indoor plants in growing.

Benefits of using organic fertilizers.

Organic fertilizers are good for the ecosystem and help in producing healthier foods. It is free from chemicals so the fruits and grains grown using it do not have any passed on chemicals in them. It avoids pollution of ground water and air.

The plants can absorb a larger number of nutrients from the soil when organic fertilizers are applied than the synthetic fertilizers. The overuse of synthetic fertilizers can burn the plants  but use organic fertilizers are harmless  even if used in excess.

It helps in improving the soil quality and using these over the infertile soil gives its life back. Using an organic fertilizer increases the microbial activity and avoids plant growth fluctuations.

Disadvantages of using organic fertilizers

Organic fertilizers are not nutritionally rich as a chemical fertilizer and it gives out its nutrients at a slow pace.

The use of organic farming and organic fertilizers will help the mankind to create a balance between the nature and human needs.