Organic Rice Cultivation and Conservation of Agro-Ecosystem Biodiversity – A Review

Organic farming is rapidly gaining recognition worldwide as a promising means to offer healthier food and ensure environmental sustainability. Currently, organic products including organic rice are in huge demand owing to its potential to fetch premium prices in the global market. The human population and per capita rice consumption is growing, and consequently, biodiversity in arable landscapes has become negatively affected by agricultural intensification. In organic rice cultivation, no inorganic pesticides or chemical fertilizers are used, and animal husbandry is integrated in rice land management, thus ideally producing rice cultivating lands of higher habitat quality than modern high-intensity farmlands. This review discusses the effects of organic rice cultivation on biodiversity in the agricultural landscape and highlights the positive effects of organic farming to conserve agro-ecosystem biodiversity; thus, these practices could be optimally utilized to increase the rice yield while conserving biodiversity.