THE BENEFIT OF ORGANIC FARMING: the facts untold

The recent ban of Ghana’s vegetables on the international markets has exposed the unsustained technology in our system of food production. This ban has almost and nearly collapsed the industries that employs directly 500,000 farmers and provides indirect jobs and livelihoods for several hundreds of thousands of people who depended on agriculture such as vegetable sectors production, services and marketing.

So far there are three types of farming technologies; these are Permaculture (Organic) farming, conventional farming and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) farming technology. During pre and post Ghana’s independence, the technology Ghana was used too in agriculture was sustainable organic farming cum forest farming. Even though there’s lack of scientific studies on how organic farming fared in Ghana and existence of a few which even deny the environmental benefits of organic food production, there is no doubt about which food production methods cause the greatest harm to the environment. The fact alone that organic farming methods strictly forbid the use of all synthetic chemicals is enough to reject allegations about organic food production not being any more environmentally friendly than the conventional farming practices. The harmful effects of pesticides and artificial fertilizers have been scientifically proven seriously damaging to both the environment and human health. Pesticides do not only kill pests but many beneficial insects too including butterflies and honey bees, while some are even lethal for small mammals and birds. But their effect on the environment does not end here. The actions of pesticides and fertilizers penetrate deep into the soil reaching the underwater which is the main source of drinking water in many parts of the world including a large part of the Ghana.

Darsfield EarthCare & Farm-Tech Foundation (Darsfoundation) is an agriculture in environment foundation operating in across Ghana and we are working with farmers in rural communities to produce organic food and to add value to what we produce. Darsfoundation is collaborating with Rural Organic Farmers & Food Processors Association (ROFPA) and Darsfield Village Farms & Out-growers (Darsfarm) to produce and increase organic foods in Ghana and Africa to save the integrity of Ghana’s food security and the environment.

Darsfoundation’s mission is to provide technical, physical, advisory, managerial and financial means to help create a sustainable and healthy future for Ghanaian farmers, women and youths living in rural communities; for the current and future generations to gain control over their resources. Darsfoundation likewise seeks to assist the rural communities to gain the ability to develop their own land's potential and to open this potential to external markets.

As the above topic is pointing out, a healthy plant grown organically in properly balanced soil resists most diseases and insect pests. This was proven by US doctor and soil nutrition pioneer Dr Northern who conducted many experiments to test the hypothesis during the 1930’s. We are looking at the benefits of organic farming and facts untold in the tropics and to consumers.

We are looking at educating our farmers on organic farming hence there is the need to scale-up by training other farmers and out-growers, so as to meet the demands of the market with high quality produce and products in and around Ghana. Darsfield EarthCare & Farm-Tech Foundation would be focusing on capacity building and training, mentorship and coaching, lastly, on field and off field demonstration on the farms.

Firstly, capacity building of small- scale farmers (out-growers) is key to Darsfield EarthCare & Farm-Tech Foundation to development of organic farming and other agricultural profit centers or sectors in Ghana, so as to improve the capacity and capability to implement organic farming technologies into their agricultural careers in Ghana and across Africa. Farmers, after training are mobilized to come together as cooperative/ association ‘Out-Growers’ since we stand no chance in the face of globalization and liberalization individually.

Darsfoundation training program will be practical to farmers and cover key topics such good agronomical practices, integrated pest and disease management, managing post- harvest losses, and effective record keeping. The training will focus on agronomic practices, nursery management, crop handling and post- harvest management.

Additionally, Darsfoundation will provide support for all preliminary activities such as soil testing, ploughing, fertilization and other activities required for the preparation of the soil for planting. The success of this project in terms of building capacity is very dependent on the implementation of good agricultural practices both for the nucleus and the FBO farms. This project will take a proactive approach to ensure that the required technical skills are available and that good strategies are in place to deal with key risk such as pests.

In order to determine what a sustainable practice is and what is not. In this study sustainable means that there are low to no negative impacts on the environment as a result of producing a certain product, in this case tilapia, so that future tilapia farming may be continued without any disruptions due to a lack of natural resources or the destruction of a natural environment. A further indicator of sustainability is if a farm has the ability to produce the same results year after year without damaging the habitat or products.

