Organic farming and sustainable development in Ethiopia

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