An integrated farming system: what is it? How does it benefit India’s small-scale and marginal farmers? (250 words) [UPSC 2022]
Model Answer Navigating Market Uncertainties: Minimizes Financial Risk: Crop diversification helps farmers reduce their financial vulnerability by spreading risk across a variety of crops. If one crop fails due to unfavorable weather conditions or market fluctuations, others can still thrive, ensuriRead more
Model Answer
Navigating Market Uncertainties:
- Minimizes Financial Risk: Crop diversification helps farmers reduce their financial vulnerability by spreading risk across a variety of crops. If one crop fails due to unfavorable weather conditions or market fluctuations, others can still thrive, ensuring more stable incomes. For example, farmers in India have seen benefits from diversifying with crops like pulses, which can also mitigate the risks posed by unpredictable markets .
- New Agriculture-Based Industries: Diversifying crops can lead to the establishment of new agriculture-related industries, such as processing and packaging, which not only help farmers tap into new markets but also create employment opportunities in rural areas. This strategy encourages economic growth within agricultural communities .
- Cost Reduction: Including legumes in crop rotations, for instance, helps reduce the need for nitrogen fertilizers, lowering production costs. This is an effective method to cut input expenses, which is crucial for smallholder farmers operating on tight budgets.
Promoting Soil Health and Sustainability:
- Enhances Soil Microbial Diversity: Crop diversification fosters a broader range of beneficial microbes in the soil. These microbes help cycle nutrients, suppress diseases, and improve soil fertility, which is vital for long-term agricultural sustainability.
- Boosts Agricultural Biodiversity: A diverse cropping system contributes to genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity, improving the resilience of farming systems to pests, diseases, and changing climatic conditions.
- Pest and Disease Management: Growing multiple crops reduces the risk of pest infestations and diseases. The natural buffer created by crop diversity reduces the need for chemical pesticides, promoting environmentally friendly farming practices.
Challenges and Policy Support: While crop diversification offers numerous benefits, challenges like market access, infrastructure limitations, and the complexity of managing diverse crops exist. To overcome these, government initiatives like the National Food Security Mission and Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture can provide the necessary support. Investments in infrastructure and increased research are essential to fully realize the benefits of crop diversification.
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It is an integrated farm system that deals with a unit of a farm, integrating diverse farming practices within it. Usually, crop production is combined with livestock production on the same unit such as poultry, dairy, piggery, aquaculture, and agroforestry (tree cultivation). Benefits for small andRead more
It is an integrated farm system that deals with a unit of a farm, integrating diverse farming practices within it. Usually, crop production is combined with livestock production on the same unit such as poultry, dairy, piggery, aquaculture, and agroforestry (tree cultivation).
Benefits for small and marginal farmers in India
Income diversification : IFS allows multiple sources of income and diversifies income; hence, not dependent on single crops, thereby raising overall profitability.
-Resource Efficiency: Animal waste is applied as manure to crops thereby reducing the dependence on external inputs. Water usage is optimized throughout the different parts.
-Improved Soil Health: Legumes and cover crops contribute to soil fertility; hence, lesser chemical fertilizers are required.
-Risk Mitigation: The crop failure because of weather or pests is minimized with diversification.
-Enhanced Food Security: It provides the farmer’s family with a well-balanced diet, and it could also be offered to the local community.
Environmental Sustainability: It supports organic farming, which is also sustainable and decreases the environmental footprint of agriculture.