Organic Agriculture: Potentials in Managing Abiotic Stresses in Crop Production

Organic agriculture is gaining prominence world over, and about 57.8 Mha were organically managed in 2016. Agriculture can contribute to mitigate climate change by (a) reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and (b) by carbon sequestration in the soil. The potential of organic agriculture for both these effects is reported to be high. In organic production systems, the nitrogen input to soils and hence the nitrous oxide emissions are low. Application of organic inputs such as animal manure, compost and green manures increases soil carbon levels substantially. Many field experiments worldwide show that organic fertilization compared to mineral fertilization results in higher soil organic carbon and thus sequesters large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere to the soil. Furthermore, soils in organic agriculture capture and store more water than soils of conventional agriculture. Soils under organic agriculture are also less prone to erosion. Hence, organic agriculture production is reported to be more adaptive than conventional agriculture to extreme weather conditions such as drought and flooding.