This is to be achieved through the provision of reliable agri-business services that leverage business and operational synergies of Agricultural Value Chain actors and position them to improve their efficiencies, beat competition and maximize profits. Rural Organic Farmers & Food Processors Association (ROFPA) through Darsfield EarthCare & Farm-Tech Foundation (Darsfoundation) is thus positioning itself to become a visible market leader in the provision of reliable, responsive, trustworthy and operationally effective agri-business services in Africa.

Briefs of Organic Farming:

Organic farming is defined as a production system which works with localized conditions to create products that integrate biological, cultural, and mechanical practices which promote biodiversity. There are several required components which must be included with the farming process for the crops generated to be labeled as organic. Biological controls must be used, including crop rotation and disease management, instead of chemical controls. The agricultural system must have an emphasis on biodiversity placed on the surrounding environment.

Organic farming must also reduce off-farm inputs and external inputs that may affect the growing process. Renewable resources must be used in some way as well, while synthetic fertilizers and agrochemicals musts be completely eliminated. When done properly, organic farming is able to maintain the balance of an ecosystem. It uses nature as the model to produce needed items.

Darsfield EarthCare & Farm-Tech Foundation main aim is to make agriculture the fastest sector for job creations and massive wealth through agribusinesses. Darsfoundation is determined to reduce massive chronic poverty among Africans through provision innovative agricultural technology. Darsfield EarthCare & Farm-Tech Foundation is shifting focus from producing raw material to cottage agro-processing to create jobs, increase income base and open community to commercial activities.

The use of GMOs within organic systems is not permitted during any stage of organic food production, processing or handling. As the potential impact of GMOs to both the environment and health is not entirely understood, organic agriculture is taking the precautionary approach and choosing to encourage natural biodiversity. The organic label therefore provides an assurance that GMOs have not been used intentionally in the production and processing of the organic products. This is something which cannot be guaranteed in conventional products as labelling the presence of GMOs in food products has not yet come into force in most countries. However, with increasing GMO use in conventional agriculture and due to the method of transmission of GMOs in the environment (e.g. through pollen), organic agriculture will not be able to ensure that organic products are completely GMO free in the future. A detailed discussion on GMOs can be found in the FAO publication "Genetically Modified Organisms, Consumers, Food Safety and The Environment".

Comparing Organic farming practice as against conventional and GMO technologies. Is agricultural systems supposed to increase ill- health among consumers or interfere in the balance of the natural ecosystem? Is consuming food supposed to be to predispose any consumers of food to serious terminal diseases? Diseases and illnesses that has of recent increased with conventional farming & GMO came into our food system 1) Autism 2) Diabetic 3) Hypertension/ High blood pressure 4) Fibroid 5) Child abnormalities/ babies born with congenital defects 6) Infertility/ sterilization in male and female 7) Anemia 8) Food allergies 9) Skin disease10) Tumour of all kinds in all body parts 11) Hydrocephalus 12) Erectile dysfunctioning and loss of sperm volume count 13) Reduce enzymes reactions leading to accumulation of toxin in our body 14) Imbalance hormonal production 15) Physical impairment 16) Wasting diseases 17) Hole- In- Heart among new born or children just to mention but a few.

Other problems of conventional farming and GMO technologies brings are destruction of our fertile land and increase barren lands. Our beneficial organisms are killed such as earthworms, termites, snail in our soil. Also killed are bees and butterflies that pollinate our crop. Conventional and GMO farming has increase contamination of our water bodies, killing our fishes and poisoning water for safe drinking. Increases global warming and climate change due to poor sequestration of soil carbon. This has increased environmental and natural disasters in many places across the globe. Finally as we can see both conventional and GMO farming has increased hunger among our population, today has increased to over 2.8 billion risk hunger in the world.

Why Organic Farming?

We have realized that people are confused with Genetically Modified Organisms to Crop Breeding. Crop breeding is not the same as GMOs. The GMO technology encourages heavy use of fertilizers and agrochemicals on our farms. Organic growers do not use genetically modified or engineered food crops, some of which are engineered to tolerate herbicides (e.g. “Roundup Ready Canola”) or resist pests (e.g. Bollworm resistant cotton). Conventional growers, on the other hand, are free to “take advantage” of GM crops.

There are certain advantages of organic farming which must be considered.

1. Organic manures produce optimal condition in the soil for high yields and good quality crops.

2. They supply the entire nutrient required by the plant (NPK, secondary and micronutrients).

3. They improve plant growth and physiological activities of plants.

4. They improve the soil physical properties such as granulation and good tilt, good giving good aeration easy rot penetration and improved water holding capacity.

