Organic Farming

  • Organic farming is a type of agriculture or farming which avoids the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, and livestock feed additives.
  • Organic farming systems rely on crop rotation, crop residues, animal manures, legumes, green manure, off-farm organic wastes and bio-fertilizers, mechanical cultivation, mineral bearing rocks.
  • All kinds of agricultural products can be produced organically, including grains, meat, dairy, eggs, fibres such as cotton, jute, flowers etc. Thus organic farming creates a sustainable lifestyle for generations to come.
Sikkim is the first state in the world that is 100% organic. All of its farmland is certified organic. The policy implemented a phase-out of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and achieved a total ban on sale and use of chemical pesticides in the state. The transition has benefitted more than 66,000 farming families.

Organic farmers build healthy soils by nourishing the living component of the soil, the microbial inhabitants that release, transform, and transfer nutrients. Soil organic matter contributes to good soil structure and water-holding capacity.Ecological Benefits of Organic Farming

  • Organic farmers feed soil biota and build soil organic matter with cover crops, compost, and biologically based soil amendments. These produce healthy plants that are better able to resist disease and insect predation. Organic farmers’ primary strategy in controlling pests and diseases is prevention through good plant nutrition and management.
  • Organic farmers use cover crops and sophisticated crop rotations to change the field ecology, effectively disrupting habitat for weeds, insects, and disease organisms.
    • Weeds are controlled through crop rotation, mechanical tillage, and hand-weeding, as well as through cover crops, mulches, flame weeding, and other management methods.
  • Organic farms can support substantially higher levels of wildlife especially in low lands and where animals can roam in pastures or graze on grassland. Not only does wildlife benefit, but entire ecosystems and ground water are improved by simply following organic farming methods.