ORGANIC FARMING AS A SAFE ALTERNATIVE TO TOXIC SYNTHETIC CHEMICALS USAGE IN TROPICAL CROP PRODUCTION

Organic farming is a system of crop production that can maintain natural biodiversity without losing the productivity of the area. Synthetic chemicals usage in the tropics increases the levels of the environmental and health risks associated with agriculture. Every piece of synthetic material used each day by man to ‘improve’ the agricultural productivity is either ‘polluting’ or ‘poisoning’ the environment. This community we live in is no longer a natural one due to the products being used for agricultural production and food being processed. Through the destruction of natural environment by man, an increase of deaths by serious illness has expanded. In this work, facts were presented and discussed on how intensive crop production causes problems and ways of ensuring less use of these toxic synthetic chemicals in crop production, especially in the tropical regions of the world. Furthermore, major benefits of organic farming in crop production as well as how organic farming ensures genetic diversity preservation were discussed. This review, reveals how organic farming can reduce adverse environmental impact associated with conventional method of synthetic chemicals usage tradition. The work concludes that the environmental benefits of organic farming represent long-term savings, not just for the organic farmer, but also for the future generations.