“…The first is the immediate income gain by increased crop yield (Liu et al, 2015) and the second is the negative ecological disturbance and human health degradation over the long run, which far outweighs the first effect (Antle and Pingali, 1994;Pimentel, 1996;Krebs et al, 1999;Tilman et al, 2001;Atreya, 2008;Pingali, 2012). Evidence shows that prevailing agricultural policies have led to this environmental crisis by favoring large farm size, specialized production, crop monocultures and mechanization (MoAD, 2014;Norgrove and Hauser, 2015;Devkota et al, 2020). As a result, assemblages of farm components are broken; nutrient and energy cycles are more open; pest outbreaks often occur; plants become more susceptible to pests; insects develop resistant to pesticides; often small farm-holders are marginalized or pushed out of agriculture (Dhanagare, 1988;Altieri and Nicholls, 2001;Altieri, 2004Altieri, , 2018; and finally, the high chemical input-based agriculture becomes unsustainable (Shiva, 1992;Wilson, 2000;FAO, 2017).…”