PROMOTION OF ORGANIC FARMING AND ORGANIC MANURE PRODUCTION Contact address Department Of Enviromental Sciences Centre For Soil

And Crop Managemenet Studies Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Coimbatore 641003

Background
Organic farming is a system where readily soluble, synthetic fertilizer and biocides are avoided during cultivation. It relies on crop rotation, crop residues, animal manures, particularly vermicompost, legumes, green manures, and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and tilth. Organic farming is recommended because the present chemical and machine dominated agriculture practice has resulted in i) loss of natural habitat and species of flora and fauna, ii) pollution of ground and surface water, iii) damage of soil structure, iv) reduced fertility of sol, v) health hazards in food, vi) reduction in food quality, vii) waste of energy since it is an energy intensive system, ix) economically costly. On the contrary organic farming maintains the ecological balance, enhances soil structure, tilth and quality of food and is economically cheap. Tamil Nadu has total cropped area of about 6.63 mha with the diversified crops as rice, cotton, sugarcane, pulses, fruits, flowers and vegetables of which 10% of the area can be brought under organic farming with the available resources. There had been a decline in soil organic matter from 1.20 % in 1970s to 0.68 % in 2000. Organic matter content is usually used as an index of soil health, since it influences the soil in three ways, such as, physically, chemically, and biologically. Crop residues and animal dung are good sources of organic wastes to improve the organic matter content in the soil. In Tamil Nadu 200 lakh tones of crop residues and 300 lakh tones of animal dung are available. These wastes can be composted and good organic manure will be obtained. Composting is allowing organic materials to decompose under more or less controlled conditions to produce a stabilized product that can be used as a fertilizer and/ or soil amendment. Daily around 75 tonnes of municipal solid waste is generated in each block. From the bio-degradable waste (45%) 16.75 tonnes of organic manure will be produced on 60th day . Annualy 5000 tonnes of organic manures produced in each block.

Project Rationale
The awareness of organic farming is lacking among the farmers. It is the need of the hour to switch to sustainable farming from intensive farming. Organic farming practices gives the opportunity to the farmers to use all the organic resources available for crop production instead of depending only on chemical fertilizers. In the solid waste management, large quantities of organic wastes are not fully utilized. for manure making. Most of the wastes are either burnt or discarded openly. If all the wastes are fully utilized for manure making large quantities of organic manure will be available for use and the environment will be very clean. So a model is necessary to educate the farmers to learn things. By utilizing all the organic manures it is possible to supply 2.1 lakh tonnes of nitrogen, 1.2 lakh tonnes of phosphorus and 2.7 lakh tonnes of potassium. 3. Project Strategy Farmers and self help groups will be trained in 129 blocks of 9 districts (Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Namakkal, Perambalur, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore and Villupuram) on organic farming and organic manure production and establishment of vermicompost unit, model municipal waste composting unit and bio-inputs production units. The trained farmers / self help groups will start doing organic farming and organic manure production units as well as bio-inputs production units. This will serve good source of organic inputs in those areas. 4. Project Goals

To impart training on organic farming to farmers/ SHGs To impart training on organic manure production to farmers/ SHGs Establishment of vermicompost model units in farmers holding and municipal waste composting units and bio-inputs production units at block level 5.Project components

The project has the following components and the details are presented below the list of components. 5.1 Training on organic farming 5.2 Training on organic manure production 5.3 Establishment of vermicompost model units, municipal compost units and bio-inputs production units. 5.1 a Training on organic farming Purpose To create awareness among the farmers about organic farming and motivating them to adopt organic farming practices Objectives Organic farming area should be increased in Tamil Nadu Outputs More organic growers will be formed and organic growers group will be formed to get the maximum benefits through organic farming Performance targets In the first year around 10 farmers in each block will be turned to organic farming Activity In each block 100 farmers identified by Department of agriculture will be trained on organic farming and all the literatures on organic farming will be given to them for adoption. The interested farmers who have decided to adopt the organic farming will be given periodical counseling. Inputs i. Resource material on organic farming practices for ready reference Implementation arrangements 1. Department of Agriculture: Selection of farmers and self help groups 2. TNAU: Imparting training h Data sources and monitoring evaluation TNAU will monitor the organic farming and get the database on organic farming for different crops. Training on organic manure production Purpose To create awareness among the farmers about organic manure production and motivating them to produce organic manures. Objectives Organic manure production should be increased in Tamil Nadu by utilizing all the wastes generated in farmers field. Outputs More organic production units will be established at block level and large quantities of organic manure will be utilized for farming. Due to this organic content will be increased in the soil and soil health is improved Performance targets The farmers and self help groups will understand the science of utilizing all the biodegradable waste for agricultural production Activity

