Organic Framing

Ethics of Organic Farming

• Chemicalisation, excess irrigation, depletion of soil moisture, depletion of organic carbon and organic matter content in soil, burning/wasting of biomass, soil erosion or allowing the soil to dry etc., are all against the ethics of OF.
• OF is not a goal to be attained. It is an ongoing process. It is a journey rather than a destination.
• According Lampkin (1990): Organic agriculture is a production system, which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetic compounded fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators and livestock feed additives. To the maximum extent feasible, organic farming system relies on crop rotations, crop residues, animal manures, legumes, green manures, off-farm organic wastes and aspects of biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and tilth, to supply plant nutrients and to control insects, weeds and other pests.
• According to IFOAM: The role of organic agriculture whether in farming, processing, distribution or consumption is to sustain and enhance the health of ecosystem and organisms from the smallest of the soil to human beings.
• The primary goal of OA is to optimize the health and production of inter dependent communities of soil life, plant, animals and people.
• According to Codex Alimentarius (Food code) Commission (CAC), OA is a holistic food production management system, which promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity.
• OA is often termed as knowledge based rather than input based.
• India needs nutritional security besides food security.
• India stands 124th in the developmental index because of poor nutrition.
• Organic foods and vegetables contain 40% antioxidants and beneficial compounds and 90 % more of these compounds are in organic milk. Organic foods are more nutritious than other foods.
• Albert Howard sited several examples of good nutritive values of organic food in his book "An Agricultural Testament”
• OA is farming system devoid of chemical inputs, in which the biological potential of the soil and underground water resources are conserved and protected from the natural and human induced degradation or depletion by adapting suitable cropping models including agro forestry and methods of organic replenishment; besides natural and biological means are used for pest and disease management by which the soil life and beneficial interactions are stimulated and sustained.
• OF is a matter of giving back to nature what we tale from it (Fantilanan, 1990). It is safe, inexpensive, profitable and sensible. OF does not totally excludes the elements of modern agriculture.
• Different terms by diff people: i) Ecofriendly farming (farming in relation to ecosystem) ii) Biological farming (farming in relation to biological diversity), iii) Biodyanamic farming (biologically dynamic and ecologically sound and sustainable), iv) Macrobiotic agriculture (agriculture in relation to macro fauna), v) Natural farming etc., (based on natural farming which alone are sustainable).
• OA has three principles, It must be
1. Ecologically sound
2. Economically feasible and
3. Socially acceptable.
• Till 20 th century OF was not alternative, it was a way of life. Till today in many of the poor nations, OF is a way of life as much as it is a method of farming.
• OF is not a philosophy but a means of achieving sustainability in agriculture.