Organic Cultivation of Exotic & Traditional Vegetables under Inhana Rational Farming Technology – A Case Study from West Bengal, India

Abstract

Food quality and food safety are the two important criteria that are gaining attention among the consumers. Conventionally grown foods have immensely adverse health effects due to the presence of pesticide residue, higher nitrate content, heavy metals, hormones and antibiotic residue. Hence, the popularity of organically grown foods is increasing day by day owing to their nutritional and health benefits. In the present study, Inhana Rational Farming (IRF), Technology a comprehensive package of practice, for sustainable organic farming was adopted to study its potential towards production of traditional as well as exotic vegetables in the new alluvial zone of West Bengal under hot moist sub humid agro-climatic condition. Fifteen different exotic and traditional vegetables viz. lettuce (variety : Cos Rusty, Iceberg and Sangria), Chinese pak choi, red cabbage, horse radish, radish, tomato, pumpkin, bitter gourd, okra, cauliflower, onion, brinjal, amaranthus, French bean, and coriander were taken under the study to evaluate their growth and productivity under organic farming. The results showed that it is possible to grow all the types of vegetables be it general or the exotic ones through the adoption of IRF Technology. This is because adoption of this technology helped in getting competitive crop productivity under organic management, that too in the very first year, when compared with conventional practice. The results might have been influenced by the intense plant health management approach under this technology driven by the potentized and energized Inhana 'Energy' Solutions as well as soil health management through the application of on-farm produced Novcom compost that embodies a very high population of self-generated microbes in the order of 10 16 c.f.u. per gm moist compost. More importantly, 36 families were enrolled for blind taste test, and the results concluded better taste and longer shelf life in respect of the organic vegetables

Tea Quality and Value-Added Marketing Potential of Safe and Sustainable Tea in Indian Domestic Market: Consumers Choice for Conventional vis-a-vis Sustainable Tea

“…To the producer, sustainable means this unique product without any crop loss or hike in COP. This is because the adoption of IRF Technology enables natural reduction in the chemical dependency, which increases the competiveness of the end product [8].…”