Development of Integrated Farming System Model—A Step towards Achieving Biodiverse, Resilient and Productive Green Economy in Agriculture for Small Holdings in India

The agrarian communities of South Asia are dominated by small and marginal farmers (<2.0 ha operational holdings) confronted with manifold challenges lower productivity, income, resource degradation. For optimized efficient use, a shift from business as usual towards green economy is imperative. Therefore, study to address these challenges, through integrating diverse crops allied enterprises under an integrated farming system (IFS) model was carried out. We hypothesized that standardized IFS appropriate location-specific modules will have higher output, lesser environmental footprints. Vegetable cultivation (VC), protected vegetable (PVC), field (FC), mushroom production (MP), beekeeping (BK) were evaluated the model, objectives optimize coherent use available farm resources enhancing productivity profitability. Among FC module, increased 21–247% different cropping systems, over predominant rice–wheat (RWS). integration components, viz., VP + PVC AHS MP BK VC in M10 resulted achieving maximum water (6.72 kg/m3), energy (1.50 kg/MJ), net return (9446 USD/ha), employment opportunities (792 man-days), sustainable livelihood index (70.2%), nutrient cycling (138.12, 67.9, 381.6 kg/ha nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, respectively). These findings can be scientific basis for optimization management natural less-endowed farmers.