Organic agriculture in India: Prospects and way forward
HSSen
Former Director,
ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute & Allied Fibres, Barrackpore, 24
Parganas(N), West Bengal, PIN 700 120
It is prudent
that conventional agriculture through use of mostly inorganic or synthetic
sources, though initially created great impact, in due course, is showing up
not only (i) decreasing productivity, but also, (ii) health hazards, and (iii)
environmental insecurity.
Fig. Trend in wheat
yield (q ha-1) during 1971-2004 under LTFE at Barrackpore, WB
decreasing with time indicating lack of sustainability under conventional
cultivation
This gradually
paved the way for introduction of natural organic sources in agricultural
cultivation worldwide. The demand for organic food is steadily increasing both
in developed and developing countries, with annual average growth rate of 20–25%.
Worldwide, over 130 countries produce
certified organic products in commercial quantities.
Organic agriculture - definition and key issues
A global overview
Globally organic agriculture is practiced in 130 countries on over 30.4 million ha area on 0.7 million farms constituting 0.65 % of total cultivated area.
In India it is practiced 528,171
ha area on over 44,926 number of certified organic farms accounting for 0.3 %
of total agricultural land as per report available up to 2010.
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Fig. . Organic cultivation on the increase globally
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Fig. . Organic land area in USA is increasing
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Fig. . In USA organic farm number and sales
also at high rate
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Fig. . Organic food sales fulfilled target
(2010) in USA
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Fig. In
Asia the ten top countries having highest organic land
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Let us try to seek the following answers
in the first instance in respect of organic agriculture as to whether: (i) it can
produce enough food for everybody, (ii) it can meet nutritional requirement of
crops entirely through organic farming, (iii) there are enough significant
environmental benefits from it, (iv) the food or other farm produces from it is
superior in quality, (v) it is economically viable, (vi) it is possible to
manage pests and diseases through it. We
will try to seek answer to each for a comprehensive understanding of the issue.
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Fig. In India the organic production is within 1 % of the total population and total cultivated area |
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Fig. India
is still the biggest contributor to world organic production
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Relevance to Indian agriculture: An introspection
Food security
(i) In intensive farming systems, organic agriculture decreases yield; the range depends on the intensity of external input use before conversion.
(ii) In the so-called green revolution areas
(irrigated lands), conversion to organic
agriculture usually leads to almost identical yields.
(iii) In traditional rain-fed agriculture (with low
external inputs), organic agriculture has shown the potential to increase
yields.
A survey of 208 projects in developing
tropical countries in which contemporary organic practices
were introduced, showed average yield increases of 5–10% in irrigated crops and 50–100% in rainfed crops.
For examples, trials conducted on organic cotton at
Nagpur indicated that after the third year, the organic plot, which did not
receive fertilizers and insecticides, produced as much cotton as that cultivated with them by conventional means.
Similarly, studies conducted in Punjab clearly indicated that organic
farming gave higher or equal yields of different cropping systems compared to
chemical farming after an initial period of three years
Globally, conversion studies showed that domestic food
consumption would not suffer, exports would vary depending on crop, but the structure of
farming would definitely change with more diversification of agriculture. Widespread conversion to organic agriculture would
result in crop yield increase over the current averages as a result of increased
investment in research and extension. India can draw examples from outside.
A
German study concluded that if the per capita dietary calories from meat were
reduced to 21% from the current 39%, all German crop lands could be converted
to organic agriculture without an increase in imports or expansion of
agricultural land. According to the report such a conversion would be possible by 2017. Similar trends are
observed in Europe and US.
However food may be more expensive in some places. This
may contribute more towards family income.
For developing countries with high
population pressure like India this may not be straightway advocated throughout
the country to meet food security, but certainly useful for stress situations
and possibly for small & marginal lands.
Nutrient
management through organic farming
It improves soil physical, chemical & biological properties through application of biologically derived and less readily available nutrients for crops. Common sources are animal dung, crop residues, green manure, biofertilizers and bio-solids from agro-industries and food processing wastes.
Because of
inadequacy in animal dung for use through FYM and its bulky nature, other uses
are through vermicomposting,
phosphocomposting, N-enriched phos-phocomposting, etc. These not only supply
soil nutrients but also supply beneficial macro- and microflora for plant use.
Around
600 to 700 million tonnes (mt) of agricultural waste is available in the
country every year, but most of it is not used properly. We must convert our filth into wealth by mobilizing all the
biomass in the rural and urban areas into bioenergy to supply required
nutrients to our starved soil and fuel to
farmers. India produces about 1800 mt of animal dung per annum. Even if
two-thirds of the dung is used for biogas generation, it is expected to yield
biogas not less than 120 m m3 per day. In addition, the manure
produced would be about 440 mt per year38, which is equivalent to
2.90 mt N, 2.75 mt P2O5 and 1.89 mt K2O.
