Publication | Closed Access
Integrated farming systems for Eastern India
10
Citations
0
References
2011
Year
EngineeringAgricultural EconomicsAgricultural ProductionProductivityFarming SystemSustainable AgricultureEastern IndiaSustainable Crop ProductionCrop ActivitySoil Nutrient ManagementPublic HealthAgricultural ProductivityAgricultural EfficiencyRecycled AnimalPlant WastesCrop ManagementAgricultureAgricultural HistoryAnimal Waste ManagementAgricultural SystemSustainable Agricultural IntensificationFarming SystemsNatural Resource EconomicsSustainable Production
Integration of different agriculturally related enterprises with crop activity as base, provide ways to recycle the products and by-products of one component as input to another linked component and reduce the cost of production. Seven farming system models with different combinations of crop, animal, fish and bird were developed and evaluated at the main experimental farm of ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna during 2007–10 for sustained productivity, profitability, employment generation and nutrient recycling for lowland situations. Crop+ fish + duck + goat emerged as the best integrated farming system (IFS) in terms of productivity, net returns (159,485/yr), employment generation (752 man- days/year) and income sustainability index for net returns (80%). It also added appreciable quantity of N, P and K into the system in the form of recycled animal and plant wastes. The waste material/byproducts of crop/animals were used as input for the other components of IFS to increase the nutrient efficiency at farm level through nutrient recycling. Crop + fish + cattle model added higher quantity of N, P and K over all other models. Growing crops under IFS with different recycled wastes produced 39.1% higher yield than growing crops in conventional rice-wheat cropping system.