Saturday, August 30, 2014

A Comparative Study of Organic Farming with GM Farming - Organic Cotton's Advantages

Organic cotton is that cotton which is obtained from non-genetically modified plants without use of any pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. As the use of chemicals (whether toxic or not) is avoided, its cultivation helps sustaining environment biodiversity and helps in balancing the ecosystem. 

One of the major drawbacks of non-organic cotton cultivation is its harmful effect on the health of farmers and excessive pollution caused due to continuous use of insecticides and synthetic fertilizers to get additional yield. Although the cotton consumption rate has also increased which calls for additional production, but at the same time balance between the nature and ecosystem has to be maintained.  

Organic Cotton: Image Source

In general, in a 100% cotton product, only 70-75% is cotton and the remaining percentage constitutes of thousands of chemicals, binders, and resins which are used in cultivation and product manufacturing. So one way or another, chemical consumption in our daily lives has gone up, in form of various products that we use every day, be it clothes, handkerchiefs, bed-sheets etc.

In organic cotton cultivation, untreated seeds or non-GM cotton seeds are used. As no insecticide or synthetic fertilizers or other poisonous chemicals have to be used, the soil must be nutrient rich. In order to maintain the soil fertility, cotton is grown in alternate years with cotton as main crop and red gram/ green gram/black gram, pea/soybean or maize/sorghum/legume as intercrop with crop rotation.

Deep ploughing should be done on yearly basis to destroy larvae or cocoons. Green manuring and use of plant leaf litter also helps to improve soil fertility. Weeding from organic cotton cultivated field should be done manually or hand-hoeing method should be adopted instead of chemical use.

Benefits of Organic Cotton
1.      In case of GM cotton cultivation, farmers and workers suffer from respiratory problems and skin allergic reactions. However, as use of toxic chemicals and synthetic fertilizers is avoided in organic cotton cultivation, health risks have reduced to certain limit.
2.      Organic farming plays a vital role in reducing environmental pollution as eco-friendly techniques are used for cotton cultivation.
3.      As GM cotton seeds are highly expensive and a very high hike in their price is observed every year, which increases the expense of farmers. But in case of organic cotton, seed price are constant and their yield is nearly twice as compared to GM cotton.
4.      It has been found that non-organic cotton final product which we are using in our day-to - day life contains toxic chemical residue which can be absorbed through skin and can cause allergies or skin rashes. However, the end products made up of organic cotton are chemical free and ecofriendly.

In a nutshell, Organic Farming is best suited for Indian ecosystem and Indian ethos. We might have an ever increasing population whose demands can be satiated by increasing the crop production by genetically modifying the seeds but we are not yet in a position to handle its aftermaths. When medically advanced European nations are still doubtful about the potential threats of GM seeds, it’s appropriate that we Indians stick to the conventional forms of farming, which have been tested over a long period of time. 

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