Permaculture Farming in India: Principles and Benefits

Table of Contents

• What is Permaculture?
• Permaculture Farming in India
• Key Principles of Permaculture Farming
• How to Start Permaculture Farm?
• Permaculture Practices in India
• Benefits of Permaculture Farming
• Conclusion

What is Permaculture?

Permaculture is a holistic agricultural and land management practice of creating self-sustaining ecosystems by integrating human activity with natural surroundings. It follows the natural cycle of our ecosystem in order to produce agricultural goods. It aims to reduce waste, promote environmentally friendly ecosystem, and prevent pollution.

Permaculture Farming in India

Permaculture farming is the practice of working with nature to grow crops without interrupting the natural cycle of the ecosystem. In India, permaculture covers less than 0.05 million hectares area. Now, more and more sustainable approaches are being practised mainly by small and marginal farmers. The major practices under permaculture in India are horticulture, floriculture, perennial and arable crops, domestic livestock management and related activities.

It works on three ethics:

• Earth Care: According to this principle, farming shouldn’t alter the natural ecosystem of our earth. We should preserve our natural resources.
• People Care: This principle is all about giving people all the resources they need to live.
• Fair Share: This is all about recognizing the need to balance the consumption and production to avoid resource depletion and exploitation.

Key Principles of Permaculture Farming

• Observe and Interact: Observe nature before making any decisions or changes. Try to observe natural patterns of the environment. This includes observation of landscape, climate, flora and fauna, etc.
• Conserve and Store Energy: Conserve all the natural resources for later use. For example, a collection of rainwater, the construction of farm ponds, and water-soaking pits for summer use.
• Obtain a Yield: Produce food, energy, and other resources from your land.
• Self-Regulation and Feedback: Try to adapt each type of feedback loops to maintain a healthy system balance.
• Renewable Resources: Use more and more renewable resources like sunlight, water, and organic matter, to fulfil the farming needs.
• Produce No Waste: Reduce waste and find new ways to use all the existing resources.
• Design from Patterns: Use nature's patterns as templates for practical design.
• Integrate: Permaculture is all about having things support each other and work together, try to blend different parts to make varied and useful systems.
• Small and Slow Solutions: Start slowly as making gradual changes and working with slow systems makes permaculture system much easier to maintain.
• Diversity: Planting various crops helps make a strong system that can better handle pests, diseases, and changes in the weather.
• Use Edges: The interface between different zones is often quite interesting. Make use of areas that might seem unproductive.
• Creatively Use and Repurpose: Never stop learning and improving your system.

How to Start Permaculture Farm?

• Understand your local climate
• Identify water source and its distribution
• Define access points
• Plant endemic trees and crops
• Integration of Livestock
• Develop farm economy

Permaculture Practices in India

Agroforestry: It comes from the combination of agriculture and forestry. It is an approach to permaculture that combines trees or shrubs along with livestock or crops.

Harvesting Rainwater and Greywater: Capturing and storing rainwater and greywater for later use is a fundamental permaculture technique. 

Cell Grazing: Under permaculture, cell grazing is the preferred method which involves moving groups of livestock regularly between different fields, pastures, or forests. The disturbances caused by grazing animals can actually give a better ecology and allow plants to regrow more quickly, when done responsibly.

Sheet Mulching: Any kind of protective cover placed on top of the soil to retain water and prevent weed growth is known as sheet mulching. It helps add nutrients and organic matter to the soil, suppress weed growth, reduce erosion and evaporation, moderate temperatures and protect against frost, and absorbs rainfall.

No-Till or Minimum-Till Farming: Minimum-till or no-till farming aims to leave soil undisturbed. It helps to retain soil fertility, soil moisture, and reduces the amount of weed seeds.

Intercropping and Companion Planting: Intercropping is the combining of two or more plant species into an area which have beneficial effects on one another. While, in companion planting, crops are usually grown on the basis of compatibility with each other. For example, marigold with vegetables. This helps increase plant’s growth and develop resilience against pests.

Benefits of Permaculture Farming

• Natural resource management
• Sustainable livelihoods
• Empowering rural communities
• Savings on fertilizers
• Reduce wastage
• Cost-effective
• Enhanced soil health

Conclusion

Permaculture farming is undoubtedly a sustainable farming which has a bright future in India. It increases crop yields and decreases the risk of pest and diseases which offers sustainable solutions to the farmers. By adopting permaculture practices, farmers can increase their overall agricultural productivity.