b c

d e

f g

5.2 a

5.3 a

In each block 100 farmers identified by department of agriculture will be trained on organic manure production and all the literatures on organic manure production will be given to them for practices. The interested farmers who have decided to adopt the organic manure production will be given periodical counseling. Inputs i. Resource material on organic manure production will be given to farmers for practicing organic manure production. Implementation arrangements i) Department of Agriculture: Selection of farmers and self help groups ii) TNAU: Imparting training Data sources and monitoring evaluation TNAU will keep in touch with organic manure producers and give advisory and technical support for quality organic manure production Establishment of vermicompot units, municipal waste compost units and bio-inputs production units Purpose To motivate the farmers, SHGs and NGOs to start their own production units at block level for organic manure production and bio-inputs production. Objectives All the farm waste generated will be fully composted and put back to the field for organic matter content increase. All the biodegradable municipal solid waste generated will be composted and make it as manure At block level bio-inputs production units will start functioning Outputs More organic manure production units will be established at block level and large quantities of organic manure will be utilized for farming. There will not be any accumulation of municipal solid waste at block level and more manure will be available for use All the bio-inputs will be available in large quantity at block level Performance targets In the first year around 5 farmers will start producing vermicompost One SHG will start doing the municipal waste composting in each block One SHG/ NGO will do the bio-inputs production unit in each block Activity In each block 5 farmers identified by department of agriculture will be given 50% subsidy to establish the vermicomposting units At block level one SHG will be identified and 50% subsidy will be given to establish municipal waste composting unit At block level one SHG / NGO will be identified for getting 50% subsidy for starting bio-input production unit Inputs i. Resource material for establishment and complete monitoring the process and quality control of the product will be done. Implementation arrangements i) Department of Agriculture: Selection of self help groups/ NGOs ii) TNAU: Technical support and quality monitoring Data sources and monitoring evaluation The Department of Agriculture will periodically observe the process, collect samples for quality analysis at TNAU.

6. Project cost and financing for 2007-08 (Rs in lakhs )

S.No Project activity Department of Agriculture TNAU

1 1.1 1.2 2 2.2 2.3

Training on organic farming Selection of farmers/ SHG for the training (100 person / block) Imparting training on organic farming to the farmers/ SHG and distribution of literatures Training on organic manure production Selection of farmers / SHG for the training (100 person / block) Imparting training on organic manure production to the farmers/ SHG and distribution of literatures Establishment of organic manure and bio-input production units Erection of vermicompost model unit in 435 farm holdings Vermicompost production monitoring visit by TNAU Establishment of model municipal compost unit 87 blocks Municipal compost process monitoring and quality control analysis Establishment of bio-input production units 87 numbers. ( one in each block) Training on bio-inputs manufacturing and monitoring Total budget ----------------------38.70 --------------------38.70

3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6

293.48 * -----------264.23 * ----------161.25 * ---------718.96

-------6.45

51.60 ---------12.90 148.35

* 50% subsidy

7. Implementation chart for the project Activity Training on organic farming Training on organic manure production Establishment of vermicompost unit, municipal waste compost unit and bio-compost production unit Months from the start of the project 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

8. Reporting The monthly progress report and annual report will be submitted by TNAU and by the respective block level officer. The final report will be submitted after five years or as the project extended by the Government.