Journal of Research, SKUAST–J
Year : 2005, Volume : 4, Issue : 1
First page : ( 25) Last page : ( 37)
Print ISSN : 0972-7469.

Organic farming: Concept and its prospective in Jammu and Kashmir

Gupta R.D., Kher Deepak, Jalali V.K.

Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, SKUAST–J, Main Campus Chatha, Jammu-180 012

Abstract

Owing to the ill effect caused by the green revolution like human health herzard, soil and environmental pollution, the concept of organic farming came into fore. The concept of organic farming actualy seeks to re-establish the balance of energy in Nature without using the chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This farming system is mainly based upon traditional methods/techniques derived on sound ecological principles. In the present paper, some such methods have been reviewed under Jammu and Kashmire situation. Prospective of the state from this angle has also been highlighted vis-a-vis its limitation.

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Key words

Culture methods, green manure, FYM, compost.

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Introduction

Concept of organic farming

The concept of organic farming commenced with the establishment of International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) on 6th of November, 1972 in France. Today nobody can deny the fact that organic food is a growing reality all over the world.

In India, National Standard Committee also drafted the concept and principles of basic standards of organic farming in 1996. These days, as per the study conducted by Food & Agriculture Organisation during mid-2003, India has 1,426 certified organic farms producing approximately 14,000 tonnes organic produce annually [2]. Although there are large number of farmers in India, who have either never chemically cultivated or have come back to organic farming due to the beliefs or purely for reason of economics. These farmers are cultivating hundreds of thousands hectares of land but have not been classified as organic producers, though they are. Their produce is generally sold in the open market along with the other grown food. These farmers are not keen to opt for certification because of much more involvement of cost vis-a-vis extensive documentation required for such certification.

How organic farming is defined?

The havoc unleashed by costly and environmentally hazardous inputs like chemical pesticides and imbalance use of fertilizers, have led to worldwide resurgence of interest in such type of farming that seeks to derive yield without disturbing the ecosystem. So, “Organic farming or Organic agriculture may be defined as such type of farming, which avoids or largely excludes the use of fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators and livestock feed additives, and to this list may be added the use of genetically modified crops [3] and does not harm the environment.”

As organic farming entirely depends upon the use of animal manures, green manures, organic wates, crop residues, crop diversification methods and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity [4]. The main philosophy behind this is to feed the soil rather than the crops, to maintain soil health, and it is a means of giving back to the Nature what has been taken from it. Accordingly, “organic farming may be defined as a system of agricultural production that encourages health of soils and crops through such practices as nutrient recycling of organic matter, crop rotations, proper tillage and the avoidance of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.”

Other options of organic farming

There are a number of other options to represent organic farming. These are Rishi Krishi, Biodynamic Farming, Agnihotra etc. [3].

“Biodynamic Farming”, is another kind of organic farming. It is being spread on the name of environmental protection and religious sentimental attraction. It consists of using “cow-dung-horn technology”, which means composting of dung from lactating cow in hollow of cow horn after burying in soil at an auspicious moment. Thereafter, applying it in pellet form according to homeopathic doses [5]. This type of compost is known to possess magical qualities, more soil NO₃-N ranging from 0.06 to 1.7 per cent and dramatically enhancing crop growth and yields. Likewise an attempt has also been made to relate planetary rhythms and constellation with fertilizer use efficiency. Accordingly, it has been recommended to apply fertilizer with ascending of moon or on Pooran mashi (full moon night) to obtain maximum advantage in this line [6]. Recommendations have also been made for sowing/planting of crops. For example, the development of roots takes place with descending moon, while above ground plant parts develop with ascending moon. To get maximum yield of potato, it must be sown in night and leafy vegetables in bright sun shine.

“Agnihotra” (ashes left after performing yagna) is considered as the complete or perfect plant food [7], though it mainly contains potash. This defies scientific logic. Agricultural scientists must not tolerate such absurdities and treat them with contempt they deserve.

It is remarkable to note that during Green Revolution era, spectacular increase in crop yield resulted primarily from consumption of NPK fertilizer from 66,000 tonnes in 1951–1952 to 16.79 million tonnes in 1998–1999 [8]: Kanwar and Katyal [9] have indicated that to produce over 300 million tonnes food grain in 2025 as our expected demand as compared to present level we could require more than 45 million tonnes total plant nutrient both from organic and inorganic sources. Out of this total amount of nutrients, hardly 10 million tonnes could be expected to obtain from organic sources. So, the Indian agriculture cannot be solely dependent upon organic farming. As a matter of fact, a rationalist organic farming approach requires to strengthen an evergreen revolution to increase food production for the burgeoning population. The main aim of the organic farming must be to mobilise plant nutrients from all available organic sources to integrate them with the chemical fertilizers. It is called the Integrated Nutrient Management.

