Overview of the Importance of Agricultural Ecology in Sustainable Farming
Sustainable farming plays a vital role in promoting a sustainable environment. Man activities such as deforestation, bush burning, clean clearing, and tillage have various negative effects on the environment.
Sustainable farming approaches help to Increase the activities of living organisms, soil fertility, pest and disease management, and carbon sequestration are the approaches for maintaining sustainable ecosystem systems.
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Importance of Agricultural Ecology in Sustainable Farming
This article outlines the Importance of agricultural ecology in sustainable farming. Some of the importance of agricultural ecology in sustainable farming as pointed out by the Food and Agricultural Organisation are:
Help to Increase the Activities of Living Organisms
An agricultural environment that is well conserved can help Increase the activities of living organisms. Conservative practices such as mulching, cover cropping, crop rotation, shifting cultivation, mixed farming, and so on, increase the activities of macro and microorganisms in the ecosystem.
A well-conserved ecosystem increases the activities of living organisms by serving as a natural home (Habitat) and reducing the effects of traditional farming systems that harm the ecosystem.
Increased activities of living organisms in the ecosystem are one of the importance of agricultural ecology in sustainable farming.
Biodiversity conservation can also help increase the activities of flora and fauna thereby attracting agricultural insects that aid pollination and increase soil fertilities by the reason of the decayed plants and animal materials in the soil.
Increase Soil Fertility
This is another importance of agricultural ecology in sustainable farming. Farming practices such, as crop rotation, shifting cultivation, Mulching, cover cropping, mixed farming, and so on can help promote practices that can help improve soil fertility and productivity.
These farming activities apart from improving soil fertility and productivity, also help to maintain the structure of the soil, nutrient contents, and microbial activities in the soil.
Since agricultural ecology promotes sustainable farming activities, increased biodiversity, and the leaves of plants as well as the decaying of animals’ material can help increase the presence of essential nutrients for plant growth and productivity.
Pest and Disease Management
The ability to manage the activities of pests and diseases in the ecosystem is another importance of agricultural ecology in sustainable farming.
Sustainable farming works to reduce the negative impacts of agrochemicals on the environment and provides an alternative method to control pests and diseases without damage to the natural environment.
Sustainable farming makes use of biological pest and disease control measures such as using a predator of that pest to control its activities as well as the use of resistance crop varieties to control the plant diseases in the ecosystem.
Efficient Water Management Practices
The ability to carry out farming with minimum water usage and soil conservation practices that reduce the usage of water in farming is one of the aims of Sustainable agriculture.
Efficient Water Management practices are another important of Agricultural ecology in sustainable farming. Sustainable farming works to reduce the negative impacts of sourcing water for irrigation purposes on the aquatic ecosystem.
Irrigations involve sourcing water either through drip irrigation methods, sprinkling, and so on can destroy the aquatic environment thereby becoming a potential threat to aquatic organisms.
More so, sustainable farming reduces farmers’ dependent water waste and reduces the negative impacts of agriculture on the aquatic environment.
Carbon Sequestration
Agro-ecological farming systems such as agroforestry, tungya farming, plantation farming as well as conservative farming such as cover cropping and mulching can separate carbon bonds in the soil.
Plantation farming and agroforestry farming can help mitigate the effect of climate change by reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing the rate of carbon storage in the soil.
All this accounts for another importance of Agricultural ecology in sustainable farming.
Prevent Nutrient Losses From The Soil.
Sustainable farming practices such as the use of organic fertilizers and certain cover cropping like leguminous crops (such as centrocema pubescence, tropical kudzu, calapogonium mucunoides) can bind the soil particles together thereby preventing leaching and soil erosion.
These leguminous cover crops help to fix the atmospheric nitrogen in the soil thereby helping to manage soil Nutrient.
Efficient nutrient management can help prevent nutrient losses and the washing of toxic mineral elements into the water bodies resulting in water pollution.
All this accounts for the importance of Agricultural ecology in sustainable farming.
Help mitigate the effects of Climate Change
The ability to use good agroecological practices to help mitigate the effect of Climate Change is another importance of Agricultural ecology in sustainable farming.
Sustainable farming systems like the use of cover cropping, plantation cropping, agroforestry, and so on are more resilient to high weather conditions and can mitigate climate change in agriculture.
Increase the Economic Standards of the Farmers
Good agroecological practices to help Increase the Economic Standard of the Farmers is another importance of Agricultural ecology in sustainable farming.
Agro-ecological farming helps increase the soil nutrient, prevent loss of nutrient loss, and nutrient cycling in the soil thereby increasing farmers’ agricultural yields. These sustainable farming systems are cost-effective increase farm yield, and can improve farmer’s income levels for a longer period.
Reduction of the Effect of Agrochemicals on Farmers
The uses of synthetic agrochemicals such as herbicides, insecticides, and preservatives like ammonium oxide are toxic to human health. Sustainable farming works to reduce the negative effect of Agrochemicals on Farmers by making use of environmentally friendly agrochemicals.
Toxic synthetic agrochemicals such as pesticides and insecticides often used in agriculture have toxic effects, not only on the farmers but also on macro and microorganisms in the ecosystem.
More so sustainable farming makes use of environmentally friendly alternatives to minimize human and animal exposure to the harmful effects of toxic agricultural chemicals and promote good environmental conditions. All this constitutes some of the importance of Agricultural ecology in sustainable farming.
Promote Traditional Farming Practices
Sustainable farm systems Promote traditional farming practices which serve as one of the importance of Agricultural ecology in sustainable farming.
The uses of traditional farming practices like organic farming, zero tillage, local processing, and storage techniques are a traditional farming system that sustainable agriculture is re-emphasizing, to create a sustainable environment.
In conclusion
The need to encourage sustainable farming practices is essential in encouraging a sustainable environment.
Agricultural ecology cannot function effectively without the practice of sustainable farming. The importance of Agricultural ecology in sustainable farming as listed above can help protect living organisms in the environment.