Ecological principles and practices:

A) Sustainable Agriculture :

• Sustainable agriculture is the agriculture system that uses the principles of ecology (study of the relationship between organisms and the environment).

Principles of ecology

1. Network: all the living systems are interconnected, e.g., the food chain and food web
2. Cycle: all the matters cycle and nothing is waste, e.g., nutrient & hydrological cycle
3. Solar energy: fundamental source of energy for the ecological cycle
4. Partnership: among the ecosystems
5. Diversity: is the basis for stability and resilience of the ecosystem
6. Dynamic balance: of ecosystem

Components of sustainable agriculture

1. Land and Soil management
2. Watershed management
3. Nutrient management
4. Pest management (pests, diseases, weeds)
5. Biodiversity conservation
6. Traditional and Indigenous knowledge

B) Integrated Plant Nutrient Management System:

• Integrated Plant Nutrient Management System aims to optimize the condition of the soil, including its physical, chemical, biological, and hydrological properties, to enhance farm productivity, whilst minimizing land degradation.

Approaches of Integrated Plant Nutrient Management System

1. The focus for IPNM should be on sustaining the productive potential of the soil resource.
2. Soil and plant nutrient management cannot be dealt with in isolation but should be promoted as an integral part of a productive farming system.
3. IPNM requires the adoption of improved rainwater management practices (conservation tillage, tied ridging, etc), so as to increase the effectiveness of the seasonal rainfall.
4. The adoption of improved organic matter management practices is a prerequisite for restoring and maintaining soil productivity (improved soil nutrient levels, soil moisture retention, soil structure, and resistance to erosion).

C) Land and soil management :

Reasons for land and soil degradation

1. Improper land use planning
2. Improper water resource management
3. Deforestation and overgrazing
4. Natural calamities(landslides, flooding, riverbank erosion)

Practices and techniques for land and soil management

1. Bioengineering to control landslides and erosion
2. Terracing and contour planting
3. Cover crop and mulching
4. Conservation tillage
5. Water recourse management

D ) Integrated Nutrient Management :

Organic manure:

• Farm Yard Manure,
• City and house compost,
• vermicompost

Green and brown manure:

• Dhaincha (Sesbania rostrata)
• Sunhemp (Crotolaria juncea)
• Mung bean and cowpea

Crop residue management

• Conservation tillage
• Crop residue retention

Biofertilizers:

• Symbiotic bacteria for pulse crops like Rhizobium spp.
• Free-living bacterial for cereals, millets, and vegetables Brown manure under aerobic field conditions like Azotobactor
• Free-living bacterial for cereals under aerobic field conditions like Azospirillum
• Fern Azolla and Blue Green Algae (Anabaena azollae) for lowland rice field
• Phosphate solubilizing bacteria (Bacillus polymyxa, Pseudomonas striata), fungi and mycorrhiza

Chemical fertilizers: as a last option

E) Integrated Plant Protection (pests, diseases, and weeds):

Use of all the appropriate technologies to

1. control the pest population below the economic threshold level
2. Keep the use of chemicals to that level that minimizes the risk to human health
3. Keep the use of chemicals to that level that minimizes the risk to the environment

This involves :

• Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
• Integrated Disease management (IDM)
• Integrated Weed Management (IWM)

Biodiversity for Sustainable Agriculture:

It includes :

a) Diversity in topography

b) Diversity in agro-climatic feature

c) Biodiversity at the ecosystem, species, and genetic level

d) Diversified farming system and food system

e) Sustainability of the farming system