Diversification and organic farming

Diversification means two things: changing the cropping pattern (growing a wider range of crops), and shifting some workers from crop farming to allied activities and non-farm work. It reduces the risk of depending on one crop, and gives work in the season when there is no rabi crop.

Important areas:

• Animal husbandry: more than 70 million people earn a living from livestock. Poultry makes up the largest share of livestock (61 per cent). Thanks to Operation Flood, a programme of milk cooperatives, milk production has risen about twelve times since independence.
• Fisheries: inland fishing (rivers, lakes, ponds) gives about 75 per cent of the value of fish production, and marine fishing about 25 per cent.
• Horticulture (fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices): nearly one-third of the value of agricultural output, and about 6 per cent of GDP.
• Information technology spreads information on prices, weather and new technology to farmers.

Organic farming uses no chemical fertilisers or pesticides; it relies on local, natural inputs. Its benefits:

• inputs are cheaper and made locally;
• organic produce can be exported at good prices;
• the food is more nutritious and free of pesticides;
• it needs more labour, so it creates jobs.

Its limitations: yields are lower in the early years (where high-yielding varieties might give 1,000 quintals, organic farming may give only 400-600), and organic produce has a shorter shelf life.