INTEGRATED FARMING
Agriculture has taken a huge leap in the industrial as well as commercial sector. A lot of livelihoods all around the world depend on it. It provides food as well as financial security to a large section of the society. Farming is the universal occupation for the people.
Contributing 18.8% to the nation’s GDP, it is one of the biggest sources of income in India. It is not only an occupation but for some, it is the lifelong heritage that their ancestors left for them. The fields are worshipped as next to God, and the farmers as the ‘ANN-DAATA’. Therefore, many improvements are made in this sector. Many scientists are still working on various methods to improve the existing techniques to make it more efficient. Agriculture is equivalent to any commercial term floating in the market today. It is making strides to fulfil the hunger of the rapidly increasing population in this world. But still, many people sleep empty-stomach every night. For such deficiencies still pertaining in the society, scientists are working on more advanced versions of agricultural practices to get more yield using limited resources.
One such innovation is INTEGRATED FARMING. It is a multidisciplinary practice that involves various segments of agriculture and brings them together as a whole. It implies to the farming of crops along with rearing of farm animals. Not only it provides commercial benefits, also, it has become a high-income source for today’s farmers. Realizing the rising trends, many people are shifting to the integrated farming as their sole occupation. India is witnessing the rise in entrepreneurs in this field of work proving its efficiency. In today’s time, this practice has undertaken fisheries too as its branch of rearing. Agriculture-cum-animal husbandry-cum-aquaculture is a trending practice working its way up to increasing profits and managing the issues of the population.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Integrated farming has a simple principle making it one of the most efficient systems in the field of food security and production. It combines the methods of growing crops organically while utilizing the products from the rearing of farm animals and fish. These animals include poultry, honeybees, and cattle. Fish generally limit to the commercially important species.
The principle behind this concept is to utilize the waste generated in one sector for benefitting the other. The animal and fish wastes are used as manures such as fishmeal, bloodmeal, etc. The crops and the by products are used as meals for cattle and poultry while the dried or processed products are fed to the fishes. The nutritious water exchanged from the pisciculture ponds are used in irrigating crop fields after some treatment, enriching the soils. These cycles continue to benefit the three cultures well and yield results from all three at once. This idea of farming consumes less time as well as investment than usual.
It is a 3-dimensional idea that is completely eco-friendly and sustainable if proper resources are utilized. The farm is designed in a continuous manner with proper and efficient recycling systems. The crops are grown in a large or medium-scale manner with different infrastructure designs, suitable to each system. The large land occupying farmers grow their preferred crops on a large scale and open a poultry farm in some area. While some divide the land into agricultural units as well as ponds to rear fish along with crops. These designs involve plenty human labour to utilize the resources present and need elaborate planning and is time consuming to an extent.
In other advanced designs, horizontal and vertical farming techniques are gaining immense popularity. The horizontal farming techniques are somewhat the same as traditional methods mentioned above, just brought closer and connected by pipes. It reduces the man power and time consumed. Whereas, the vertical farming system is a new concept developed to enhance the efficiency of the operations.
Vertical farming system consists of the systems managed vertically to efficiently use the resources without any much human capital and time consumption on maintenance separately. The cultures are arranged vertically in tiers. This arrangement eases the working of the recyclables all around the system where ever needed. There are many designs in this concept. One of them is the arrangement of crops in a ladder form, in a triangular roof fashion (like contours). The animals are reared below and fish at the bottom. The resources are circled through the systems efficiently without much labour. It is very less space consuming as well as easy to maintain and handle. This example is a small-scale concept. Similar medium-scale ideas are also developed.