Sustainable agriculture means an integrated approach to increasing farm yield and managing resources in order<br />to address all three critical aspects of sustainability: economic, environmental and social. ICAR-KVK, East Sikkim<br />adopted the Integrated Organic Farming Systems (IOFS) approach to stabilize income streams through natural<br />resource management and livelihood diversification in tribal village, Timpyem, East Sikkim. The salient features of<br />IOFS included – innovation in farming for maximizing production through optimal use of local resources, effective<br />recycling of farm waste for productive purposes, community-led local systems for water conservation, organic<br />farming, and developing a judicious mix of income-generating activities such as dairy, poultry, piggery,<br />vermicomposting and others. ICAR-KVK, East Sikkim built farmer capacities for adoption of productive,<br />remunerative, eco-friendly and self-sustaining integrated farming in the village. The economic indicators clearly<br />showed that the net returns from the recommended practices were substantially higher than the farmers ’ practices<br />during the demonstration period. Average yield enhancement by the recommended technological interventions<br />under IOFS was 26.9 per cent for agricultural and horticultural crops over the pre-intervention yield resulting in<br />average B:C ratio of technology at 2.1 whereas farmers ’ practice paved only 1.4. Similarly, average yield enhancement<br />was recorded at 33.2 per cent from livestock enterprises consequently an average B:C ratio of technology was 2.6<br />as compared to only 1.4 with farmers ’ practice.

Keyword: B:C ratio; Economic; Enterprise; Organic farming; Sustainability; Yield