integrated farming systems (ifs) for livelihood security ... · the integrated farming system...
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BioQuest | Vol. 1, No. 1 (July 2017)
34
Agriculture has been the basic source of
subsistence for mankind over thousands of years and it
provides livelihood to half of the world population.
Indian agriculture is known for its multi-functionalities
of providing employment, livelihood, food, nutrient and
ecological securities. India has basically an agriculture-
driven economy where, agriculture and allied activities
contribute about 13.7 per cent to the gross domestic
product and the growth rate of agriculture is around 1.9
per cent (2012-13). Indian agriculture employs 51.1 per
cent of the total work force and it is the major source of
poverty alleviation, empowerment of the agrarian folk
and it is the corner stone of development for India. As a
result of sustained efforts food grain production has
increased from 50.8 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 265
million tones in 2013-2014.
The population of India has already crossed
1.28 billion and is increasing by 14-15 million per
annum and is expected to reach 1.37 billion in 2025.
National policies and programs are framed towards
meeting the needs of growing population. Thus,
production of food grains per unit area has to be almost
doubled from the present level. This could be made
possible by intensive cultivation in irrigated and rainfed
areas. The country has to produce more food and other
agricultural commodities under the conditions of
diminishing per capita arable land and irrigation water
resources coupled with increasing biotic and abiotic
stresses.
Need for more food and other commodities
have to be met through higher yields per unit of land,
water, energy and time. Fortunately, most of our states
lie in tropics and so are blessed with abundant solar
energy thus making cropping possible round the year.
In the scientific era of agriculture, cropping systems,
genotypes, geometry of planting and management
practices are designed to increase the productivity per
unit area per unit time, simultaneously making efficient
use of available resources and stabilizing yields.
Despite of scope, it is very difficult to increase
production in India, because majority (84.97%) of the
farming community belongs to small and marginal
farmers having only 44.31 per cent of the total
operational holdings, specialized farming may not be
viable and sustainable in the long run (Singh et al.,
2010). The average size of the farm in India has
reduced due to fragmentation, rapid urbanization,
creation of infrastructure facilities like roads, railway
tracks, dams etc. The small and marginal farmers are
unable to meet domestic requirements with the income
from cropping alone. With gradual decline in farm size,
it has become increasingly difficult to produce enough
food and other farm produces for the family. Further,
with the constrained horizontal expansion of land only
vertical expansion is possible by integrating various
farm enterprises requiring less space and time ensuring
periodic income to the farmer (Behera et al., 2001). The
integrated farming systems, therefore assumes greater
importance for sound management of farm resources to
enhance the farm productivity, reduce the
environmental degradation, improve the quality of life
of resource poor farmers and to maintain the
sustainability.
The integrated farming system concept actually
follows the famous sayings of Lord Buddha, “The wise
live without injuring nature is as the bee drinks honey
without harming the flower”. Integrated farming system
is an “Agriculture that is sustainable and sufficiently
Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) for livelihood security of Indian
farmers
Vinodakumar SN1*, Desai BK
2, Singh BK
1, Hazarika U
1, Veeranna D
1
1Central Muga Eri Research and Training Institute, Central Silk Board, Jorhat, Assam (India)
2Department of Agronomy, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, Karnataka, (India)
* Corresponding author email: [email protected]
BioQuest | Vol. 1, No. 1 (July 2017)
35
productive and allows the welfare of man, animal and
plant”. Integrated farming system approach is not only a
reliable way of obtaining fairly high productivity with
substantial fertilizer economy but also concept of
ecological soundness leading to sustainable agriculture
and also deriving maximum compatibility and
replenishment of organic matter by way of proper
recycling of organic residues/ wastes obtained through
integration of enterprise like fishery, poultry, goat,
milch animal, mushroom and sericultural activities
(Swaminathan, 1987).
Most of the farming systems in India used to
rely on organic matter recycling for maintaining soil
productivity. Livestock have played a key role in these
processes. Existing farming systems across the country
indicates existence of 19 predominant farming systems
- a majority of them (85%) have crop + livestock as the
important components. The cycling of biomass (natural
vegetation and crop residues) by animals (cattle, sheep
and goat) through their excreta (manure and urine) that
fertilizes the soil is important in arid and semi arid
environments. The viability of these systems requires
that animals are kept and maintained in good rainfall
years with the fodder produced in the system and sold
during years of poor rainfall and crop production to get
some cash for expenses.
The challenges of food security are intimately
related to those of environmental and ecological
security. The present predicament demands a
continuous increase in productivity and total output,
while ensuring that the quality of resource base is
maintained and enhanced. The major lacuna in the past
approaches has been that conservation and production
strategies were independent of each other. Integration
of conservation and production strategies taking into
account the socio-economic realities of the farming
systems by adopting integrated farming system
approach is highly desirable. The present agricultural
scenario of the country demands the development of
need based and location specific farming system
models. Therefore, there is an urgent need to intensify
and diversify the crop enterprise with livestock to
ensure food and livelihood security of resource poor
farmer.
Integrated farming systems gave 6 - 8 fold
increase in net returns in improved farming systems
with value of household consumption (produced within
farm) increasing by 51.4 per cent. The per day profit of
marginal and small households can be increased by 69.2
per cent. If IFS models and allied farming system
packages are planned in proper way it gives monthly
net income of Rs. 25,000 ha-1
in irrigated and Rs.
10,000 ha-1
in rainfed systems for marginal and small
farmers (Singh et al., 2010). The above factors have
inevitably accelerated the process of integrating
livestock into crop production, as the crop residues as
feed and manure as nutrient source are becoming
increasingly valuable. However, the challenge of
assuring the sustainability of the integrated farming
system is how to integrate animal production with crop
production.
Various types of farming systems are being
adopted by the farmers of India. However, scientific
fine tuning is needed so as to ensure linkage of
components for proper recycling, viability,
productivity, employment generation, food security,
sustainability, diversity and economic upliftment of
farmers.
Norman Borlaug, Norman Borlaug, Norman Borlaug, Norman Borlaug, the "Father of the Green
Revolution", who received the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1970, credited with saving over a
billion people from starvation, involved the
development of high-yielding varieties of
cereal grains, expansion of irrigation
infrastructure, modernization of management
techniques, distribution of hybridized seeds,
synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides to farmers.
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