Need to Shift from Modern Agriculture to Sustainable Agriculture

Need to shift from modern agriculture to sustainable agriculture
Agriculture has been a way of life and continuous to be the single most important livelihood of the masses. The performance of agriculture sector influences the growth of Indian economy. Though the share of agriculture in national income has been come down since the inception of planning era in economy but still it has substantial share in GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
Agriculture including allied activities accounted for 14.5 percent of GDP in 2010-11 as compared to 14.7 percent in 2009-10. Not withstanding the declining trend in agriculture share in GDP, it is critical from the income distribution prospective as it accounted for about 58 % employment in country and also provide livelihood to 65-70% of total population. Various important industries in India find their raw material from agriculture sector. Cotton and Jute textile industries, sugar, Vanaspati industries etc. are directly dependent on agriculture. Handloom, spinning, oil milling, rice threshing etc. are various small scale and cottage industries which are dependent on agriculture sector for their raw material.
India’s foreign trade is deeply associated with agriculture sector. Agriculture and its various goods contribute about 38% in total export of country. Thus agriculture is backbone of our economic development. With use of modern scientific technology in agriculture, we become self sufficient in food grains production. As modern crop production technology has considerably raised output but also created lot of problems to us. Our natural resources are degraded and diminished. Quality of environment is adversely affected. Problem of land degradation, pesticide residue in food products, gene erosion, atmospheric and water pollution is increasing at alarming rate. Modern technology of agriculture has high exploitative in nature enhancing pollution and causing enormous damage to environment. Pesticide, which becomes integral part of modern agriculture, residues in soil contaminates our water bodies. Pesticides disturb the ecological balance. They kill number of friendly micro organisms, birds and animals. They also affect the human beings by biomagnifications. Due to overuse of such pesticides, some pest may appear which become resistant to pesticides. Emission of smoke and gases such as Carbon-mono-oxide, Carbon-di-oxide, Nitrogen-di-oxide, Methane due to burning of crop residue and from Paddy fields, results in decline of ozone concentration of stratosphere at rate of nearly half percent per year. Ozone layer in stratosphere protects the surface of earth from UV radiations from Sun. These chemicals when reach stratosphere, UV radiation break them apart and release chlorine which destroy ozone. If the ozone layer disappears, there will be adverse effect on humans, animals, crops and will brings about unpredictable changes in weather and climate. Carbon dioxide which play vital role in maintaining the delicate heat balance, determines the temperature on surface of earth. It is transparent to visible solar radiation, so allow sun light to pass through, but prevent infrared radiation from escaping thus effectively trap solar radiations thus produces green house effect. But its too much concentration leads to overheating of atmosphere which may cause for increasing climatic changes. Forests are being denuded for agriculture. Deforestation is estimated to be proceeding at rate of 1.5 mha per year. This result in extinction of genetic resources of plants and animals, cause soil erosion, floods etc. Various faulty agricultural practices such as improper management of irrigation water cause Stalinization, alkalization, water logging, depletion of ground water due to excessive extraction, pollution of surface and ground water with pesticides and fertilizer residue. Loss of biological diversity and erosion germplasm resources through removal of natural flora and funa are the other adverse effects of faulty farming practices. Punjab is adversely affected state due to these faulty farming practices. Geographical area of Punjab is only 1.5% of total geographical area of country. Even though it contributes about 31% Rice and 75% wheat in central pool. Thus Punjab has play key role in making our country self sufficient in food grains. But due to present farming practices, the ecological balance of Punjab is completely disturbed. The level of ground water table is falling at alarming rate. The rate of fall of water table in central Punjab is 73cm per year and average rate of fall of water table in whole state is 30cm per year. Out of 145 blocks, 111 blocks are declared black in Punjab where the rate of withdrawl of underground water is more than its recharge. The fertility gradient of Punjab soil is also on declining side.
Thus to arrest these ill effects of modern agriculture, there is urgent need to shift from modern agriculture to sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture is taking of meeting the needs of present generation without eroding the ecological assets of future generations. This is system of cultivation with use of organic manures, crop rotation and minimum tillage.
Management practices for sustainable agriculture differ from those of modern agriculture. In this system, tillage practices aim at reducing soil degradation, improving weed control and helping more decomposition of organic matter by using of modern techniques such as minimum tilling, zero tillage, stubble mulch tillage etc. This provide optimal conditions for beneficial soil organisms, thereby enhancing organic matter decomposition and nutrient recycling. Nutrients requirement of crops are met from organic sources. Green manure crops are introduced in cropping cycle. Crop rotation with legumes is adopted for building soil fertility. Biofertilizers are like Azotobactor, Rhizobium, Azolla, Blue Green Algae are used. Sustainable agriculture mainly depends on FYM, compost and green manure for nutrient supply.
Rain water is managed through water harvesting, supplement irrigation and reduction of evapotranspiration. Irrigation water managed by scheduling irrigation at appropriate time with adequate quantity of water without causing water logging, salinity and alkalinity. Cultural, physical and biological methods of weed control are preferred in sustainable agriculture. Weeds are controlled by crop rotation, tillage and hand weeding. Integrate pest control with combination of cultural and biological methods and use of resistant varieties should be preferred over chemical pesticides. Organic components such as microbial control agents i.e. bacteria, fungi etc. can be used instead of harmful chemicals. If it become necessary to control insects by insecticides, threshold level of insects have to be considered before making decision to spray.
Thus sustainable agriculture is a balance management system of renewable resources including soil, wild life, forests, crops, fishes, livestock, plant genetic resources and ecosystem without degradation and to provide food livelihood for current and future generations, maintaining or improving productivity and ecosystem services of these resources. At this juncture of time, it is urgent need to create public awareness towards sustainable agriculture development and it is responsibility of state and centre govt. to prepare a solid plan and take necessary action, so that our increasing food grains requirement should meet without disturbing Ecol