Acharya N.G. Ranga Agriculture University dean (PG Studies) R. Veeraraghavaiah on Sunday advocated a judicious mixture of inorganic and organic fertilisers to provide ''pollution-free'' farm produce.
Speaking after receiving the D.T. Moses Memorial Award instituted by the Indira Sekhar Trust here, he underscored the need for scientific agricultural development to ensure nutrition and food security for the growing population.
Natural farming on its own would not result in increased productivity and all the farm inputs, including organic and inorganic fertilisers, had to be applied for the plants to benefit out of the microbial action facilitated by farm manure obtained from cow, whose stomach ''is endowed with microbial diversity'', he said.
''Akin to a patient treated by a doctor, plants too should be protected from infections and pests by practicing integrated pest management,'' he pointed out and challenged the efficacy of zero-based natural farming in improving farm productivity over a period.
Mr. Veeraraghavaiah, who validated the Phosphate Rich Organic Manure (PROM), advocated its use an alternative to diammonium phosphate (DAP) and single super phospate (SSP). ''PROM is the efficient way of adding phosphorous to soil as 70% of phospate from DAP goes unutilised,'' he explained.