It is important that use of organic
inputs may be the best means to enrich soil with C pool which tends to decrease
over time under conventional fertilizer uses, and may have serious implication towards
supply of balanced nutrients to plants, and combat the adverse effect due to
climate change on crop productivity.
Soil biodiversity
Abundant arthropods and earthworms
High occurrence of
symbionts
High occurrence of
micro-organisms
Microbial carbon
Enzymes
Wild flora
Environmental
benefits
The most striking factor is enrichment of soil C pool under organic cultivation to combat the climate change having obviously the adverse effect otherwise on crop productivity.
Safety
and Quality
It is estimated that 25 million
agricultural workers in developing countries are poisoned each year by pesticides.
A review of over 300 published reports showed
that out of 18 environmental impact indicators (floral diversity, faunal
diversity, habitat diversity, landscape, soil organic matter, soil biological
activity, soil structure, soil erosion, nitrate leaching, pesticide residues, CO2, N2O, CH4, NH3,
nutrient use, water use and energy use), organic farming systems
performed significantly better in 12 and performed worse in none.
Organic foods must meet the same quality and safety
standards applied to conventional foods. These include the CODEX General Principles of Food Hygiene and Food
Safety Programmes based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. Analysis of pesticide residues in produce
in the US and Europe has shown organic products have significantly lower pesticide residues than conventional products. Nitrates are significant contaminants
of foods, generally associated with
intensive use of nitrogen fertilizers. Studies that compared nitrate
contents of organic and conventional products found significantly higher
nitrates in conventional products.
There are also claims that food
produced by organic methods tastes better and contains a better balance of vitamins and minerals than conventionally grown food.
However, there is no clear scientific evidence, with some studies
showing increase in vitamin C, minerals and proteins, more sweeter and less tart apples and others not.
Economics of organic cultivation
The replacement of external inputs by farm-derived resources normally leads to a reduction in variable input costs under organic management. Expenditure on fertilizers and sprays is substantially lower than in conventional systems in almost all the cases. In a few cases, higher input costs due to the purchase of compost and other organic manure have been reported. Studies have shown that the common organic agricultural combination of lower input costs and favourable price premiums can offset reduced yields and make organic farms equally and often more profitable than conventional farms. Studies that did not include organic price premiums have given mixed results on profitability.
The economics of organic cotton
cultivation over a period of six years indicated that there is a reduction in
cost of cultivation and increased gross and net returns compared to conventional cotton cultivation in India.
The
studies in several states revealed that organic farming, in spite of the
reduction in crop productivity by 9.2%, provided higher net profit to farmers
by 22.0% compared to conventional farming. This was mainly due to the
availability of premium price (20-40%) for the certified organic produce and
reduction in the cost of cultivation by 11.7%.
Conclusion
(1) Large-scale conversion to organic agriculture would result in food shortage with the present state of knowledge and technology, as the yield reductions of organic systems relative to conventional agriculture average 10– 15%, especially in intensive farming systems. However, in traditional rain-fed agriculture, organic farming has the potential to increase the yield, since 70% of total cultivable land falls in this category. Mere 5–10% increase in farm production would definitely help achieve the targetted growth rate of 4–5% in agricultural production in the Tenth Plan period.
(2)
Organic manure
is an alternative renewable source of nutrient supply. A large gap exists
between the available potential and utilization of organic wastes. However, it is not possible to meet the nutrient
requirements of crops entirely from organic sources, if 100% cultivable
land is converted to organic farming.
(3)
Organic farming
systems can deliver agronomic and environmental
benefits both through structural changes and tactical management of farming systems. The benefits of
organic farming are relevant both to developed nations (environmental protection, biodiversity enhancement,
reduced energy use and CO2 emission) and to developing countries
like India (sustainable resource use,
increased crop yields without over-reliance on costly external inputs,
environment and biodiversity protection, etc.).
(4)
Organic foods
are proved superior in terms of health and safety, but there is no scientific
evidence to prove their superiority in terms of taste and nutrition, as most of
the studies are often inconclusive.
(5)
Combination of lower input costs and favourable price premiums can offset reduced yields and make organic
farms equally and often more profitable than conventional farms. However,
studies that did not include organic price premiums have given mixed results on
profitability. Thus it is the premium price
on the organic food which decides
the economic feasibility of organic farming, at least at the current
rate of development in organic agriculture.
(6)
In organic farming systems, pest and disease management strategies are largely preventive rather than
reactive. In general, pest and disease incidence is less severe in organic
farms compared to conventional farms.
Way forward
Cultivation protocol & profitability
- Although 68 per cent of the total agricultural land available in India is believed to be under de facto non-chemical farming, no effort has been made to improve yields through organic methods or obtain organic certification (thus opening up world markets to India's organic farmers). Only 6,000 farms, with a total area of 76,000 hectares, are currently certified as organic.
