Indian Agriculture Essay

The early civilizations in India, South America, Japan, and china practiced intensive agriculture and it is known that they utilized agricultural, animal and human residue as fertilizer (Howard, 1943, Food and Agriculture Organization, 1978). Many of these residues either were placed in pits or placed in heaps and allowed to rot for long period of time for the production of soil amendment. The first waste pits made out of stone and built outside the houses were found in Sumerian cities about 6000 years ago (Uhlig, H. 1976). India is characterized by a mosaic of distinct agro-ecosystem conditioned by its geological history, topographical feature, climatic regimes, rainfall pattern, edaphic nature, crop-growing cycles and growing season. These are wide array of farming practices in the vast and varied culture and ethnic groups which are the integral part of Indian agriculture scenario (Nayar-2008). Indian Agriculture was traditionally organic till the middle of the last century (1950). The green Revolution was ushered in …show more content…
To sustain the agriculture, it becomes imperative to take care of soil health and environment. Sustainable crop production is possible when the natural resources on which the production activity depends is not eroded or harmed in any manner, which will damage it or jeopardized production progress at any time in the future. Hence organic farming is the wise answer to the aforesaid problems (Bhattacharya and pandey 2004). There are brief mentions of several organic inputs in our ancient literatures like Rig-Veda, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Kautilya, and Arthasashthra. Mention of organic manure in Rig Veda 1, 161, 10, 2500-1500BC and mention of Green manure in Atharva Veda 11, 8.3 (1000BC). In fact, organic agriculture has its roots in traditional agricultural practices that evolved in countless villages (Bhattacharyya and Chakraborty,