5. They improve the soil chemical properties such as supply and retention of soil nutrient and promote favorable chemical reaction.

6. They reduce the need for purchased inputs.

7. Most of the organic manures are wastes of byproduct which accumulated load to pollution.

8. Organic fertilizer are considered as complete plant food.

9. Organically grown crop are believed to provide more healthy and nationally superior food for man and animals that those grown with commercial fertilizers.

10 Organically grown plants are more resistant to disease and insect and hence only a few chemical sprays or other protective treatment are required.

11. There is an increasing consumer are willing to pay more for organic foods.

12. Organic farming helps to avoid chain reaction in the environment for chemical spray and dusts.

13. Organic farming helps to prevent environment degradation and can be used to regenerate degraded areas.

14. Since the basic aim is diversification of crops, much more secure income can be obtained that when they reply on only one crop or enterprise.

Some Advantages of Organic Farming

It creates higher natural levels of resistance to pests and disease:

Organic farming eliminates the use of synthetic products to maximize the yields that can be produced. It works on creating a healthier soil instead, encouraging the link between healthy plants and protected soils. No chemical herbicides or pesticides are used. Only natural soil enhancement techniques are permitted. Healthy plants, grown in health soil, are naturally resistant to disease and pests. These plants have stronger natural defense mechanisms through this technique, which thickens the cell walls of the plants being grown.

For instance, in an orange grove infested with scale, he restored the mineral balance to part of the soil and the trees growing in that part became clean while the rest remained diseased.

By the same means he grew healthy rosebushes between rows that were riddled by insects, and tomato and cucumber plants, both healthy and diseased, where the vines intertwined. Northern observed that the bugs ate up the diseased and refused to touch the healthy plants!

Organic farming allows for specialization opportunities:

Conventional farming practices focus on the growth of a specific commodity crop. In the United States that means soybeans, wheat, or corn are typically grown. Through organic farming practices, there are more opportunities to specialize. That is because the farm produces crops that grow best in the soil composition that is available to the farmer. The advantage of being able to grow a specialty crop is that these produces usually command a higher price at the market. Organic foods can already be priced about 20% above commodity crops. Specialization can add another 20% to 40% to the final price a customer pays. Many organic farmers can sell directly to their customer base as well, which eliminates the costs that other farmers often pay.

This farming process supports a healthier soil and supports pollinators:

One of the biggest risks to bees and other pollinators is a synthetic agricultural chemical application. Glyphosate and neonicotinoids are particularly devastating on certain pollinator populations. At the same time, soils from organic farms are known to produce items that have higher antioxidant content, Vitamin E, and omega-3 fatty acids when consistent practices are used. There are higher micronutrient and mineral levels in produced food products through organic farming because organic materials reach into deeper soil layers.

There are no worries about genetically modified foods with organic farms:

Organic farming does not use hybrid seeds or GMO crops at all. Farmers are permitted to cross-breed plants (or animals) to encourage better natural production levels. They are not permitted to use industry-altered products when growing or producing items for the market. This requirement

may limit the yields that a farm is able to produce when compared to GMO farming, but it also eliminates the threat of customers leaving because they don’t want to consume GMO products.

The working environment for organic farmers is healthier:

To grow healthy food, you must start with healthy soil. If you treat the soil with harmful pesticides and chemicals, you may end up with soil that cannot thrive on its own. Natural cultivation practices are far better than chemical soil management. According to Dr. Elaine Ingham, just one teaspoon of compost-rich organic soil may host as many as 600 million to 1 billion helpful bacteria from 15,000 species. Ingham notes that on the flip side, one teaspoon of soil treated with chemicals may carry as few as 100 helpful bacteria.

Farmers who are involved in the organic farming process are not exposed to potentially dangerous synthetic ingredients as they manage their fields on a daily basis. People who are consistently exposed to chemical pesticides have a higher risk of developing a future neurological disease. Higher levels of lifetime exposure will increase this risk.

Many farmers who use synthetic products will suffer from a myriad of bothersome symptoms over time. Headaches become quite common, including migraine headaches. Fatigue is another common complaint. Increased exposure may also lead to memory loss in some individuals.

