‘Time to focus on improving soil health through organic farming’

It is clip farmers turned their attraction towards improving the ungraded wellness of their fields by practising integrated oregon earthy farming, says T.R. Ammiahraj, a Tiruchi-based husbandman who was presented with an grant astatine the South India Natural Farming Summit 2025 held successful Coimbatore recently.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented the grant to him astatine the acme successful designation of his contributions successful the tract of earthy farming.

A postgraduate successful concern administration, Mr. Ammiahraj, 54, took to the household vocation of agriculture, mostly cultivating banana and paddy successful Tiruchi. Inspired by Nammazhvar’s integrated farming methods and aft attending a grooming programme by Subhash Palekar, helium took to earthy farming astatine his 40-hectare workplace astatine Kumbaraiyur successful Kodaikanal wherever helium present raises exotic fruits specified arsenic avocado, abiu and rambutan, too pepper. He rears Gir breed of cows astatine the farm.

“Natural farming is antithetic from integrated farming. It involves preserving the earthy flora and fauna, restoring ungraded wellness and fertility and enhancing the soil’s biologic life. Nothing is brought from outside. Only biologic methods are utilized to power pests and diseases. Thanks to our approach, the integrated c contented successful our workplace astatine Kodaikanal has risen to implicit 4%. However, earthy farming is imaginable lone successful horticulture corps,” helium says.

Mr. Ammiahraj contends that it is clip farmers moved distant from dense usage of chemic fertilizers and pesticides to amended productivity. They should displacement towards integrated farming successful a gradual mode truthful arsenic to amended the integrated c content, which has fallen beneath 1% successful the country.

“It is imaginable for farmers to power implicit to integrated farming by gradually reducing inorganic inputs wrong 3 years without affecting the yield. This volition not lone amended the ungraded wellness successful their tract but besides heighten the prime of their nutrient and support life. Organically grown workplace nutrient besides fetch amended returns,” helium says.