Chemical farming vs Natural farming vs Organic farming
Chemical farming vs Natural farming vs Organic farming
1. Chemical farming: Synthetic fertilizers, Chemical pesticides, heavy irrigation, intensive tillage and mono cropping system.
Merits: High yield, less price for customers, easy input availability and wells established market.
Demerits: Rising cost , unsustainable system health hazard for farmers and consumers, loss of biodiversity.
2. Organic farming: Farm yard manure, vermicompost, bio-fertilizers, hybrid or high yielding seeds, biological pests.
Merits: Chemical free, eco friendly, premium prices.
Demerits: Huge quantity of manure, yield reduction during conversion period, expensive.
3. Natural farming: Indegenous cow centric, mulching, intercrop/mixed crop or poly crop, local cultivars seeds
Merits: Regular income from intercrop, low production cost, less use of input, improved biodiversity and soil health
Demerits: More farm engagement, no established market, yield reduction during conversion period.
Natural farming: There are 4 major components in natural farming
1. Beejamrut: is a treatment used for seeds, seedlings or any planting material. Beejamritha is effective in protecting young roots from fungus as well as from soilborne and seed-borne diseases that commonly affect plants after the monsoon period.
2. Jeevamrut: is a fermented microbial culture that not only offers nutrients to the soil, but more importantly, stimulates the growth and functions of microorganisms in it. Additionally, it has the ability to boost the population of local earthworms.
In order to make Jeevamrut: Put 200 litres of water in a barrel - Add 10 Kg fresh local cow dung - Add 5 to 10 liters aged cow urine - Add 2 Kg of Jaggery (a local type of brown sugar) - Add 2 Kg of pulses flour and - Add a handful of soil from the bund of the farm. This ensures native microbes from soil gets favorable food in form of suger at a pH of around 6. The preparation is stored up to a maximum of 15 after that concentration of microbes reduces.
Apart from Jeevamrut some farming communities GhanJeevamrit and Panchagavya as fertilizers.
3. Acchadana - Mulching: Three types of mulching is practiced to reduce evaporation or deep percolation of water
Soil mulching: Soil should not be deep plowed because it can reduce water seepage by forming a hardpan.
Straw mulching: The crop residue from the previous season can act as a barrier for water molecules during evaporation and later can also act as a fertilizer.
Live mulching: Multicropping systems offer additional resistance to water evaporation, which ultimately saves water.
4. Whapasa: Whapasa is the condition where there are both air molecules and water molecules present in the soil. Thus, irrigating only at noon, in alternate furrows, may fulfill the moisture requirement. Difficult to implement, rarely practiced.
Pest controls in natural farming
Neemastra
Agneyastra
Brahmastra
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