The State of Organic Agriculture
If I am being blunt here, organic agriculture is about much more than just growing crops without using either chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides.
I could say it's a "way of life" and of course many of you reading this may think that that is a tad simplified.
Let me explain.
It is a natural and even a holistic way to the very system of farming that rejuvenates, maintains and increases economic ecosystems and ecological balance by creating healthy and tasty food or medicine that have a natural fragrance and natural, healthy colour. It is very much appealing compared to it's counterpart.
Presently most organic growers around the globe believe in avoiding varieties, whether crops, animals, even seeds or plants. They use no chemicals either for soil fertility or for pest control, no chemical either for their growth or for their protection except the medicines that too only when the situation is very bad and beyond control.
How Does Organic Argriculture Work?
Organic agriculture is currently being practiced in more than 110 countries around the planet. The ill effects of agrochemicals used for last several decades have impacted the minds of consumers in different countries who are now buying or willing to purchase organic food, even at premium pricing.
Believe it or not but policy makers are now promoting organic agriculture for multiple different reasons such as soil health, sustaining rural economy and bettering the environment. The global organic area is estimated at 26 million hectare with over sixty standards and over three hundred certification bodies.
The world organic market is estimated at $28 billion (USD).
The certified organic area in a large country like India is estimated at 3.0 million hectare but non-certified area appear to cover even more.
This is incredible news.
The History Of Organic Argriculture
Organic agriculture was practiced in India since the beginning of time it feels. It still continues to grow in a sort of revolutionary manner and it continues as such under the guise of the Green Revolution. It is believed to have been introduced in this country in the mid 1960's.
Even ancient Indian books talk about and reveal organic methods used many years ago. Literature such as the Rigveda and Kautilya.
It was the British who were called in by the Indian farmers to help with organic agriculture. Sir Albert Howard was the first industrial agriculturist who was brought in to India by the British to teach the Indian farmers the use of agrochemicals.
In a strange turn of events he ended up learning the organic agriculture from Indian farmers, developed the Indore process and went on to establish the symbiotic fungal bridge between the humus in the soil and the sap of the plants through the mycorrhizal associations. He wrote in his, An Agricultural Testament, “Since industrial revolution, agriculture has become unbalance, the land is in revolt, diseases of all kinds are on the increase, the nature is removing the worn out soil by erosion.”
Organic agriculture is in my estimation a move in the right direction and more profitable when looking at macroeconomic indicators.
