Question

Explain the integrated farming as successfully practiced by Ramesh C. Dargar a farmer in Sonepat (Haryana).

Answer 1

Hint: Integrated farming, also known as mixed farming, is a farming system with concurrent activities involving crops and animals. The main function of integrated farming is that the farming components support one another, hence reducing external inputs.

Complete Answer:
- The integrated farming system is a generally used term to explain a more integrated approach to farming compared to monoculture approaches. It refers to agricultural systems that incorporate livestock and crop production or to integrate fish and livestock. And sometimes may be known as integrated biosystems.
- In this system, an interrelated set of enterprises is used so that the waste from one constituent becomes a contribution to another part of the system. This reduces costs and improves production or income. As it utilizes waste as a resource, farmers not only eliminate waste but they also make sure an overall increase in productivity for the whole farming system.
- Integrated farming tries to imitate nature’s principle where not only crops but also diverse types of plants, animals, birds, fish, and other aquatic flora and fauna are used up for production. The integrated farming system is also a sustainable system that focuses on increasing farm productivity by rising diversification, resource integration, and creating market linkages.
- The new integrated practices include enhanced farming technologies like integrated nutrient management, site-specific nutrient management, conservation technology, use of bio-fertilizers, crop rotation, zero tillage, and the use of farm management systems like agrivi which helps farmers follow their activities on fields, as well as the whole-farm productivity and profitability.
- The integrated farming system came up to introduce a change in farming techniques for maximum production in the cropping patterns and ensure the best possible utilization of resources. Farm waste is recycled for productive purposes in the integrated system. A judicious mix of agricultural enterprises like dairy, poultry, piggery, fishery, sericulture, etc. which are suited to the given agro-climatic conditions and socio-economic status of the farmers can take wealth to the farming operations.

Note: An example of integrated farming might be fish and livestock cultivation along with common farming practices that support each other. The fishes can be fed with the residuary materials of farms such as leaves, stalks, or other waste products.