Sustainable Agriculture (edX)

Many estimates indicate that the world population is going to reach 9.6 billion by 2050. This implies that food production is required to increase by 70% in order to meet the demand of such a huge population. Therefore, it is becoming very essential to take serious reforms in the agricultural sector to ensure that the food system is ready to meet the challenges of a burgeoning world population. Thus, the goal of sustainable agriculture is to feed expanding population while farming in an ecologically sound and regenerative way.

Hardships like droughts and inadequacy/scarcity of inputs essential for Agriculture, necessitate sustainable agriculture in long run. Despite the fact that contemporary agriculture generates massive amount of output within a harvest season, several devastating risks are witnessed which require sustainable farming practices for their mitigation.

This course explains various methods of sustainable agriculture to meet the aforesaid objectives necessary for many countries. It discusses various aspects pertaining to different farming systems in order to increase food production substantially to meet the demand of growing population. It also describes ecological farming practices based on scientific innovations for producing healthy foods.

What you'll learn

* Primary objectives/goals and concept of sustainable agriculture

* Farming systems, and components thereof and integrated farming system

* Various irrigation methods and sustainable water management

* Concepts of Polyculture, inter-cropping, and crop rotation

* Concepts of Hydroponics and Aquaponics and their significance.

* Benefits of encouraging combined agricultural and forest production system in the name of “Agroforestry”

* Significance and advantages of Organic farming

* Importance of technology in Sustainable Agriculture, and Precision farming.

Concepts of vermicomposting, pest management, cover crops, mulching etc., ***

Syllabus

Week 1

- Overview of Sustainable Agriculture

- Farming systems & Integrated farming systems

Week 2

- Irrigation, water management including Rainwater harvesting

- Polyculture, inter- cropping and crop rotation

- Precision farming

- Organic farming & Biodynamic farming

Week 3

- Vermicomposting

- Hydroponics and Aquaponics

Week 4

- Agroforestry and food forests

- Integrated and Natural pest management

- Cover crops, Mulching and manual weed control