In this article general overview of research progress in the field of organic agriculture in India was given. This include revalidation of traditional organic practices, invent/discover and commercial production technology for organic inputs and research on organic systems. Some of the future directions of organic research in Indian was also discussed

Sharma, Arun K.

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Organic Eprints

2www.isofar.orgInternational Society of Organic Agriculture ResearchNewsletter No. 14, July 2012Innovative organic farming in India  Text & Photos: Arun K.Sharma, Senior Scientist,  Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur-342003, India,  email: arun.k_sharma@yahoo.co.in website: http://www.cazri.res.in/int-corp.phpIndia is the seventh largest country in the world, and in terms of agricultural land, diversity in climate and terrain, and long tradition of farming systems, it has a very high potential for organic farming. Further, 68 % of the agricultural land is rainfed, and in these areas inputs of intensive agriculture have so far not been too much applied. Increasing export demands of organic produce such as cotton, oilseed, proces-sed food and spices compelled policy makers to promote organic farming in India.  Consequently, the Indian Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) launched a National Program on Organic Production in 2002. Since then APEDA is working as apex body for regu-lation of certification and export of organic produce, and produce statistics of organic production in India. Statistics of organic farming in India 2010-11 (Source: APEDA)•	 Total	organic	production	:	3.88	million	MT•	 Quantity	export:		69837	MT•	 Export	Value:	157.22	million	US$•	 Share	of	export	to	total	production:	4	%•	 Certified	area	(including	wild	harvest):	4.43	million	ha•	 Certified	area	under	cultivation:	0.24	million	ha•	 Increase	export	(form	2010	to	2011):	33	%In 2004, the National Centre of Organic Farming was established near New Delhi to promote organic farming by capacity building and control the quality of organic inputs.Fig	1.	A	typical	picture	of	an	organic	farming	system	in	a	medium	rainfall	area.	The	precipitation	is		500-1000		mm	per	year.	Long-term	research	is	needed	on	how	to	improve	soil	and	human	health,	economic	viability	vs.	sustainability,	and	lively-hood	support	to	the	farm	family.	Photo:	S.Subhash.3www.isofar.orgInternational Society of Organic Agriculture ResearchNewsletter No. 14, July 2012Research on Organic farming  Although research related to organic farming started in 1950’s, a majority of researchers hesitate to brand themselves as organic researchers and instead use terms such as research in eco-friendly farming technologies or conservation of natural resources. At most of the research institutions, work is done on integrated use of eco-technologies with chemicals. In 2004, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, ICAR, started a network project on organic farming at 13 centers all over the country. Almost all the agri-cultural universities offer some education in organic farming, and some   offer a full course.  Recently, Hi-machal Pradesh Agricultural University in north India and University of Agricultural Sciences in south India opened departments of Organic Agriculture.The current research relevant for organic farming in India can be structured into three major groups: Re-validation of traditional technologies, Development of ecofriendly inputs and Organic system research. 1. Revalidation and standardization of traditional technologies Here, traditional knowledge and technologies de-veloped during millenniums are studied and docu-mented by various research organizations. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and University of Agricultural Sciences are the leading institutes in this. One example is the utilization of   Panchgavya and Amrit Pani as a soil amendments. These produ-cts belong to the Ayurvedic medical tradition, where (indigenous) cow products (dung, urine, milk, ghee (cleared butter) and curd) are central ingredients, in addition to medical herbs. The products may be used to treat human sickness, but also as an elixir or pro-moter of soil health and plant growth. Several other preparation form botanicals as plant growth promo-ter or as biopesticides have also been revalidated and standardized. The beauty of these traditional technologies is the cost effectiveness, local availabi-lity and that they are socially acceptable.Fig	2.Honey	bee	(on	sesame	crop)	is	a	great	indicator	of	developed	organic	systems.	We	need	more	research	on	how	organic	systems	may	help	to	protect	and	support	the	bees,	and	vice	versa.4www.isofar.orgInternational Society of Organic Agriculture ResearchNewsletter No. 14, July 20122.Development of ecofriendly organic inputs  In this field, research is popular because it does not require a conversion period for a system develop-ment, it is linked to basic science and possibly bio-technology, there are easy funding availabilities and the products may be commercialized. Several such products have been developed by universities as well as private entrepreneurs.  