Case Study of Organic Farming

Integrated organic farming is a cyclical, essentially zero-waste approach to agriculture, in which the waste generated by one process becomes the input — the nutrient supply — for another. This closed loop makes the most efficient possible use of available resources.

Ramesh Chandra Dagar, a farmer from Sonipat in Haryana, put this idea into practice by combining bee-keeping, dairy management, water harvesting, composting and crop cultivation into a single interlinked system where each activity supports the others, making the whole venture both economical and environmentally sustainable. Because cattle dung is used directly as manure, there is no need for chemical fertiliser on the crops. Crop residue is composted, and this compost can either be used as a natural fertiliser or converted into biogas to meet the farm's own energy needs. …