Chapter 3.

Sustainable
Agriculture
The word ―sustain, from the Latin
sustinere (sus-from below and tenere. to
hold), to keep in existence or maintain,
implies long-term support or permanence.
 Sustainable agriculture is a farm system that mimics
as closely as possible the complexity of a healthy
and natural ecosystem. It integrates three main
goals.

1. Environmental health.
2. Economic efficiency
3. Social- economic equity (community)
 Environmental health
 Ecological sustainability is associated with genetic
resource base and bio-diversity. Increase in diversity at
genetics, species and ecosystem level forms the backbone
of a sustainable ecology. Several possible solutions to the
environmental problems created by capital and
technology-intensive farming system have been proposed
and research is currently in progress to evaluate
alternative system. Main focus lies on the reduction or
elimination of agrochemical inputs through changes in
management to assure adequate plant nutrition, plant
protection through nutrient sources and integrated pest
management and efficient use of energy and water.
 Economic efficiency
In an economic contest, the farm must generate
revenue, not always in terms of cash, but in terms
of kind also. Farmers make decisions in risky,
continuously changing environment and the
consequences of their decisions are generally not
known when the decisions are made. Variability of
yields and prices are major sources of risk in
agriculture. Changes in technology, legal and social
concerns and the human factor itself also
contribute to risky environment for the farmers.
 Community
 An ideal farming system will surely meet nutritional and
livelihood security of the farmers and sustainability decreases
the market dependency. It should have equitable access to
common property resources. A farm can be said to be socially
just only when it satisfy all the following options:
➢ Whether the farm is getting fair share of price.
➢ Whether it is sufficient to maintain a family well-being.
➢ Whether he get enough remuneration to purchase his food.
➢ Whether the minimum wage requirement is attained.
 Sustainable agriculture means, an integrated
system of plant and animal production practices
having a site-specific application that will, over
the long term:
• Satisfy human food and fiber needs;
• Enhance environmental quality and the natural resource
based upon which the agricultural economy depends;
• Make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources
and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate,
natural biological cycles and controls;
• Sustain the economic viability of farm operations;
• Enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a
whole.
 Advantages

1. Production cost is low

2. Overall risk of the farmer is reduced
3. Pollution of water is avoided
4. Very little or no pesticide residue is ensured
5. Ensures both short and long term profitability
 Disadvantage

Since sustainable agriculture uses least quantum of

inputs, naturally the output (yield) may also be less.
 Basic features and concepts of sustainable systems

1. Need to maintain or improve soil quality and fertility.

2. Production programs are designed to improve the efficiency of
resource utilization.
3. An attempt is made to improve internal nutrient cycles on the farm,
which will reduce the dependence on external fertilizers.
4. Efforts are made to improve biological diversity on the farm. This
will result in improved natural suppression of pests, and may also help
to improve internal nutrient cycling within the farm.
5. Farm management and marketing programs are designed to
minimize overhead costs and to increase returns, often by following
alternative marketing schemes.
 Problems of agriculture can be listed as under:
1. Decline in agricultural growth rate
2. Decline in factor productivity
3. Static or decline in food production
4. Increasing malnutrition
5. Shrinkage in net cultivated area
6. Increasing environmental pollution
7. Depleting groundwater table
8. Increasing cost of production
9. Low farm income
10. Increasing unemployment
Indicators of agricultural sustainability
 These help us to identify, quantify and evaluate the effect
of agriculture.
 This set of indicators provides a means of measuring the
economic social and environmental impacts of agriculture
and to help assess the effectiveness of policies and the
sustainability of the sector.
 In order to be able to make a balanced assessment of
agriculture‘s progress towards sustainability, social,
environmental and economic factors must be examined.
Indicators of agricultural
sustainability
 Indicators are able to show positive progress
towards sustainability.
 Indicators
are quantified information, which help to
explain how things are changing overtime.
Sustainability indicators look at economic, social
and environmental information in an iintegrate
manner.
Table 4.1: Indicators of key natural resources
in rainfed cropping system
Sr. Indicators Sr. No. Indicators Managements Aspects
1. Nutrient balance Organic matter- rate of change.
Nitrogen cycling- especially when using grain
legumes in rotation with cereals.
Monitoring status of phosphorus, sulfur and
potassium micronutrients.