Some of the examples are enriched compost (with natural minerals and micro-bes), neem or other botanically based biopesticides, and isolation of local effective fauna for biofertilisers or biopesticides.3.Organic system research This field is the most difficult and time consuming, and hence this type of research is conducted only at a few locations. One interesting work is a recent survey of productivity, soil health and economics of selected organic farms conducted by Ramesh et.al. (2010). One organic system has been developed for the low rainfall areas at Central Arid Zone Re-search Institute in Jodhpur, and aims at developing an organic production protocol for high value –low water requiring crops (Sharma, 2011). Crop based organic protocols have already been developed for basmati rice, cotton, tea and spices at various uni-versities or at ICAR’s institutes. In comparison to the rapid growth of organic production in India, research has grown slowly.  Possible reasons are that organic system research requires a conversion period of 5-6 years, which limits the interest from researchers, students and funding bodies. Further, significant climatic variations induced high variations, especially in rainfed areas in the response to the organic inputs from year to year. This challenges a logic interpreta-tion of the results. Variation in the quality of organic inputs further aggravates this problem.As discussed by Ramesh et al. (2010), organic far-ming may be economically superior in spite of somewhat lower yield levels provided that premium prices are paid. Without premium prices, organic farming is less economically viable.  However, bene-fits such as positive environmental and health effects of organic production are difficult to assess econo-mically, and subsidies for conventional fertilizers and pesticides may be ignored.  Many times the question is raised why organic systems do not compare too well with chemically based systems. Lower and less stable yield levels, especially during the 2-5 year conversion period, are often criticized. Replying such queries requires good knowledge and experience, which is becoming rare since too little long-term research is carried out.Organic researchers often have to face several questions while presenting results which diverts the discussion towards a debate on organic vs. che-micals. Some common arguments are that plants cannot differentiate between different sources of nutrients; that organic inputs are not available in sufficient quality or quantity; that organic farming is labor intensive; that 100 % organic food is impos-sible anyway given the present pollution status in air and water etc.  Often the debate takes over so that the presentation of research results is set at side, and very few researchers dare to indulge in such Fig	3.The	population	of	beneficial	insects	and	predators	like	lady	bird	beetle,	here	on	a	cumin	crop,	should	be	main-tained	the	year	round	in	organic	farming	systems	where	crops	are	grown	continuously.	To	achieve	this,	multidiscipli-nary	research	is	required.		5www.isofar.orgInternational Society of Organic Agriculture ResearchNewsletter No. 14, July 2012discussions. Instead, they divert their work towards integrated use of organic and chemicals, because this approach is regarded as safer and more readily accepted. Still research is conducted on various aspects as mentioned above by dedicated workers, who have reason to believe that organic systems have a lot to contribute to the current challenges in agricul-ture such as climate change,   high cost of chemical inputs, deterioration of soil health etc. Fortunately at national level, an increasing awareness about soil health may further support organic farming research in one or the other way.Referred papers Ramesh, P., Panwar, N. R., Singh, A. B., Ramana, S., Yadav, S. K., Shrivastava, R., Subba Rao, A., (2010): Status of organic farming in India. Curr. Sci. 98, pp. 1090–1194.Sharma, A.K. 2011. Organic System  in low rainfall areas for climate resilience and returns. Organic Farming Newsletter  7(4), p 3-9. NCOF, India. Available at  http://www.orgprints.org/20805/Further readinghttp://ncof.dacnet.nic.in/Newsletters/Organic_Farming_New-sletter/Volume_2/OFNL%20Vol%202(2)%20June%2006.pdfhttp://www.rainfedfarming.org/documents/seminar_brochure/27th_Sept/OPRupela.pdfFig	4.	A	typical	picture	of	an	organic	farming	system	in	a	low	rainfall	area.	The	precipitation	is	less	than	500	mm	per	year.	A	cur-rent	research	need	is	to	quantify	the	benefit	of	agrodiversity	for	climate	resilience.

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