NANURA AGRICULTURE
Dona Nalaka Daundaratne | Anura Perera | M.K. Jemegwa
Education for a Healthier and Sustainable
Agriculture Development
Introduction to a Healthier Agriculture
Nalaka Daundaratne. BSc, MAg
What is ‘sustainable farming’? Since ages, the stability of life on earth, in connection to our impact over it, is determined by the quality of maintained balance between us and nature, and the corresponding environmental responses. Basically, our deeds decide the fate of our lives, state at present, safety of future, and consequential health of Mother-nature and vice-versa. In relation, sustainable agriculture is following sound and eco-friendly farming practices as a continuum in a productive and a beneficial manner for self, communities, and health of ecosystems. Importantly, resulting outcomes should not incur harm or negatively impact on both current and future generations regarding wellbeing, continuity, and safety of life.
Specifically, it comprises three key fundamental characteristics; Utilization of earth-friendly practices, sufficient degree of financial profitability, and ability to generate societal benefits through justly production and acceptable human resource management. Remember, these elements are working together as an interconnected and interdependent cycle complimenting each other contiguously. Therefore, it is important to maintain the balance of these key factors throughout the Business management process
Earth-Friendly Practices
News Feed
Cattle Farming Fundamentals
With proper knowledge, planning, and healthy practices, raising cattle alone or preferably with variety of animals can be highly productive, profitable, and beneficial in numerous ways. For example, they provide milk, beef, butter, cheese, leather, fertilizers, helps to plow to prepare ground for cultivation
Community Projects
Certainly, women had been the backbone of almost every aspect of life although they had been unrecognized for ages of their capabilities and power to build and change world.
Nalaka Daundaratne. BSc, MAg
Traditional farming foster natural ways of growing crops and raising animals at highest degree within fundamental natural laws of our life cycle. For example, avoids depending extensively on artificial chemicals, fertilizers, antibiotics, and pesticides. Instead, depending on pasture and recourses from the environment, use of diversified crops and multi-species animal raising will offer numerous benefits as pest control by natural ecological balancing processes with friendly insects, use of manure of animals as fertilizers which will enhance the nutrients of the soil and preserve its organisms. Further, animals and crops are less prone to health conditions and complications due to less exposure dangerous materials and products like anti-biotics which causes tremendous amount of damage to product, environment and human health. Further, depending on a natural food supply as pasture, grazing and methods as multiple species grazing at once (Ex. raising cattle, goats, and sheep, etc) provide better nutrition to animals as well as the promotion of healthy flora and fauna of the fields for a continuous supply of food materials for the animals. On the other hand, allowing animals to live in a natural environment with food of choice from nature is humane process compared to extreme living conditions maintained in livestock farming factories. This not only maintain moral values and best psychological status of the animals but also will yield healthier animal and better products. Comparingly, using eco-friendly farming methods can list a large number of benefits to our environment, farming business and life. We will further discuss about these benefits throughout NANURA platform.
Financial Profitability
Nalaka Daundaratne. BSc, MAg
Obviously, farming is not done for the purpose of a charity. At least not a vast majority. Certainly, it is crucial that the farming business must be organized and managed in away economically profitable. This would ensure the continuity and the stability of the sustainable farming business. Also, this is a key factor that will help to improve lives of self, family, employees, community, and the world through economical means. So how we do this? As evidenced, earth-friendly farming methods as using pasture for feeding, depending mostly on natural means of Pest control and fertilizers and other benefits would directly lower a significant amount of cost that will add to probable financial profits. In addition, there is a list of benefits like reduced cost of animal healthcare management and soil nutrients management. Also, these models of harming open doors to additional means of income as agritourism options and community based free-markets and cooperatives where reasonable prices for products can be earned compared to exploitation by mega powerful corporations. In addition, as any other business it is important to follow best practices related to proper business planning, financial management, marketing, and HR management. Please refer to Farming Business by Dona Nalaka Daundaratne to learn about how to start and manage your own farming business.
Societal Benefits and Duty
Nalaka Daundaratne. BSc, MAg
Agriculture and food production had been the center of all civilizations throughout our history. Weather it’s growing, raising animals, or hunting and gathering, it was all about coexisting around the source that offer best food security. Agriculture is capable of building, protecting, and enriching our societies and improving lives of individuals and the world. Importantly, a farming business organization must carry out rightful treatments and contribution to the development of all stake holders from family member, laborer to markets and consumers as a moral and an ethical responsibility. To explain this better, lets look at what are questioned behaviors that are part of the so-called contemporary mass production factories. Unfortunately, these settings use unfair low wages to employees, lesser concern on health hazards, disrupts social wellbeing and communal stability. To elaborate, these organizations practice of profit-only-based mass production pushing small farmers out of business. Then enforcing their produces to communities and poorer countries create building dependency on these limited number of food sources. For example, few kinds of corn, soya beans and wheat built under monoculture mass production, and dominated by few mega companies. Once again, small sustainable farmers lose their livelihood. After, these people are led to work as immigrant workers at lower rates and poor working conditions. A good example is that of Latin American seasonal workers who come to work in US and how their previously sustainable agriculture-based economy if destroyed. Also, statistically, there is a largely spread food insecurity around the world due to these practices. On another array, these unhealthy products affect the health of consumers leading to conditional as diabetes, heart disease and many other. In addition, these farming methods use a large amount of antibiotics (approx.: 40% of all antibiotics used) which has led to a major health concern of contributing to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant-microorganisms. This is well explained in a different section due to its significance in relation to the possibility of our next pandemic being moved to post-antibiotic era. As if the time before penicillin was discovered, except, we won’t have much left to find to battle infections. As evident, this is all not sustainable agriculture must follow. It has a social responsibility to improve life of communities and the whole world.
About us
NANURA Agriculture was developed in 2014 as a rural agriculture development project to help improve sustainable agriculture focused on several countries of South Asia and Eastern Africa. It aims on reaching communities in remote or underdeveloped areas where either ongoing farming that can be further improved or communities with potentiality to start agriculture projects with proper guidance and support.