Sustainable agriculture for climate change mitigation makes the earth safer and healthier

The frequent and rapid environmental pollution causes serious threat to biodiversity and also disturbs the natural ecosystem. Due to excessive use of chemicals during food production human beings suffer from a number of incurable diseases such as cancer, heart attack, kidney damage, liver cirrhosis, etc.

The word "sustainable" has become very popular these days and is used to describe many different things. Sustainability means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The concept of sustainability is composed of three pillars: economic, environmental and social, also known informally as profit, planet and people.

Nowadays, to ensure safe and nutritious food for human being is a burning issue all over the world. Most of the people prefer the natural food that is free of chemicals and artificial enhancements. Unfortunately, the majority of food we consume is produced by using a variety of chemicals and artificial enhancements such as fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, additives and genetically modified organisms.

This type of agriculture also uses a large amount of fossils, fuels and large machineries to manage the farm land. The world population is increasing rapidly and the arable agricultural land is decreasing drastically all over the world due to urbanization and industrialization. So, it possesses a great threat to food and nutritional security of the people. But "Green Revolution" and "mechanized agriculture" has made it possible to produce large quantities of food for the rapid growing population of the world. But this technique has some negative impacts on human health and environment.

Due to excessive use of fossils, fuels and chemicals, a large amount of green house gases such as carbon di-oxide, methane, nitrous oxide, carom mono-oxide, ozone and CFCs is being emitted in the environment. As a result, the environmental balance is greatly hampered and this causes "green house effect” which makes the earth warmer. As a result the annual average temperature of the earth is increasing and this causes rapid melting of polar ice caps. Due to rapid climatic change various extreme climatic events such as flash flood, drought, acid rain, salinity intrusion, earthquake, etc. occur frequently and causes serious economic damage and loss of human lives.

The frequent and rapid environmental pollution causes serious threat to biodiversity and also disturbs the natural ecosystem. Due to excessive use of chemicals during food production human beings suffer from a number of incurable diseases such as cancer, heart attack, kidney damage, liver cirrhosis, etc. Due to the above mentioned negative aspects of this technique, there has been a shift towards sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture is a type of agriculture that focuses on producing long term crops and livestock while having minimum effects on the environment.

This approach tries to find a good balance between the need for food production and the preservation of the ecological system within the environment. In addition to producing food, there are several overall goals associated with sustainable agriculture including conserving water, reducing the use of chemicals and promoting biodiversity in crops grown. Sustainable agriculture also focuses on maintaining economic stability of farms and helping farmers improve their techniques and living standard.

There are many farming strategies that are used to make agriculture more sustainable. Some of the most commonly used techniques include growing legume or green manuring crops, use of organic manure and pesticides, mixed cropping, crop rotation, zero tillage, alternate wetting and drying (AWD), use of improved crop varieties, etc.

Apart from these techniques there is a number of newly invented techniques used in developed countries such as cool farming, biodynamics, permaculture, precision farming, vertical farming, hydroponics and GAPs, etc. Last but not the least all these sustainable agricultural practices will help climate change mitigation and makes the world greener and safer for future generation. 

The writer is lecturer, Dept. of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh.

Sustainable agriculture for climate change mitigation makes the earth safer and healthier

The frequent and rapid environmental pollution causes serious threat to biodiversity and also disturbs the natural ecosystem. Due to excessive use of chemicals during food production human beings suffer from a number of incurable diseases such as cancer, heart attack, kidney damage, liver cirrhosis, etc.

The word sustainable has become very popular these days and is used to describe many different things. Sustainability means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The concept of sustainability is composed of three pillars: economic, environmental and social, also known informally as profit, planet and people. Nowadays, to ensure safe and nutritious food for human being is a burning issue all over the world. Most of the people prefer the natural food that is free of chemicals and artificial enhancements. Unfortunately, the majority of food we consume is produced by using a variety of chemicals and artificial enhancements such as fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, additives and genetically modified organisms. This type of agriculture also uses a large amount of fossils, fuels and large machineries to manage the farm land. The world population is increasing rapidly and the arable agricultural land is decreasing drastically all over the world due to urbanization and industrialization. So, it possesses a great threat to food and nutritional security of the people. But Green Revolution and mechanized agriculture has made it possible to produce large quantities of food for the rapid growing population of the world. But this technique has some negative impacts on human health and environment. Due to excessive use of fossils, fuels and chemicals, a large amount of green house gases such as carbon di-oxide, methane, nitrous oxide, carom mono-oxide, ozone and CFCs is being emitted in the environment. As a result, the environmental balance is greatly hampered and this causes green house effect which makes the earth warmer. As a result the annual average temperature of the earth is increasing and this causes rapid melting of polar ice caps. Due to rapid climatic change various extreme climatic events such as flash flood, drought, acid rain, salinity intrusion, earthquake, etc. occur frequently and causes serious economic damage and loss of human lives. The frequent and rapid environmental pollution causes serious threat to biodiversity and also disturbs the natural ecosystem. Due to excessive use of chemicals during food production human beings suffer from a number of incurable diseases such as cancer, heart attack, kidney damage, liver cirrhosis, etc. Due to the above mentioned negative aspects of this technique, there has been a shift towards sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture is a type of agriculture that focuses on producing long term crops and livestock while having minimum effects on the environment. This approach tries to find a good balance between the need for food production and the preservation of the ecological system within the environment. In addition to producing food, there are several overall goals associated with sustainable agriculture including conserving water, reducing the use of chemicals and promoting biodiversity in crops grown. Sustainable agriculture also focuses on maintaining economic stability of farms and helping farmers improve their techniques and living standard. There are many farming strategies that are used to make agriculture more sustainable. Some of the most commonly used techniques include growing legume or green manuring crops, use of organic manure and pesticides, mixed cropping, crop rotation, zero tillage, alternate wetting and drying (AWD), use of improved crop varieties, etc. Apart from these techniques there is a number of newly invented techniques used in developed countries such as cool farming, biodynamics, permaculture, precision farming, vertical farming, hydroponics and GAPs, etc. Last but not the least all these sustainable agricultural practices will help climate change mitigation and makes the world greener and safer for future generation. The writer is lecturer, Dept. of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh.