ACHIEVERS IAS ACADEMY

INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEMS

GEOGRAPHY OPTIONAL PAPER 1, Economic Geography: World agriculture- typology of

agricultural regions; agricultural inputs and productivity

GEOGRAPHY OPTIONAL PAPER 2, Contemporary Issues: Problems of agrarian and

industrial unrest, Agriculture: Infrastructure: irrigation, seeds, fertilizers, power, Cropping pattern,
agricultural productivity, agricultural intensity, crop combination, land capability; Agro and social-
forestry.

NECESSITY:
 Small farm agriculture (up to 2 ha) holds the key to ensuring food and nutritional security of
India and nurturing them in right perspective with sustainable farming systems are essential
for rural prosperity.
 These farms are characterized by low income, leading to smaller re-investment in farm
development, seasonal employment, higher dependency for market inputs especially for
seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and large machineries like mechanical harvesters, distress sale
due to low storage capacity & market price.
 These farms are also more vulnerable to weather vagaries like flood, drought and other
natural calamities and farming remains risky compared to large size farms.
 To change the status of these farmer categories, it is essential to enhance the income and
employment opportunities within their household (land less) and farm (marginal & small) by

ACHIEVERS IAS ACADEMY #1360, 2 ND FLOOR , 100 FEET ROAD ,9 TH BLOCK,

JAYANAGAR,BANGALORE – 560069 8880120120 , 8123379686, 9916082261 1
achiever.ias@gmail.com
 ACHIEVERS IAS ACADEMY
promotion and adoption of efficient secondary/ tertiary enterprises like animal husbandry,
horticulture (vegetables/ fruits/flowers/ medicinal and aromatic plants), apiary, mushroom
cultivation, fisheries etc.

WHAT IS IFS APPROACH?

A judicious mix of two or more
components using cardinal
principles of minimum competition
and maximum complementarity
with advanced agronomic
management tools aiming for
sustainable and environment
friendly improvement of farm
income, family nutrition and
ecosystem services. Preservation of
bio-diversity, diversification of
cropping/farming system and
maximum recycling is the base for
its success.

The essential components of integrated farming systems are keeping the soil alive and provide
sustainable support to farm and family through effective management of natural resources. They are
as follows:

 Enrichment of soil: Need based use of chemicals, use of crop residue as mulch, use of
organic and biological fertilizers, adopt crop rotation and multiple cropping, avoid excessive
tilling and keep soil covered with green cover or biological mulch.
 Management of temperature: Keep soil covered, plant trees, orchards and bushes on bund.
 Conservation of soil and rain water: Create percolation tanks, maintain contour bunds in
sloppy land & adopt contour row cultivation, Create farm ponds, maintain low height
plantation on bunds.
 Harvesting of sun energy: Maintain green stand throughout the year through combination of
different cropping systems and other plantations.
 Self-reliance in inputs: Develop own seed to the maximum extend, on-farm production of
compost, vermi compost, vermin wash, liquid manures and botanical extracts.
 Maintenance of life forms: Develop habitat for sustenance of life forms, minimal use of
permitted chemicals and create enough diversity.
 Integration of animals: Animals are important components of farm management and not
only provide animal products but also provide enough dung and urine for use in soil.

ACHIEVERS IAS ACADEMY #1360, 2 ND FLOOR , 100 FEET ROAD ,9 TH BLOCK,

JAYANAGAR,BANGALORE – 560069 8880120120 , 8123379686, 9916082261 2
achiever.ias@gmail.com
 ACHIEVERS IAS ACADEMY
 Use of renewable energy: Use solar energy, bio- gas and other eco-friendly machines.
 Recycling: On-farm recycling of wastes as input to other enterprises.
 Meeting the basic needs of family: Create and integrate components for meeting the family
needs such as food, fodder, feed, fibre, fuel and fertilizer (6Fs) to maximum extent within
the farm boundaries in a sustainable way.
 Round the year income for meeting social needs: Create marketable surplus and integrate
allied activities such as bee keeping, mushroom production, on-farm processing & value
addition, tailoring, carpeting etc to get round the year income for the family to meet social
needs such as education and family functions besides health.

