LOW BUDGET NATURAL WAY FARMING (AKA.VRIKSHAYURVEDIC FARMING) – TREES ARE THE NATURAL AGROCHEMICALS PRODUCERS FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD PRODUCTION

C. Swaminathan¹*, P. Nivethadevi, K. Sangeetha and M.R. Nandhakumar²

¹Department of Agronomy, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai- 625104, Tamil Nadu, India

²Division of Crop Management, Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture, Erode, Tamilnadu – 638315

Email: swaminathanc@tnau.ac.in

Received-02.08.2022, Revised-13.08.2022, Accepted-28.08.2022

Abstract: Nowadays, people are looking for “organic” labels on food due to the harmful ill effects of indiscriminate agrochemical usage. Organic farming, natural farming, etc., to ensure eco-friendly foods. Here, a novel, yet traditional, way of food production using only trees and their parts and products to cultivate crops and maintain soil fertility is discussed. vrikshayurvedic farming is a traditional Indian system of farming to produce quality food. Here, indigenous and introduced leguminous tree leaves serve as soil fertility builders and leaf extracts serve as foliar nutrition for crops and protection from pests and diseases. This article extracts information from different sources (Fig. 1) and presents it in a nutshell to facilitate a paradigm shift in farming research.

Keywords: Biomass transfer technique, Green leaf manure, Leaf tea, LBNF, Vrikshayurvedic farming, Crop yields

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