- Farmers should be adequately trained on the protocol to develop organic farming package of practices which should utilize the resources under integrated farming module developed appropriately for individual farms and the environment, keeping in mind that this is knowledge-driven and not resource-driven.
- Concentrate on community-driven watershed management-cum-organic farming programmes.
- Organic farming is particularly useful for small and marginal lands having adequate natural resources to be capitalized on. The hill complex in N-E ecosystem has tremendous scope to introduce organic farming to increase profitability of the poor and tribal dominated communities.
- Organic farming should also be useful for rainfed and other soil stress situations having low productivity otherwise because of various constraints.
- Organic farming is the cheapest and most environment-friendly practice to raise soil organic C and thereby combat adverse impact of climate change on agricultural productivity in the long run.
- Farmers practicing organic agriculture should be assisted by ensuring premium price on their products and through market linkage to increase profitability.
- There is a need to organise Producers’ Cooperative Marketing Societies and establish credible marketing channels for steady flow of organic foods and materials in accordance with the demand, as also to safeguard the interest of small farmers opting for organic agriculture
- There are stringent protocols for organic agriculture and farmers should be trained for it and the same monitored time to time by the government or their agencies to order to ensure the products are tagged as reliable for fetching high domestic as well as foreign markets
- Organic produce fetches premium price owing to better quality, and for credibility in the market it ought to be quality goods. Therefore, there should be adequate provision for their grading, packaging, storage and transportation. Marketing outlets on the lines of milk unions, may be established.
Research agenda
- There is an urgent need to compare the quality of organically produced food with conventionally produced food. There appears to be a widespread perception amongst consumers, that organically produced foods are of superior nutritional quality. However, to prove or disapprove this contention, very limited research has been conducted, and whatever meagre scientific data is available, is often out-dated or based on inadequate study designs, lacking proper controls. In view of this, the following points merit consideration.
- No clear-cut evidence is available to support consumer perceptions regarding potential health benefits of organic foods. An in-depth research on quality aspects is required to arrive at any valid acceptable conclusion.
- A strong research back up has to be put in place to develop and improve national standards for organic farming. The policy documents brought out so far by APEDA and DAC, including the report of Task Force on Organic Farming etc., should be considered in developing such scientifically sound standards, mainly for the crops and commodities that have export potential. The national standards should be the same for domestic market and for export.
- There is a need to establish referral laboratories for analysis of pesticides, heavy metals and mycotoxins in the produce with appropriate accreditation to help organic farming movement. The maximum residue limits in organic food must be set in accordance with the CODEX standards.
- It is also necessary to undertake well-controlled studies to evaluate sensory properties, shelf life, and nutrient load of organic produce vis-à-vis produce from the conventional farming techniques.
- The issue of microbial contamination of food arising from the use of manures has to be addressed, and measures suggested to mitigate it.
- It is frequently documented that fertilisers and pesticides applied at recommended rates have had no adverse effect on soil biological activity, and that integrated farming systems are best for nutrient management, yield sustainability and soil biodiversity conservation. There is thus, a need to develop modern organic farming system integrating the best available options.
- The Green Revolution technologies have been alleged to have caused depletion of soil organic carbon. The critical values of soil organic matter that can support the sustainable crop production under organic management have to be worked out.
- The patterns of rate and amount of nutrients released from various organic sources and their goodness of fit with the nutrient requirement of the crops at different growth stages need to be worked out. This information could be used in evolving appropriate nutrient management schedule, so as to ensure optimal nutrient supply to the crop at active physiological stages having peak nutrient demands.
- Allelopathic effects of various plant species need to be tapped
Table 2. Productivity of crops (t/ha) in organic versus conventional
farming
Conventional Per cent increase (+)/
State
Crop Organic farming farming decrease (-) in organic farming
Maharashtra Vegetables 11.0 13.0 -15.3
Fruit crops 11.4 13.6 -16.1
Rice 2.0 2.5 -20.0
Wheat 1.2 1.5 -20.0
Karnataka Soybean 0.9 1.1 -18.2
Chickpea 0.8 0.8 0.0
Fruit crops 8.0 9.0 -11.1
Groundnut 1.2 1.4 -14.2
Sugarcane 120 140 -14.3
Tamil Nadu and Puducherry
Cotton 0.6 0.8 -25.0
Cashew 1.3 1.0 +30.0
Banana 25.0 30.0 -16.6
Mango 8.0 6.0 +33.3
Guava 20.0 23.0 -13.0
Coconut 28,250
nuts 28,750
nuts -1.7
Rice 5.0 6.0 -16.6
Kerala
Pepper 1.38 1.40 -1.4
Banana 23.6 27.2 -13.2
Coconut 31,000
nuts 30,500
nuts +1.6
Coffee 1.23 1.31 -6.1
Turmeric 22.5 25.0 -10.0
Uttarakhand Rice 3.77 3.82 -1.3
Wheat 3.12 3.92 -20.4
Potato 12.0 15.0 -20.0
Mean -9.2
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