Importance of organic farming

Organic farming is reported to be beneficial in many ways. Firstly, fertility of the soils is increased especially when the cereal based cropping sequence (rice-wheat) is rotated with legume based cropping pattern (rice-berseem) [10], Secondly, organic farming is said to be free from the bad effects of the chemical based farming, especially of pesticides like DDT, BHC and others, which would otherwise have been found to enter the foodgrains [11]. Occurrence of blue baby disease caused by excessive nitrate (due to imbalance use of nitrogenous fertilizers) can be minimised by following organic farming.

As already stated that organic farming is also called “Green Food” or “Organic Food” and as such fetches more premium because of its more taste and nutritious. This is, however, a myth as has been reported recently [3].

Methods of organic farming

Since the main aim of organic farming is to develop viable and sustainable agriculture, so a number of methods or farm management practices are available from this angle. They mostly consist of cultural or diversified agricultural techniques like crop rotation, mixed cropping or intercropping tillage operations and trap crops, green manuring, use of organic manures (Farm yard manure–FYM, compost etc.), vermicompost, use of organic residues, use of botanical pesticides, biocides and microbial inoculants to control insects and other pests, use of biofertilizers (Rhizobium culture, Azotobacterin–Azobacter culture, Phosphate solublizing micro-organisms, Blue Green Algae–BGA).

Prospective of organic farming in Jammu & Kashmir

Jammu & Kashmir State being mostly hilly terrain, its majority of the area suffers from massive soil erosion and run-off losses. Besides soil erosion and run-off losses, more than 70 per cent of State's arable land is under rainfed conditions where cultivation of crops alone is very risky. So keeping these facts in view, there is lot of scope and prospective for diversified agriculture in the State.

The results obtained with some of methods or techniques and their combinations under irrigated and unirrigated conditions and are conducive to J&K state are given follows:

Green manuring practice

Green manuring, which consists of quick growing of leguminous crop and burying the resultant biomass in the soil before its flowering stage so as to add organic matter in the soil. For green manuring, generally leguminous crops are preferred because they have an additional advantage of fixing atmospheric nitrogen. The crops commonly raised for green manure are: dhaincha (Sesbania aculeata), sanhemp (Crotolaria juncea) and many others. Growing of dhaincha and sanhemp as green manures found very effective in soils of Jammu region of Jammu & Kashmir State.

1. Green matter production: The green matter production by various green manuring crops varies according to the type and age of the crop. The data generated, indicate that dhaincha added to the maximum amount of green matter (300 q ha⁻¹) followed by sanhemp (284 q ha⁻¹) and minimum by guara sorghum (200 q ha⁻¹) when ploughed into the soil at the age of 60 to 75 days after sowing [12]. In addition to green matter production, dhaincha and sanhemp added nitrogen to the extent of 130 and 118 kgha⁻¹, respectively. Dhaincha too supplied phosphorus, potassium and calcium to the extent of 0.14, 0.61 and 0.44 per cent, respectively. The corresponding figures of these parameters were 0.11, 0.57 and 0.37 per cent in case of sanhemp.

2. Crop productivity:In situ incorporation of dhaincha before transplanting of rice, PC-19 variety under Krishi Vigyan Kendra Farm (Table 1), Jammu, not only showed an increase in the yield but also exhibited reduction in the application of nitrogen and phosphorus by 1/3rd and half, respectively of the recommended doses. The yield was 34.59 q ha⁻¹ with application of full doses of N, P₂O₅, K₂O fertilizers, while it was 32.5 q ha⁻¹ when basal dose of N was missed and one half of the recommended dose of phosphorus was applied as compared to check, where the yield was recorded to be 18 q ha⁻¹.

   The residual effect of green manuring was also seen on following wheat crop. In the green manured plot, the yield of wheat, (cv PBW-343) was observed to be 26 q ha⁻¹ as compared to control where the yield of the crop was 21 q ha⁻¹.

   In soils of Kandi belt of Jammu, green manuring with Crotolaria juncea or Sesbania aculeata has proved beneficial [13]. It increased 30 per cent wheat yield without supplying any additional fertilizer to wheat crop.

   “On Farm Research” or “On Farm Testing (OFT)” in rice (IET-1410) under KVK showed that balance dose of NP₂O₅K₂O fertilizers (100:50:30) gave the highest yield (38.69 q ha⁻¹) followed by treatment where 40 per cent of the recommended NP₂O₅K₂O doses was applied through fertilizers and the rest (60%) through green manuring (31.0 q ha⁻¹).

