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Provisioning ecosystem services income
extend comparison between organic and conventional
agricultural fields in Puducherry-India
A. Padmavathy* and G. Poyyamoli
Department of Ecology and Environmental sciences, Pondicherry
University. Puducherry-605014. India.
*Corresponding author. E-mail: ecopadma@gmail.com.
Accepted 12 December, 2011 |
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Agriculture supplies provisioning services- food, fodder, fuel,
timber, medicine and ornamental in ecosystem service
parlance. Management of ecosystem services is vital to
maintain and improve the productivity of agricultural
systems in order to meet the food demands of the growing
human population. However, conventional management practices
can severely reduce the ecological and financial
contribution of agriculture, which in the longer term can
offset the ability of farming to produce large amounts of
commodities for more economic return.
In
the current work, a novel bottom-up experimental approach is
used to quantify the economic value of
provisioning
ecosystem services between conventional and organic
agriculture fields in
Kuruvinatham and Soriankuppam villages of Bahour commune, Puducherry during September 2008 to
October 2010; we investigated 30 farms - 15 Organic and 15
Conventional agricultural fields with varying species
composition and degree of commercialization. Data were
gathered through interviews among selected farmers and we
identified 51 species utilized a food, fodder, fuel, timber
and medicine. Species retention is governed by species
relative importance. Conventional fields were found to be
less diverse with reduced density resulting in low annual
gross income. Thus it has less ecological and socioeconomic
advantages, as compared to organic fields. Practice of
traditional organic agriculture systems plays significant
roles in both ecological and economic terms by livelihood
improvement, biodiversity conservation, soil fertility
enhancement and poverty reduction. Therefore it is important
to conserve and promote organic agriculture to achieve
sustainable production and economic terms.
Key words:
Organic agriculture, conventional agriculture, provisioning
services, sustainability, Income generation. |
