Abstract:
The main objective of this paper was to find out the feasibility of organic farming as a part of
sustainable development in Ethiopia. The average total cost of chemical fertilizers and biofertilizers
used for one hectare of land per year for various crops was calculated to be US$ 150 and US$ 40
respectively while for chemical pesticides and biopesticides, it was US$ 100 and US$ 25 respectively.
The total estimated cost of crop production per hectare per year for organic farming was US$ 190
(1634 Ethiopian Birr) and for inorganic farming, it was US$ 320 (2752 Ethiopian Birr). The cost of
production for organic farming was about 40.6 % less than that for inorganic farming. The
calculations were also done for estimation of total nutrients and other substances required for
organic farming for the whole country. In organic farming, the important nutrients required for total
agricultural land of country were found as compost/ vermicompost 3.25 x 10
10
ton, poultry manure 3.2
x 10
9
ton, FYM (Farm Yard Manure) 9.7 x 10
7
ton and biopesticides 1.6 x 10
10
ton. The present status of
organic components available in the country was compost/vermicompost 1.6 x 10
11
ton, poultry
manure 8.5 x 10
9
ton, FYM 1.8 x 10
10
ton and biopesticides in abundant quantity. As the resources are
in abundance for organic farming, hence-forth might be a good opportunity for diverting from
inorganic farming to organic farming system and as a result, sustainable development could be
achieved in the country