3. Green manuring and its role in alkali or sodic/saline soil: An experiment was conducted from Kharif 1991 to kharif 1993 at Government Seed Multiplication Farm Chakroi, Jammu (J&K), to study the effect of gypsum, FYM, dhaincha, gypsum+ dhaincha and gypsum + FYM on physico-chemical properties of soil and rice yield. Application of gypsum in combination with dhaincha ameliorated the properties of sodic soils with increase in yield of rice. Increase in grain and straw yield was 8.32 to 25.83 and 4.80 to 18.3 per cent, respectively [14].

Use of crop residues

The crop residues are rich source of plant nutrients. But one of the biggest drawback is owing to their high C:N ratio. For example, it is 100:1 or even more in paddy straw and wheat straw. Hence prior to using them, these must be fully decomposed so that the C:N ratio may atleast come down to 25:1.

1. Effect of paddy straw on wheat: Effect of compost prepared from paddy straw on the yield of wheat crop was studied at KVK Farm, Jammu (J&K State) during 1999–2000 and 2000–2001. The data (Table 2) indicate that the use of compost prepared from paddy straw and treated with DAP (at the time of composting) alongwith 1/3rd recommended doses of NP₂O₅K₂O fertilizers has given almost similar increase in wheat yield as obtained with urea treated compost (Table 2). Increase in yield of wheat in both of these treatments was in the range of 95.4 to 98.5 per cent as compared to control (Table 2).

2. Effect of rice stubbles on wheat: A field experiment was conducted on Inceptisol soil at Ranbir Singh Pura Research Farm under SKUAST–Jammu to see the effect of rice residue management in wheat yield and soil properties [15]. The results (Table 3) showed significant effect of urea application with rice stubbles at the time of field preparation on growth and yield attributes. It was attributed to proper decomposition of rice stubbles. The uptake of N, P₂O₅ and K₂O by the crop was also significantly higher (Table 4) with T₃ treatment (30 kg N ha⁻¹ through urea to decompose rice stubbles + 90 kg N ha⁻¹) over T₂ (No N-application thruogh urea to decompose rice stubbles + 120 kg N ha⁻¹) and T₁ (Removal of rice stubbles + 120 kg N ha⁻¹) treatments. However, these values were statistically at par with T₄ treatment (30 kg N ha⁻¹ through urea to decompose rice stubbles + 120 kg N ha⁻¹).

3. Effect of white popinac leaves, FYM and black gram straw: A field experiment was conducted at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Rajouri (J&K State) under SKUAST to evaluate organic plant residues as supplementary source of nutrients in maize and wheat cropping sequence during 1994–1995 to 1995–1996. The results indicate that white popinac leaves (Leucaena leucocephala) and FYM had their residual effect on succeeding wheat crop by producing equivalent yield as 100 per cent N, P₂O₅ and K₂O fertilizers [16]. Among different organic sources, FYM proved superior to black gram straw followed by white popinac leaves while wheat straw proved inferior sources of N-substitution.

Use of FYM

Use of FYM is one of the common practice to enrich the soil with plant nutrients. There are a number of farmers who add only FYM in their maize fields. As such, the yield of the crop is low as compared to that which is supplied with N, P₂O₅ and K₂O fertilizers. Hence a number of OFTs were laid out in maize in different locations in Kandi belt of Jammu for three consecutive years [13,17]. The results showed that when FYM was applied with N, P₂O₅ and K₂O fertilizers, there was an improvement in the yield of maize. The maximum yield was realized with recommended dose of N, P₂O₅ and K₂O followed by half through N, P₂O₅ and K₂O and half through FYM and minimum being in case of farmer's practice. The farmers of Kandi belt, therefore, must use half of the recommended doses of N, P₂O₅ and K₂O through fertilizers and half through FYM in their maize crop (Table 5).

Cultural techniques

As already stated that cultural methods like mixed cropping, multiple cropping and crop rotation not only help in supplementing income of farmers but also assist in checking soil erosion, improving soil fertility and increasing the crop yield.

1. Change of crop rotation: Under the KVK Farm of Jammu district, change of cropping pattern from rice-wheat to rice-berseem during 1997–1998, has not only proved beneficial in improving soil fertility by way of fixing atmospheric nitrogen in the range of 110–115 kg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ but also increased the status of calcium, magnesium and potassium. Rice-berseem crop rotation helped in controlling an obnoxious Phalaris minor weed, which becomes a great menace in the areas where rice-wheat cropping pattern is followed continuously.

   Cultivation of berseem in rice-berseem cropping sequence brought a revenue of Rs 64,000 acre⁻¹ (Rs 1,30,000 ha⁻¹) through sale of berseem as fodder. It also increased the yield of rice and wheat during subsequent years i.e. 1998–1999 and 1999–2000.

