Sustainable agriculture

The process of growing crops and rearing animals for food and raw materials like vegetables, fruits, milk, fibre, meat etc. is called farming. Under the broad spectrum of agriculture, farming is considered a small category which involves production of flowers, fruits, biofuels, drugs, fibres, nursery plants, manure and leather.

The different types of farming systems practiced in India are:

Subsistence farming, Shifting agriculture, Plantation agriculture, Intensive farming, Dry agriculture, mixed farming, crop rotation, sedentary farming, Terrace cultivation.

The process of planting across a slope following its elevation contour lines. In this practice the ruts made by the plough are perpendicular to the slope rather than being parallel. Plants break the flow of water and prevent soil erosion, thereby making contour farming a sustainable way of farming.

Farming is very difficult in dry lands because of water scarcity and lack of soil fertility, so a method of farming was introduced to restore the fertility of the soil and was known as ley farming. In this method of farming, grasses were grown in rotation with food grains to boost the nutrient level of the soil. It acts as an insurance against crop failures due to drought conditions.

Should dig pits of 50 cm at a spacing of 3 meters by meters. They should be filled with organic compost and top soil before plantation. To get establishment of seedlings, cinnamon should be planted from June to July to take advantage of monsoon. One-year seedlings are planted. In each pit, 4 to 5 seedlings can be planted. The seeds are directly dibbled in pits in some cases that are filled with organic compost and soil. Partial artificial shade in the initial stages of cultivation is beneficial for the healthy and rapid growth of cinnamon plants.

In betel leaves propagation, stem cuttings having 3 to 5 nodes are used and these are planted in such a fashion that 2 to 3 nodes are buried in the soil. A single node cutting with a mother betel leaf is also planted. Apical and middle portions cuttings of the betel vines are used for planting. There are 2 types of betel leaf cultivation is practiced in India:

1. Open system cultivation using support plants
2. Closed system cultivation using rectangular structures.

Zero tillage management require different skills to preserve higher yields. It combines various farming techniques, equipment, crop rotation practices, cover crop, fertilization and pesticide use to achieve better soil properties. Crop rotation eliminates soil weeds, pests and diseases. By rotating the crops on a multi-layer cycle, pests and disease amount will decrease due to the reduced food supply. Cover crops are used to control weeds, increase nutrients in the soil and to pull mobile nutrients back to the surface of the soil from the lower layers by growing plants with long roots.