Organic Farming in India - A Summary

Abstract

India produces a large variety of food crops including cereals, pulses and oilseeds. Diversified agriculture is the priority of the Central Government, and technical and financial support is being extended to farmers to encourage diversification especially in the areas of horticulture, floriculture, medicinal and aromatic plants, apiculture (Bee-keeping) and sericulture. Organic farming was practiced in India since thousands of years. The great Indian civilization thrived on organic farming and was one of the most prosperous countries in the world, till the British ruled it. Increasing pesticide residues in food materials, eutrophication of surface and ground-waters and increasing nitrous oxide emissions which are detrimental to the ozone layer of the atmosphere, drew attention towards the harmful effects of modern agriculture and environmentalists pressed hard for a more sustainable agriculture. An attempt is made to analyze the importance of organic farming, principle of organic farming, Organic farming in rural economy, consumption pattern and export of organically produced products in India.