Organic farming: For sustainable production and environmental protection

Abstract

Organic farming, an age old and traditional agriculture system of India is being practiced by several lakh farmers in our country. However it requires scientific out look to get fruitful results. High cost of chemical fertilizers and indiscriminate use of pesticides has already resulted in environmental pollution. This inturn affected the human health, biodiversity and soil health. Farming community is enthusiastic to use chemical fertilizers instead of organic manures as their preparation is time consuming and laborious. The chemical fertilizers can supply 2-3 nutrients while crop requires 20-25 nutrients for its growth and yield. The organic manures and bioinoculants can meet the crop requirements. Many scientists have come out with the efficient inoculants which can supply not only nutrients to crops but also protect them from pest and disease attack. This chapter deals with the importance of different organic manures, microbial inoculants and bioagents in crop production and crop protection.