Why permaculture

But displacing the Green Revolution agriculture with permaculture as the sole methodology for production at this stage is difficult. Permaculture can make the Green Revolution agriculture more sustainable and help feed the large urban non-farming population, he adds. So adapatation is important. Can it resurrect environment? Just like the dearth of information on food production, little work has been done to assess the impact of permaculture on ecology.

The results of the assessment are yet to be made public. Some say permaculture can also help deal with global problems such as climate change. Is this a hype or real potential of the farming system? It is estimated that at least 50 per cent of the carbon in the soil has been released into the atmosphere over the past centuries.

Some environmentalists say permaculture could be a way to bring this carbon back to the soil. Recently, American environmentalist, author and activist Paul Gerard Hawken proposed a comprehensive plan to reverse global warming through his project Drawdown.

Hawken estimates that the increase in regenerative agriculture which has some aspects similar to permaculture from the current 43 million ha to million ha by could result in a reduction of But all experts agree on one aspect of permaculture: its power to rejuvenate soil. In this system of farming, land is not cleared by burning. Rather, mulching is practised as a rule.

Even roots of plants are left in the ground to degenerate naturally. The mulch keeps feeding moisture to the roots of fruit trees, which have now reforested another 2. As per the rules of ecology, animals play a key role in the regeneration of a healthy ecosystem. So chickens, bullocks and cows have also been integrated in everyday activities at the farm.

While the chickens provide eggs and enrich compost for plants with their excrement, the bullocks help in ploughing the fields. For example, Aranya does not have an irrigation facility and depends on rainfall.

It manages the problem of water shortage through rainwater harvesting. Contour bunds across the farm help in proper distribution of water across the farm and recharge of water table. Supriya and Anil Gaddam have turned their barren farm into an oasis in the arid region by setting up water harvesting structures, such as swales, trenches and percolation tanks. These structures have now recharged four borewells in the village that had run dry. The Singur Reservoir that supplies water to Hyderabad and its surrounding areas is next to our ha farm.

Understandably, practitioners are upbeat about this newfound farming system. This is because it is adaptable to all environments, from storey buildings and balconies to large farms and is based on ethics and principles. For instance, how can one compare year-round food availability, timber availability and reduced pest infestations with just 2. Maybe, we can gauge the value of permaculture by estimating the cost of damage caused by industrial agriculture to the environment and the future, she suggests.

Permaculture makes more sense when one keeps in mind the harms caused by conventional agriculture, such as increasing soil salinity due to intense chemicals, high demand for water and the lack of organic matter in the soil. It does not assault the soil system and takes care of water management. Chandmal insists that permaculture relies almost entirely on science, but this science is way different from the currently accepted norms of agricultural sciences.

Permaculture holds promise for subsidence farmers. But they will shift only if they have access to native seeds, given the knowhow to manage labour, and are demonstrated the success of the farming.

Blending new with the old. Negation of new technology and retaining what goes well with tradition is the core of permaculture. It is a philosophy and practice that enables people to design and establish productive systems to provide for their food, energy, shelter and other material and non-material needs in harmony with natural systems. A lot of issues that our farmers are facing today are because they are incorporating incorrect or out of context modern farming solutions.

Modern farming methods are driven by complex technologies that require a lot of energy, most of the time non-renewable, whereas manual and human resources are the basis of traditional farming practices. Most of these are close to natural processes that mimic nature and are renewable, leading to being more energy efficient resources.

It means that whichever method is relevant and applicable should be utilised and the rest be negated. The overuse of limited and polluting energy resources in most modern farming technologies make them energy-inefficient.

We are currently mostly depending on them for our energy needs, and need to look for alternatives. The real sustainable energy comes from natural processes. India has a massive advantage of having strong human resources that are precious to generate and transfer energy.

In agriculture, we have a lot of diverse tools available. Tools need not always be mechanised fuel-dependant , many can be used manually. The energy used through mechanised technologies does not always bring the best outcomes. Appropriate technology in farming methods can be defined by different key criteria. It must be familiar and accessible to people in the context in which it is used. It must be based on the use of resources that are abundant in a given environment.

For instance, at the Aranya Permaculture Farm, the biogas system for cooking in the kitchen is alimented by buffalo dung. At the same time, it provides compost for the close-by banana grove where other plants like spices grow for cooking purposes.

