Step 1: Get Organic Certification
Getting the certification is one of the important steps in starting your organic farming. I am assuming here that you have your land to start organic farming. If you don’t have your own land, you can always take the land on lease or buy it if your budget permits.
To get the organic certification your objective should be clear. The objectives can be,
- I want to start organic farming to export the produce to other companies.
- I want to start organic farming to cater to the domestic need for organic produce.
Let us see one by one the procedure to get organic certification according to your objective behind organic farming
If you want to do organic farming to export the products, you will need an India Organic certificate. This is the symbol of the India Organic certificate
Step 2: Select suitable crop:
Only a few crops can be grown through organic farming, practicing organic farming results in less yield, it is very difficult to manage pests and diseases without chemical spray. These were some of the myths regarding organic farming.
Let us look back at the history. Agriculture started with organic farming. There were no chemicals used before 60 years. The chemicals used in Agriculture are the scientific inventions of scientists. During that time, people were growing all the crops following complete organic procedures. Hence, at present, we can also grow any crop organically.
Even paddy which requires a high amount of water and chemical fertilizers can be grown organically. Here is the success story for organic paddy.
However, it is always advisable to grow the crop according to geographical, soil, and environmental condition. Look around and observe what other farmers are growing. Keep a note on market prices regularly and select the commodity which fetches a good price and you can have good profit at the end of the season.
Step 3: Start looking for Markets:
If you have grown organic food at your farm and you don’t know where to sell it after harvesting then you will be in big trouble. Not all wholesalers need organically grown food. And if they are ready to buy from you, then they won’t offer a special price for the organically grown produce.
Hence, once you think about practicing organic farming, you must have a clear idea of who will be the buyer. In which market you will sell your product. Once have some sort of idea on this front then it will be very easy for you to sell the product after harvesting.
Step 4: Fertilizer application, Pest & Disease Management:
As we discussed earlier, conventional farming can be done using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. No doubt it shows results but also has an adverse effect on the environment as well as the human body.
Hence, to start organic farming, it is advisable that you should know how to make the organic fertilizer and pesticide at your own farm vicinity. Using organic inputs will not leave any residues in the commodity and hence it is safe for the human body to consume.
Let us look at some of the ways through which organic fertilizer and pesticide can be made at your own farm:
- Replace DAP: With the mixture of cow dung, cow urine, jaggery, gram flour, fertile soil taken from nearby trees or rivers can act as an organic fertilizer that can replace Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP). The mixture has a high content of nitrogen and phosphorus and can enhance soil texture
- Micronutrient mixture: Mixing neem kernel powder, gram flour, jaggery and waste decomposer liquid (ready made available in the market) can be a good micronutrient solution for plants and can cure all deficiency symptoms.
- Pesticide: Mixing and boiling the powder of neem tree branches or leaf and datura plants can form highly poisonous and concentrated organic pesticide. Once it is made, you can dilute and spray it in the field.
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