In organic farming, different techniques are used to grow different crops. Most important thing is that crops must be grown in a chemical-free, pollution-free, healthy environment which must be good for adjacent air, water sources, land, soil, plants, animals, and humans.
Different plantation techniques are:
1 CROP ROTATION TECHNIQUE
In this technique, diverse crops are grown on the same farm to maintain soil health and fertility. This culture is known as Poly-culture. This technique is commonly practiced by organic farmers and restores soil nutrient levels without the use of any chemical fertilizers. Farmers grow different species of crops on the same farm in different seasons to revive their nutrient levels. For example, dense crops are rotated by light crops. Wet crops are grown after dry crops. Less pest-resistant plants are grown after high pest-resistant crops.
2 SOIL MANAGEMENT
After the continuous cultivation and harvesting of crops, the soil physical and chemical quality was exhausted, so in organic farming, farmers used natural ways to manage soil quality such as the use of organic bio-fertilizers, compost manures, and bacteria.
2.1 USE OF BIOFERTILIZERS FOR SOIL MANAGEMENT
Biofertilizers play an important role in soil management in organic farming. Farmers use natural fertilizers made from microorganisms such as bacteria, plants, their tissues, and different parts of the animal to boost soil defense mechanisms.
2.2 USE OF MANURE FOR SOIL MANAGEMENT
Manures are organic materials acquired from the decomposition of plants, their different parts, animal and human wastes. They are mixtures of animal urine, dung, straw, rice husk, wood chips, waste feed of farm animals, and wastewater. Organic farmers used these manures in farms to increase soil yield and improve fertility. 2.2.1 Major sources of manures are:
- Cattle shed wastes-dung, urine, and slurry from biogas plants.
- Human wastes-night soil, human urine, town refuse, sewage, sludge.
- Poultry Jitter, droppings of sheep and goat.
- Slaughterhouse wastes-bone meal, meat meal, blood, horn and hoof meal, Fish wastes.
2.3 USE OF VERMICOMPOST FOR SOIL MANAGEMENT
Vermi-composts are liquid bio-fertilizers that contain important soil nutrients. It is made of kitchen waste, animal waste, sewage material, food, and garden waste. They are used to increase and improve soil physical, chemical, and biological properties. After use of vermin-compost soil pH level, aeration, density, and compactness become outstanding. In Vermi-compost different earthworms and bacteria are used to decompose organic waste in soil, excite micro-organic activity in the soil and mix healthy nutrients in the soil at the same time after decomposition.
3 UNWANTED PLANT MANAGEMENT
Weeds are unwanted plants, grow with the main crops in farms and they rely on the water, air, and food source of main crops, that's why in traditional farming farmers concentrate to remove them permanently. In organic farming, weeds are managed by herbicides which reduce their population not to diminish their population.
4 ANIMAL FARMING
Raising farm animals in the field is also another important plantation technique of organic farming. These animals breed, grow and work in these farms. The farmer grows fodder for these animals and uses their waste as organic manure to fertile farm soil. They rise in the natural environment and grow without injections, hormones, or chemical food supplements.
5 BIOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT
In traditional farms, biota and microorganisms growth in the soil can be controlled by chemical insecticides and pesticides. These chemicals demolished their population in the soil. In organic farming, micro-organisms in the soil can be managed by herbs and natural compounds which only sluggish their population growth because most of them are good for soil life. They can easily decompose organic matter. That's why farmers try to protect them in organic farming.
6 SEEDS MANAGEMENT
In organic farming, healthy seeds play a very important role in maximum agricultural production. Farmers avoid those seeds which are processed in laboratories. In traditional farming farmers used HYVS (high yield variety seeds) to get the maximum output without any diseases. But in organic farming farmers avoid chemically processed seeds so they use natural chemicals to process these seeds to avoid pest attacks and disease attacks.
CONCLUSION
Whether a farmer opts for crop rotation technique, uses bio-fertilizers, manure or HYVS, the main purpose is to grow organic food and save our environment from toxic gases, harmful chemicals, and pollution.