Organic farmers can often create their own fertilizers at their farming location:

Not only does organic farming build healthy soil, but it helps combat serious soil and land issues, such as erosion. A major study comparing adjoining organic and chemically treated wheat fields showed that the organic field featured eight more inches of topsoil than the chemically treated field and also had only one-third the erosion loss. If you aren't concerned about erosion; you should be. Erosion issues are extremely serious, affecting the land, food supply, and humans. However, organic farming practices do help discourage erosion from occurring.

Soil fertility is improved with organic farming methods because natural fertilizers must be used to prepare fields. Several methods are possible, including crop rotation that uses certain fields for pasturelands, for up to 6 years between growing crops. Green manure, worm farming, composting, and cover crops are all effective methods of creating needed fertilizers as well.

Organic Farming Encourages Biodiversity:

In general, the more biodiversity there is on a farm, the more stable the farm is. Organic farming encourages healthy biodiversity, which plays a critical role in how resilient, or not, a farm is to issues like bad weather, disease, and pests. Additionally, reduced biodiversity may directly correlate with a rise in infectious diseases, which of course, isn't good for people or the planet. To learn more about biodiversity, check out the book The Organic Farming Manual by Ann Larkin Hansen - chapter 13 is all about preserving and encouraging healthy biodiversity on an organic farm.

It can be implemented in almost any geographic location or growing season:

The processes of organic farming store carbon within our soil. It reduces energy requirements. It limits the need for products based on fossil fuels. No matter how long a growing season may be, organic farming efforts can be implemented to maximize the natural production levels that are available.

For instance, the Organic Trade Association notes that if every farmer in the U.S. converted to organic production, we could eliminate 500 million pounds of persistent and harmful pesticides from entering our foods and entering the environment annually.

• Pesticide and chemical use results in many negative environmental issues.

• Pesticides allow disease resistance to build up in plants, weeds, plant-eating-insects, fungi, and bacteria.

• Pesticides and chemicals sprayed on plants contaminate the soil, water supply, and air. Sometimes these harmful pesticides stick around for decades (maybe longer).

• Synthetic chemicals also discourage smart farming practices such as cover crops and crop rotation, which in turn, may cause other harmful environmental problems like erosion.

Fighting the Effects of Global Warming:

For instance, the America’s longest running, side-by-side comparison of conventional and organic agriculture. The trial, running since 1981, has shown that a healthy organic agriculture system can actually reduce carbon dioxide and help slow climate change. The Rodale research shows that "If only 10,000 medium sized farms in the U.S. converted to organic production, they would store so much carbon in the soil that it would be equivalent to taking 1,174,400 cars off the road, or reducing car miles driven by 14.62 billion miles.

GOOD THINGS ABOUT ORGANIC FARMING TO CONSUMERS

Nutrition: The nutritional value of food is largely a function of its vitamin and mineral content. In this regard, organically grown food is dramatically superior in mineral content to that grown by modern conventional methods. Because it fosters the life of the soil organic farming reaps the benefits soil life offers in greatly facilitated plant access to soil nutrients.

Healthy plants mean healthy people, and such better nourished plants provide better nourishment to people and animals alike.

Poison-free: A major benefit to consumers of organic food is that it is free of contamination with health harming chemicals such as pesticides, fungicides and herbicides. As you would expect of populations fed on chemically grown foods, there has been a profound upward trend in the incidence of diseases associated with exposure to toxic chemicals in industrialized societies.

Take cancer for example, representative data on the number of new cancer cases in New South Wales, Australia has been collected by the New South Wales Central Cancer Registry.

Adjusted to take account of our aging population, their graph (above) shows that between 1972 and 2004 the incidence of new cancer cases per year (average for both sexes) has risen from 323 to 488 per 100,000 people. This is an increase of over 50% in just 32 years.

Food Tastes Better: Animals and people have the sense of taste to allow them to discern the quality of the food they ingest. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that organically grown food tastes better than that conventionally grown. The tastiness of fruit and vegetables is directly related to its sugar content, which in turn is a function of the quality of nutrition that the plant itself has enjoyed. This quality of fruit and vegetable can be empirically measured by subjecting its juice to Brix analysis, which is a measure of its specific gravity (density). The Brix score is widely used in testing fruit and vegetables for their quality prior to export. Lastly, conventional farming and GMOs suppresses the natural aroma of fruits and vegetables.