2. Erosion Vegetarian cover- includes trees as well as stubble.

Soil surface cover – stubble retained (30%
sufficient to prevent wind and water erosion).
Stream bank,
Sheet and gully erosion.
3. Productivity, Water use efficiency—i.e., actual versus potential
yield and quality (in some areas the potential is much less than the
actual) (biomass/grain yield/net return), recharge
(dryland salinity and nutrient leaching). Pasture
composition—legume and perennial. Matched
animal versus pasture production—appropriate
enterprise selection/capability Maintenance of
genetic base/improvement
Sr. No. Indicator Sr. No. indicator management aspect

4. Soil structure Infiltration. Permeability/water storage.

Stability. Water logging Compaction

5. pH Change, Toxicity deficiency, Indicator plants

6 Energy efficiency Energy input vis-à-vis energy output of the

whole agricultural system
Sr. No. Indicator Sr. No. Indicator management

7. Biological Factor Soil macro/micro flora and fauna, animal health, plant
health (root growth and others) pests (animals and
plants)

8. Farm Understanding a good indicator would be the

management understanding of the farmers of their own technical
skills system
9. Precipitation Performance of rainfall in a year as % of normal and
its coefficient of variation Distribution of area based
on rainfall amount (dry: 0-750mm, medium: 750-1150
and 1150-2000mm, assured: > 2000mm)
Categorization of the amount of rainfall (excess:
=20% or more, normal: =10% to -10%, deficient: 20%
to -59%, scanty: -60% or less) Number of districts
having mean annual rainfall of 750-1250 mm and
moisture availability period for at least 150 days. Area
affected due to drought (slight, moderate or
calamitous)
 SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE RELATED
TERMS

Alternative farming/alternative
agriculture: These are essentially synonymous terms
encompassing a vast array of practices and enterprises,
all of which are considered different from prevailing or
conventional agricultural activities.
 Best management practices (BMPs):
They include such practices as cover crops, green manure
crops and strip cropping to control erosion along with soil
testing and timing of chemical applications (similar to IPM)
to prevent the loss of nutrients and pesticides.
Bio-diversity:
It is the sum total of all the plants, animals, fungi
and micro-organisms in the world or in a
particular area; all of their individual variation and
all the interactions between them.

Agro-bio-diversity:
It is a fundamental feature of farming system around
the world. It encompasses many types of biological
resourcestied to agriculture,
Bio-dynamic agriculture/Bio-dynamic
farming:
Specific practices and preparations that enable the
farmers or gardeners to work in concert with the
parameters.

Biological farming/Ecological farming:

It is a system of crop production in which the producer
tries to minimize the use of chemicals for control of
crop pests.
 Carbon sequestration:
It is the process through which agricultural
and forestry practices remove carbon dioxide
(CO2) from the atmosphere. The term sinks is
also used to describe agricultural and forestry
lands that absorb CO2, the most important
global warming gas emitted by human
activities. Agricultural and forestry practices
can also release CO2 and other greenhouse
gases to the atmosphere.
 Carrying capacity:
It is the theoretical equilibrium population size at which
a particular population in a particular environment will
stabilize when its supply of resources remains constant.
 Conservation buffer strips:
Conservation buffer strips are areas or strips of land
maintained in permanent vegetation, designed to
intercept pollutants and erosion. Placed around fields,
they can enhance wildlife habitat, improve water quality
and enrich aesthetics on farmlands. Various types of
buffers include contour buffer strips, filter strips, riparian
forest buffers, field borders, windbreaks, shelterbelts,
hedgerows, grassed waterways, and alley cropping.
 Ecological footprint (EF):
Term has been introduced by William Rees in 1992. It is a
measure of how much land and water is needed to produce the
resources we consume and to dispose of the waste we produce.
 Carbon footprint:
Representations of the effect human activities have on the
climate in terms of total amount of greenhouse gases produced.
 Good agricultural practices (GAP):
Broadly defined, a GAP approach aims at applying available
knowledge to addressing environmental, economic and social
sustainability dimensions for on-farm production and post-
production processes, resulting in safe and quality food and non-
food agricultural products.
 Natural farming:
Natural farming reflects the experiences and philosophy of
Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka. It is a farming method
which involves no tillage, no fertilizer, no pesticides, no
weeding, no pruning and remarkably little labors.

 Permaculture:
A contraction of ―permanent agriculture, the word
―permaculture was coined by Australian Bill Mollison in the
late 1970s. One of the many alternative agriculture system
described as sustainable, permaculture is unique in its
emphasis on design; that is, the location of each element in a
landscape and the evolution of landscape over time.
 Precision farming/agriculture:
Precision agriculture is a management
strategy that employs detailed, site-specific
information to precisely managed
production inputs.
Regenerative agriculture:
Robert Rodale coined this term.
Enhanced regeneration of renewable
resources which is essential to the
achievement of a sustainable form of
agriculture
"Leave the world better than you
found it, take no more than you
need, try not to harm life or the
environment, make amends if you
do."

Paul Hawken—
THANKYOU
!!