Oleh
: ICHSAN KURNIAWAN
Akhir-akhir
ini istlah Natural Farming mulai mengaung. Sebenarnya apa sih Natural Farming
itu? Natural Farming kalau sepintas lalu bisa kita sebut (jika di Indonesiakan
langsung) Pertanian Alami. Lalu? Ya, pertanian alami, jika kita kaji lagi
secara pikiran awam akan bermakna pertanian yang berbasis alam. Bersinergi
dengan alam dan atau tentu bersumber dari alam.
Bersinergi
dengan alam sendiri bermakna atau diistilah keren kan “berwawasan lingkungan”
secara penuh. Tak merusak alam. Tak mengganggu ekosistem.
Sebenarnya
Natural Farming ini sudah cukup lama menjadi bahasan menimbang ragam fenomena
dan isu lingkungan mulai dari degradasi dan kerusakan lahan akibat pupuk
berbahan sintetis sampai pada isu kapitalisme yang notabene hingga saat ini
mengakibatkan petani bergantung pada industri-industri dalam berusaha tani.
Lihat saja bagaimana isu kelangkaan pupuk menjadi masalah besar karena petani
telah ketergantungan terhadap sarana produksi dari luar. Buaian instan dan
cepat yang mengakibatkan hal demikian terjdi sehingga ketika pupuk langka,
sulit untuk dicari, kemudian tiba-tiba muncul dengan harga melambung dan petani
harus (mau tak mau) untuk membeli. Dan pada akhirnya petani sendiri dengan
alasan cepat, mudah dan instant lebih memilih untuk bergantung kepada
keberadaan pupuk berbahan sistetis tersebut (dari industri pupuk). Nah, lebih
dari sekedar permasalahan isu lingkungaan, maka Natural Farming dicetus untuk
mengembalikan kedaulatan petani secara utuh agar tidak tergantung dengan
industrialisasi sarana produksi usaha tani.
Natural
Farming sendiri sebenarnya telah dilakukan sejak beberapa tahun lalu. Dr. Cho
serorang tokoh berkebangsaan Korea mungkin cukup populer ketika kita bertanya
tentang tokoh yang akrab dengan dunia Natural Pertanian ini. Namun sebenarnya
bagaimana pencetusan awal Natural Farming. Berikut saya kutip tentang sejarah
Natural Farming yang katanya digagas oleh Masanobu Fukuoka, seorang petani
Jepang yang dengan menggagas “The Fukuoka Method”
Menurut Wikipedia
Berikut
adalah kutipan yang saya ambil dari Wikipedia tentang Natural Farming meliputi
sejarah dan prinsip.
NATURAL FARMING
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Natural farming is an ecological farming approach established by
Masanobu Fukuoka (1913–2008), a Japanese
farmer and philosopher who described his agricultural philosophy as shizen
nōhō (自然農法?) in Japanese.[1] It is also referred to
as "the Fukuoka Method", "the natural way of farming" or
"do-nothing farming". The title refers not to lack of labor, but to
the avoidance of manufactured inputs and equipment. Natural farming can also
be described as ecological farming and is related to fertility
farming, organic farming, sustainable agriculture, agroforestry, ecoagriculture and permaculture but should be distinguished from biodynamic agriculture.
The system exploits the complexity of living
organisms that shape each particular ecosystem. Fukuoka saw farming not just
as a means of producing food but as an aesthetic or spiritual approach to
life,[2] the ultimate goal of
which was, "the cultivation and perfection of human beings".[3] He suggested that
farmers could benefit from closely observing local conditions.[4] Natural farming is a
closed system, one that demands no inputs and mimics nature.[5]
Fukuoka's ideas challenged conventions that are core
to modern agro-industries, instead promoting an environmental approach.[6] Natural farming also
differs from conventional organic farming[7], which Fukuoka
considered to be another modern technique that disturbs nature.[8]
Fukuoka distilled natural
farming into five principles:[10]
1.
No tillage
2.
No fertilizer
3.
No pesticides
(or herbicides)
4.
No weeding
5.
No pruning
Though many of his plant
varieties and practices relate specifically to Japan, and even to local
conditions in subtropical western Shikoku,
his philosophy and the governing principles of his farming systems have been
applied from Africa to the temperate northern
hemisphere. In India,
natural farming is often referred to as "Rishi Kheti".[11][12]
Principally, natural farming
minimises human labour and adopts, as closely as practical, nature's
production of foods such as rice, barley, daikon
or citrus
in biodiverse
agricultural ecosystems. Without plowing, seeds germinate
well on the surface if site conditions meet the needs of the seeds planted
there. Fukuoka used the presence of spiders
in his fields as a key performance
indicator of sustainability.[citation needed]}
The ground always remains
covered by weeds,
white
clover, alfalfa, herbaceous
legumes,
and sometimes deliberately sown herbaceous
plants. Ground cover is present
along with grain, vegetable crops and orchards.
Chickens run free in orchards and ducks and carp
populate rice fields.[13]
Periodically ground layer
plants including weeds may be cut and left on the surface, returning their
nutrients to the soil, while suppressing weed growth. This also facilitates
the sowing of more seeds in the same area.[how?]
For summer rice and winter
barley grain crops, ground cover enhances nitrogen fixation. Straw from
the previous crop mulches
the topsoil.
Each grain crop is sown before the previous one is harvested by broadcasting the seed among
the standing crop. Later, this method was reduced to a single direct seeding
of clover, barley and rice over the standing heads of rice.[14]
The result is a denser crop of smaller but highly productive and stronger
plants.
Fukuoka's practice and philosophy emphasised small scale operation
and challenged the need for mechanised farming techniques for high
productivity, efficiency and economies of scale. While his family's farm was
larger than the Japanese average, he used one field of grain crops as a
small-scale example of his system.
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