MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC CROPS (2+1)

2. Crop production standards

Seed / plant materials

• Only Certified organic seed and plant materials should be used
• If organic seeds and planting materials are not available, chemically untreated inorganic seed materials may be used until the period of organic seed availability
• Genetically engineered plants / seeds are not permitted

Sowing / land preparation

• Seed treatment must be done with biological sources only
• Proper spacing between crops must be maintained
• Uniformity in sowing dates should be adopted
• Maintaining the required plant population is needed
• Adopting summer deep ploughing for in situ moisture conservation
• Incorporation of crop residues/manures is a must

Diversity in crop production

• Marginal lands in the farm must be allotted to farm forest
• Crop rotation with legumes and deep rooted crops must be adopted

Irrigation schedule

• Dry spell for more than 15 - 20 days for crops should not be permitted
• Proper irrigation should be ensured at critical stages
• Avoiding excessive irrigation

Fertilization policy

• Maintenance of soil health to achieve sustainable productivity on long-range basis is required.
• Fertilization management should minimize nutrient losses
• No inorganic sources of fertilizers to be used for crop production
• Use of biodegradable materials from microbial/plant/animal origin is only permitted
• Split application of organic manures is recommended to apply 75% as basal and 25% at later stage
• Off-farm material usage is restricted The following materials listed under are not allowed for crop production
1. Manures of human excreta
2. Industrial sludges
3. All Mineral fertilizers
4. Manures and fertilizers with high load of heavy metals
5. All synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers.
The use of vermicast, compost of spent mushroom, by products from oil palm, coconut, cocoa, blood meal, bone meal, sea weed are restricted.

Plant protection measures

• Thermic weed control and physical methods of pest, disease and weed management must be followed.
• Use of bio pesticides / bio herbicides are only permitted
• Biological control through NPV, Bacillus thuringiensis (B.T.), Trichogramma etc. can be allowed.
• Pheromone traps / sticky traps are allowed
• The use of synthetic herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, pesticides, synthetic growth regulators/dyes, genetically engineered organisms and products for plant protection are not permitted.
• The preparations from Neem, Tephrosia, Propohil can be used as repellants and pest control measures.
• Use of copper salts and mineral powder are not permitted.