Identify the benefits and limitations of organic farming.

Question

Accepted Answer

Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control. It avoids the use of synthetic chemical fertilisers and genetically modified organisms, causes less harm to beneficial insects, and is essential for sustainable development.

### Benefits of Organic Farming

1. **Economical Farming:** It offers a means to substitute costlier agricultural inputs (such as HYV seeds, chemical fertilisers and pesticides) with locally produced organic inputs that are cheaper, thereby generating better returns on investment.

2. **Generates Income through Exports:** It generates income through international exports, as the demand for organically grown crops is on the rise.

3. **Provides Healthy Food:** It provides healthy food, as organically grown food has more nutritional value than food grown through chemical farming.

4. **Source of Employment:** It generates more employment opportunities, as it requires more labour input than conventional farming. India has a comparative advantage in organic farming because of its abundance of labour.

5. **Safety of Environment:** The produce of organic farming is pesticide-free and is produced in an environmentally sustainable way.

6. **Sustains Soil Fertility:** It improves soil fertility through the application of organic matter in the form of animal manures, compost and farmyard manure, whereas conventional farming erodes soil fertility through chemical fertilisers.

### Limitations of Organic Farming

1. **Less Popular:** It needs to be popularised by creating awareness and willingness on the part of farmers to adopt the new technology, which requires an appropriate agricultural policy.

2. **Lack of Infrastructure and Marketing Facilities:** Organic farming faces problems of inadequate infrastructure and marketing facilities.

3. **Low Yield:** Its yield is lesser in the initial years as compared to modern agricultural farming, so small and marginal farmers find it difficult to adapt to large-scale production.

4. **Shorter Shelf Life:** Organic produce has a shorter shelf life as compared to sprayed produce.

5. **Limited Choice of Crops:** The choice in the production of off-season crops is quite limited.

In spite of these limitations, organic farming helps in the sustainable development of agriculture, and India has a clear advantage in producing organic products for both domestic and international markets.