Integrated Organic Farming System: an innovative approach for enhancing productivity and income of farmers in north eastern hill region of India

Abstract

About 85% farmers of the north eastern hill region (NEHR) of India are small and marginal. Hence, there is need for establishing package of practices in an integrated manner to enhance on-farm resource recycling, employment, income and sustain soil health. An integrated organic farming system (IOFS) model (0. 43 ha) was assessed during 2005- 2017 at ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam, Meghalaya (960 m ASL) with diversified farming components like field crops, horticultural crops, livestock (one cow + calf) along with perennial fodder crops, central water harvesting pond for composite fish culture and as a source for irrigation during lean season and provision for nutrient recycling. The productivity and income from the on farm IOFS model was compared with the ruling farmers practice-I (Monocropping, i.e. rice-fallow system) and farmers practice-II (cultivating about 30% farm area for second crop like vegetables after rice). The average results indicated that the rice equivalent yield (REY) from the IOFS model was 19. 8 t/ha as against 4 t/ha and 6.72 t/ha from the farmers practice-I and II, respectively. The enhancement in net income due to IOFS was 355 and 191% relative to farmers practice -I and II, respectively. The IOFS model could meet 92, 82 and 96% (N, P2O5 and K2O) of its nutrient demand within the system. The IOFS model was also replicated in farmers’ field through participatory approach in three villages covering about 110 ha area and 317 households during 2013 to 2017. After 4 years, on an average farmers productivity of various crops (tomato, potato, chili, carrot, French bean, ginger and turmeric) enhanced by 15 to 45% and annual income enhanced by about ` 15500 per house hold. Thus, IOFS could be a viable option for organic food production and sustainable agricultural development in the hill ecosystem of north east India.

An integrated organic farming system: innovations for farm diversification, sustainability, and livelihood improvement of hill farmers

“…While available soil N concentrations were measured using the alkaline potassium permanganate method (Subbiah and Asija, 1956), available P and K were measured using Bray's method (Bray and Kurtz, 1945) and the ammonium acetate method (Knudsen et al, 1982), respectively. While the farmyard manure (FYM) contained 0.73 ± 0.04% N, 0.24 ± 0.03% P 2 O 5 , and 0.98 ± 0.05% K 2 O, the vermicompost prepared in the model contained 1.74 ± 0.07% N, 0.69 ± 0.05% P 2 O 5 , and 1.03 ± 0.06% K 2 O. Nutrient balance was calculated by subtracting the amount of nutrients recycled from the nutrient requirement within the IOFS model (Das et al, 2019).…”

“…The IOFS integrates the management of all the production systems to achieve a sustainable result economically and environmentally (Manhoudt et al, 2002). An increase in system productivity and net returns due to the scientific integration of farming system enterprises, such as livestock, cereals, pulses, and vegetables, with the in situ production of compost or vermicompost by efficient recycling of farm resources was recorded by many workers (Ansari et al, 2017(Ansari et al, , 2023Das et al, 2019;Layek et al, 2020). The sustainable rice-based integrated farming system (IFS) in an irrigated agro-ecosystem reported that the cropping system of rice-pea-okra achieved a higher rice equivalent yield (REY) (17.88 t/ha), greater system productivity, and higher employment than the conventional rice-wheat cropping system (Ansari et al, 2013;Layek et al, 2017).…”

“…Different resources generated within the farm viz., crop residues (rice straw, maize stalk, pulses biomass, etc. ), weed biomass, vegetable waste, livestock dung and urine, and poultry/duck droppings can be efficiently recycled through composting or vermicomposting and subsequently can be used in an IOFS model (Das et al, 2019(Das et al, , 2021. The application of organic amendments, such as vermicompost, enhances the activity of soil microorganisms, thereby improving soil health long term, i.e., the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil (Pierre-Louis et al, 2021).…”

“…Meta-analysis results showed that the organic farming system has a higher SOM content with a minimal loss of soil nutrients and increased soil organic and inorganic carbon sequestration (Foereid and Hogh-Jensen, 2004;Tuomisto et al, 2012). One important principle of an integrated farming system is to reduce the dependence on external inputs, especially nutrients, to sustain the model in the long run (emphasis was placed on establishing the IOFS model in the villages by increasing residue recycling and the preparation of quality compost in a compost pit or through vermicomposting) (Das et al, 2019). Livestock components, such as dairy and pigs, generate enough animal manure, and the efficient recycling of crop and weed biomass helps to generate sufficient nutrients within the system.…”

“…), which can be recycled in crop production as a vital source of nutrient supply (Patel D. P. et al, 2014;Layek et al, 2023). The adoption of organic agriculture in an integrated farming system approach, viz., an integrated organic farming system (IOFS), which utilizes all the on-farm and off-farm resources judiciously by using the byproducts or output of one as the input for the other, can make organic farming sustainable and profitable (Das et al, 2019). Thus, the focus should be on integrating complementary and supplementary enterprises, such as crops, fruits, vegetables, livestock, poultry, fish, multipurpose tree species, and mushrooms, along with adequate nutrient recycling strategies (Panwar et al, 2021a,b;Ravisankar et al, 2021).…”