Rich biomass material is available through abundant leaves falling from trees for mulching, creating a vegetal cover spread around the plants to retain moisture and humidity in the soil and the roots, and reduce watering needs.

Wood is abundant, thanks to the numerous trees. It is used for firewood and cooking. The ash is used as an efficient cleanser for utensils and is used to enrich compost content, besides natural building.

Permaculture is not an anti-technology movement; it questions our need for modern technologies and the way we make use of them. Most of them are not easily accessible to Indians in terms of costs, maintenance and skills, leading to dependency on experts usually external and the companies which sell these kinds of technologies. Permaculture favours much more simple and close-to-nature farming technologies and methods that can be implemented by the majority of people and adapted according to the needs and resources available in each context, including geographies.

Most modern technologies require expensive materials and resources, and more often, induce damage in the long-term on the health of the environment. An example of modern technology that is destructive and is reducing the potential of any life is Bt cotton.

Bt cotton generates seeds that cannot be saved and grown again, which goes completely against the idea of a self-regenerative system and has made a majority of farmers in India depend on biotechnology corporations to buy new seeds regularly instead of saving seeds from natural species and using them for the next sowing season.

However, not all modern technologies are destructive. Grafting is a technique of combining a cutting from one tree with the rootstock of another.

This horticultural technique allows to make weak plant varieties in a given environment grow with the support of local species from the same family acting as the base material for being stronger in that environment.

This technique does not require much energy or highly-technical material to be implemented, and helps increase the biodiversity and strengthens the ecosystem. A key element in permaculture is to look for the most energy efficient elements and systems to work and live with. Technologies and methods that require more energy should be the last option available.

One of the arguments behind the use of motorised farming methods is to produce more and be able to provide abundance for a majority of people.

We forget that abundance does not come from modern technologies but from permanent reproductive systems. The best technologies are the ones that are closest to natural processes, have limited interference on the environment but have an extended impact bringing long-term benefits to the environment. The more technologies and farming methods are appropriate, the more empowerment they bring to their users. The way we produce and use energy is largely related to the scale of agricultural land one works on and the time available to develop farming activities.

The use of machines should be justified by compensating the damages caused such as pollution and disturbing the soil. In co-working with communities across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Aranya Agricultural Alternatives considers it as a social responsibility to display such options of farming practices that generate lower costs and lessen the dependency on external factors, but provide more resilience and autonomy.

The author is the co-founder of Aranya Agricultural Alternatives. People behind the change. Interest in permaculture has increased tremendously and so has the number of practitioners. She started in and now has more than 1, plants and trees and over 50 species. Initially, Reddy faced difficulty in explaining things to her farmhands as they were used to conventional techniques, like burning, to clear the land.

But now even her farmhands are seeing things her way. As an added benefit, 23 bird species have made the farm their home. She says that conventional agricultural science has linked successful agriculture with external inputs in closely controlled and regulated techniques. This has separated the farmer from the soil, the life source for any plant. These are periodically supplemented inorganically without bearing in mind that there is already a natural system in place to fix the soil with these components.

Yes, we will get into that too, but permaculture is and does so much more than create beautiful, abundant gardens. As we go deeper into our studies, over the next 52 weeks, we will learn many ways to work with plants.

It includes the content from the above article, plus several more videos, a detailed exploration of permaculture basics, and a list of essential resources. Every class in our course includes hands-on ideas to help you think, write, discuss, and dive deep into experimenting with these ideas in your daily life. This beautiful documentary explores some of the ideas about where permaculture techniques came from and reminds us how much we can learn from some indigenous cultures, about caring for nature.

I have applied them in many different climate and social contexts and when a good design is in place, it is a roadmap for achievement. The scale varies but its doable and reaches beyond agriculture into all facets of society.

The principles merge outwardly to connect with design process , which all starts with a vision which is what I essentially laid out above. What is yours? How do you want to contribute to turning the tides of decline to regeneration? A Stitch In Time Sa ves A Lot of Weeding. After submitting, we will add you to the TreeYo Weekly Updates email list, for weekly permaculture education and inspiration! Let's plant some.

Skip to content. Why Permaculture: The Decline Pattern As land and water resources degrade, so do the farms and villages of rural areas. A farm house in ruin in Alentejo, Portugal. Like this: Like Loading Get The e-Book. No, thank you! Let's plant some trees yo! But not before reading my tips! Download Your e-Book. Loading Comments Email Required Name Required Website.