Food Keeps Longer: Organically grown plants are nourished naturally, rendering the structural and metabolic integrity of their cellular structure superior to those conventionally grown. As a result, organically grown foods can be stored longer and do not show the latter’s susceptibility to rapid mold and rotting.

Weed Competitiveness: Weeds are nature’s Band-Aids, placed by the wisdom of creation to heal and restore damaged soils. When farmers improve the life of the soil, as they do in organic agriculture, the improved conditions dissuade many weeds and favor their crops. The crops, being healthier, are also better able to compete with those weeds that are present.

Lower Input Costs: Technically, organic farming does not incur the use of expensive agrichemicals – they are not permitted! The greater resistance of their crops to pests and the diseases save farmers significantly in expensive insecticides, fungicides and other pesticides.

Fertilizers are either created in situ by green manuring and leguminous crop rotation or on-farm via composting and worm farming. Biodynamic farmers use a low cost microbial solution sprayed onto their crops. The creation of living, fertile soil conditions through early corrective soil re-mineralization and strategic Keyline chisel ploughing are significant establishment costs that, however, reap ongoing benefits to production at minimal maintenance.

Drought Resistance: Organically grown plants are more drought tolerant. This was dramatically illustrated to me several years ago when I was fortunate to attend a workshop with Australian organic gardening guru Peter Bennett. A slide he showed us has stuck in my mind ever since: it was a field of wheat, organically grown on re-mineralized soil. Bisecting the ripening green crop was a wide yellowed strip that had already finished growing and hayed off. He explained that the strip had been nourished using agrichemical fertilizer early in the growing period.

Because chemical fertilizer is soluble, plants are forced to imbibe it every time they are thirsty for water. They can and do enjoy good growth as long as water is readily available. As soon as water becomes limited, however, the soluble nutrient salts in the cells of chemically fed plants are unable to osmotically draw sufficient water to maintain safe dilution. They soon reach toxic concentrations, and the plant stops growing, hays off and dies earlier than it otherwise would have.

Added Value: There is a discerning market of consumers who recognize the greater food value of organic produce and are willing to pay premium prices for it. In an interview with me in 1998, the manager of Heinz-Watties in New Zealand explained how his company had been actively supporting and recruiting farmers to organic production in order to service large and lucrative markets in Japan and Europe.

Environmental Benefits of Organic Food Production:

“Organic farming is not simply the substitution of approved input materials. It is the replacement of a treatment approach with a process approach to create a balanced system for plant and animal interactions.” Apart from the classic key objectives of the European Common Agricultural Policy competitiveness of European agriculture, farming income and food supply, food quality aspects and minimisation of negative environmental impacts of agricultural production have become increasingly important. Organic farming could be a measure on the way to achieve these goals, and therefore the specific contribution of organic farming to some of the stated objectives is discussed in the following.

Conventional and GMO food producers claim that there are not enough scientific evidence for organic food production being better for the environment. This may be true but the facts speak for themselves. Firstly, organic food production eliminates soil and water contamination. Since organic food production strictly avoids the use of all synthetic chemicals, it does not pose any risk of soil and underground water contamination like conventional farming which uses tons of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. Secondly, organic food production helps preserve local wildlife. By avoiding toxic chemicals, using of mixed planting as a natural pest control measure, and maintaining field margins and hedges, organic farming provides a retreat to local wildlife rather than taking it away its natural habitat like conventional agriculture. Thirdly, organic food production helps conserve biodiversity. Avoidance of chemicals and use of alternative, all natural farming methods has been shown to help conserve biodiversity as it encourages a natural balance within the ecosystem and helps prevent domination of particular species over the others. Fourthly, organic food production helps the fight against global warming. Most organically produced food is distributed locally. As a result, less energy is used for transportation which automatically reduces carbon dioxide emissions which are believed to be the main cause of global warming. Lastly, organic food production reduces erosion. Organic crop production methods do not foresee elimination of all vegetation except for crops. As a result, more soil is covered with vegetation preventing the wind to carry away the topmost fertile soil layers.

Organic food production is by some accused to use more land to produce equal amounts of food. This may be true but unlike conventional agriculture, organic farming is significantly less disturbing for the environment because it often supports the local wildlife rather than striping it of its natural habitat. In fact, many organic farmers encourage wildlife species such as birds, bats and other predatory animals to live on their farmland and assist them in pest control.