2. Mixed cropping/intercropping: Mixed cropping is the common practice of the farmers of dryland agriculture, particularly Kandi belt of Jammu. They either grow maize and black gram in the same field during Kharif or black gram and sesame. Sometimes black gram is grown on the bunds of maize fields. Whichever practice is followed, its aim is to add the soil fertility owing to the atmospheric nitrogen fixation by black gram being leguminous crop. However, yield of black gram or sesame is much less than intercropping. This promoted to study the effects of intercropping on the yield of black gram and sesame. The results of the study conducted under KVK for two years in eight different locations (four each year) showed more yield in black gram and sesame intercrops (4:2 rows) than the mixed cropping [1]. Pure crop of black gram and sesame recorded 3.6 and about 1.0 q ha⁻¹, respectively followed by intercropping of black gram and sesame (4 rows + 2 rows) with yield of 2.2 and 0.5 q ha⁻¹ [17] and the lowest in farmers practice having yield of 1.7 and 0.2 q ha⁻¹.

Intercropping is also being followed in the irrigated areas of Bhalwal and Marh blocks of Jammu. Sugarcane + bitter gourd, sugarcane + tomato, mustard + radish and mustard + peas, are the main intercrops being followed by high tech farmer Sh. Gandharv Singh of village Batera. He usually earns an amount of Rs. 2,000–3,000 and Rs. 15,000–18,000 from bitter gourd and sugarcane intercrops in an area of 0.1 hectare (2 kanals). The high tech farmer also grows a number of vegetables like cauliflower, potato, ladyfinger, colocacia and arum and generates lot of income (Table 5) as recently reported by [18] (2003b).

Another example of an innovative, hardworking and dedicated farmer involved in intercropping, is Sh. Girdhari Lal from Hiranagar [19]. He is growing field crops such as cereals, pulses, oilseeds from the same piece of land by intercropping. He has marked some area for cultivating vegetables (capsicum, tomato, brinjal), marigold, green fodder (maize, MP muck charry) and summer pulses (black gram and green gram).

Apart from growing cereals, pulses, oil seeds and fodder crops, innovative farmer has now planted a number of fruit trees in an area of about 2.5 ha. These consist of grafted and local mangoes, guava, grafted ber, peach, papaya and aonla.

Limitations in the use of organics

1. Low amount of plant nutrients: Owing to the presence of low amount of plant nutrients in organic manures like compost, FYM, poultry manure etc., their large amounts are required to fulfill the nutrients requirement for the various high yielding varieties of crops, which is not possible for the country like India with a large population to feed.

2. High C:N ratio of different organic residues: Although a number of organic residues–paddy straw, wheat straw, sugarcane trash can be used to make up the plant nutrients need yet they have wide C:N ratio. If they are not fully decomposed and added as such, will cause immobilization of nutrients, especially of nitrogen. The yield of the crops will be affected badly.

3. Low yield of crops: With the use of organic manures, the yield of the crops is very low especially during initial stages. Although later on it becomes stabilized, yet organic farming will not be sustainable in the long run.

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Conclusion

1. Wherever it is possible, organic farming be encouraged especially in horticultural crops where its effects have been found better. For example, in walnut cultivation in Kashmir valley very little amount of fertilizer is added. It is almost purely organic based. Similar is the situation in vegetables production in Leh and Kargil districts of Ladakh region, Jammu & Kashmir, where processed night soil compost is the only organic fertilizer.

2. Floating gardens or floating islands of Kashmir formed from the weeds of Dal lake are of much importance for production of vegetables. In these gardens, most versatile manure added by the houseboat owners is hydrilla muck. Not even single fertilizer is added for vegetables production. The use of chemical fertilizers was tried but instead of increasing the yield of vegetable, it was reduced probably due to presence of more amount of available nutrients.

3. Jammu region of Jammu & Kashmir is considered one of the best province for organic ginger cultivation after Himachal Pradesh. The predominant areas for growing ginger are: Reasi, Arnas, Pouni, Tanda, Ghordi and Tikri falling in Udhampur district. It is also grown in parts of Bhadu Billawar and Basohli tehsils of Kathua district. Maize-ginger intercropping system with an application of FYM (20–50 tonnes ha⁻¹) is a popular practice in the aforesaid areas.

4. Use of pesticides in production of various fruits be minimised, rather neem based and other botanical pesticides be utilized to control sanjoscale in case of apple.

5. About 80 per cent of the cropped area in the State of Jammu & Kashmir is unirrigated, where the use of chemical fertilizer is very less. In Kandi belt of Jammu, it is about 10 kg ha⁻¹. As most of the farmers of dryland agriculture use organic manures and make less use of pesticides, so these areas can be atleast converted into organic farming very easily.

6. In irrigated areas, where multiple cropping is mainly followed, Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) and Integrated Pest Management hold the key for the future.

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Tables