Sustainable Agriculture and 3 Criteria of Sustainable agriculture

Sustainable  agriculture  is  the  successful  management  of  resources  for  agriculture  to  satisfy  changing human needs while maintaining or enhancing the quality of the environment and conserving  natural resources (CGIAR, 1988).

Sustainable agriculture is those farming system which minimise the use of external inputs and  minimise the use of internal inputs already existing on the farm (Carter, 1989).

Sustainable agriculture is those agricultural Systems that are environmentally sound, profitable  and productive and that maintain the social fabric of the rural community (Keeny, 1989).


Criteria of Sustainable agriculture

The criteria of Sustainable agriculture are given below

Ecological criteria 

1. Balance use of nutrients.

2. Efficient use of soil, water and genetic resources.

3. Need based external inputs.

4. Minimal negative environmental impacts.

Economic criteria 

1. Sustained farmers livelihood.

2. Competitiveness.

3. Efficient use of production factors.

4. Low relative value of external inputs.

Social criteria 

1. Widely acceptable and equitable adoption potential among farmers.

2. Reduced dependence on external institution.

3. Respecting and building ITKs, beliefs and value system.

4. Contribution on Employment generation.