BENEFITS OF THE APPROACH:

 Productivity enhancement: Farming system provides an opportunity to increase the yield
and economics/unit time by virtue of intensification of crop and allied enterprises. Many
studies from India have shown significant improvement in livelihood of small and marginal
farmers through IFS approaches.
 Income enhancement: Integrated farming system as a whole provides opportunity to make
use of recyclable waste material of one component as input for other at the least or no cost
at farm level. Thus there is a possibility for reduction of production cost of enterprises from
one to another and finally the return per rupee invested is very much enhanced. Recycling
also reduces market dependency for inputs.
 Soil health improvement through recycling: Residue recycling is an integral part of the
farming systems which is one of the most promising approaches of recycling agriculture
residues for sustainable development, the adoption of which paves way for higher input use
efficiency. Considerable quantity of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium besides micro
nutrients can be generated within the farm through recycling.
 Multiple uses of resources: Multiple use of the resources such as land and water are
essential to enhance the system productivity and profitability. Multiple uses of water for
household (washing) irrigation, dairy, poultry, duckery and fish rearing is the best example.
Small and medium size water bodies can be brought under multi-component production
systems using in and around areas which will ultimately lead to improved income, nutrition
and livelihood of small farm holdings. Integration of proper waste resource recycling in the
small and marginal farmers holding will pave way for reduced fertilizer usage which in turn
will have positive effect.
 Risk reduction: IFS approach also helps to reduce the risks involved in farming especially due
to market price crash as well as natural calamities Due to the presence of multiple
components at a time, price crash of one or two crop produce may not affect the economy
of the household. Further, it also protects against weather related risks.

TAKING FORWARD THE IFS APPROACH:

ACHIEVERS IAS ACADEMY #1360, 2 ND FLOOR , 100 FEET ROAD ,9 TH BLOCK,
JAYANAGAR,BANGALORE – 560069 8880120120 , 8123379686, 9916082261 3
achiever.ias@gmail.com
 ACHIEVERS IAS ACADEMY
 Focus should be given mainly on market-oriented diversification and livelihood improvement
by considering the options of alternative cropping, novel livestock systems and adding of
value to primary (raw) products.
 There is a need to move from soil health card (SHC) to Farm or Farming System health card
comprising the health components of soil, plant, livestock and human at household level.
 Initiation of National Mission on Integrated Farming Systems by converging the schemes of
crops, horticulture, livestock and fisheries to give impetus in promoting integrated farming
systems approach.
 Capacity building of stake holders (farmers extension functionaries) including skill
development supplemented with physical and technology inputs.
 Large scale spread of IFS concepts through front line demonstrations in farming systems
perspective will help to improve the households in holistic way.
 Crop and forage rotation: includes crops, forages and high value crop options including
vegetables, fruit trees, medicinal and aromatic plants, orchards.
 Introduction of farmer perception based location specific livestock components especially
small ruminants such as goats, sheep & poultry, pig with component technologies.
 Improving/ ensuring monthly income flows through product diversification (both in terms of
process and physical change of products)
 Integration of less land requiring activities such as mushroom farming, bee keeping etc in
the existing systems.

PREVIOUS YEARS UPSC OPTIONAL QUESTIONS:

 Farmers' suicide is one of the major agrarian problems in India. Bring out its causes and
suggest the remedial measures with special reference to Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and
Punjab. (2017)
 Land reform is a key to modern agriculture in India. Describe various measures taken in this
direction after Independence. (2017)
 Define agricultural intensity and bring out its regional distribution in India. (2016)
 Explain how modernisation of agriculture is affected by unfavourable institutional factors
with suitable examples. (2015)
 Distinguish between ‘agricultural productivity’ and ‘agricultural efficiency’ and bring out the
disparity in regional distribution of agricultural efficiency. (2015)
 Why has agro and social forestry failed to achieve its objectives? (2014)
 Define agricultural productivity. Mention the methods of its measurement and bring out the
disparities in its regional distribution. (2013)

ACHIEVERS IAS ACADEMY #1360, 2 ND FLOOR , 100 FEET ROAD ,9 TH BLOCK,

JAYANAGAR,BANGALORE – 560069 8880120120 , 8123379686, 9916082261 4
achiever.ias@gmail.com