Abstract
The study investigated the scientific output, collaboration, and impression of research on organic farming due to the increasing interest of commoners in food quality and sustainability. Efforts to enhance agroecological sustainability call for assessing the structural overview of the numerous research works done so far to understand the growth in diverse subject areas in organic farming. The scientometric method is considered for analyzing 639 documents extracted from the Scopus and WoS online database from 2010 till January, 2023. The pulled-out data is analyzed via VOSviewer and RStudio, revealing prominent contributing authors (Groot J. with eight documents and 186 citations under Wageningen University and Research), maximum cited references (R Core Team & R lang env. 2019), the significant collaboration between the countries (USA with Netherlands), and co-occurrence of author keywords (“organic farming” occurring 148 times) using analysis of co-authorship, co-occurrence, and citation count. Furthermore, as the existing literature suggests a substantial advancement in organic cultivation in India, thus, an immediate evaluation of its performance is necessitated. Hence, the current study performed the bibliographic coupling of documents, sources, authors, and global collaboration of India. The study found that a total of 241 Indian authors have contributed 102 documents in collaboration with 54 nations towards organic farming which are available in 39 different sources under the Scopus and WoS databases. This study helps to comprehend the recent growth trend of organic agricultural research and can enhance academic as well as research and development policies based on brainstorming to action formulation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation, to any qualified researcher.
References
Aleixandre JL, Aleixandre-Tudó JL, Bolaños-Pizarro M, Aleixandre-Benavent R (2015) Mapping the scientific research in organic farming: a bibliometric review. Scientometrics 105(1):295–309. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-015-1677-4
Alryalat SAS, Malkawi LW, Momani SM (2019) Comparing bibliometric analysis using PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. J Vis Exp 152. https://doi.org/10.3791/58494
Avinash, A., & Batra, V. (2023). Organic farming in India: evolution, current status and policy perspectives. Space Cult India, 11(2), 18–34. https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v11i2.1328
Badgley C, Moghtader J, Quintero E, Zakem E, Chappell MJ, Avilés-Vázquez K, Samulon A, Perfecto I (2007) Organic agriculture and the global food supply. Renew Agric Food Syst 22(2):86–108. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170507001640
Bankar R, Lihitkar S (2023) Trends in organic farming research in India (2002–2021). Curr Sci 125(5):483–489. https://doi.org/10.18520/cs/v125/i5/483-489
Birkle C, Pendlebury DA, Schnell J, Adams J (2020) Web of Science as a data source for research on scientific and scholarly activity. Quant Sci Stud 1(1):363–376. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00018
Brumă IS, Jelea AR, Rodino S, Bertea PE, Butu A, Chițea MA (2023) A bibliometric analysis of organic farming and voluntary certifications. Agriculture 13(11):11. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13112107
Castañeda K, Sánchez O, Herrera RF, Mejía G (2022) Highway planning trends: a bibliometric analysis. Sustainability 14(9):5544. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095544
Connor DJ (2008) Organic agriculture cannot feed the world. Field Crop Res 106(2):187–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2007.11.010
Dulla N, Priyadarshini S, Mishra S, Swain S (2021) Global exploration on bibliometric research articles: a bibliometric analysis. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-Journal). https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/5779/?utm_source=digitalcommons.unl.edu%2Flibphilprac%2F5779&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages
Duram LA (2006) Review of good growing: why organic farming works by Leslie A. Duram. Gt Plains Res: J Nat Soc Sci 16(2):3
Forster D, Andres C, Verma R, Zundel C, Messmer MM, Mäder P (2013) Yield and economic performance of organic and conventional cotton-based farming systems – Results from a field trial in India. PLOS One 8(12):e81039. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0081039
Goulding KWT, Trewavas AJ, Giller KE (2009) Can organic farming feed the world?: a contribution to the debate on the ability of organic farming systems to provide sustainable supplies of food. In: Proceedings/International Fertiliser Society. International Fertiliser Society, pp 1–27. https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/can-organic-farming-feed-the-world-a-contribution-to-the-debate-o
Hood WW, Wilson CS (2001) The literature of bibliometrics, scientometrics, and informetrics. Scientometrics 52:291
Horrigan L, Lawrence RS, Walker P (2002) How sustainable agriculture can address the environmental and human health harms of industrial agriculture. Environ Health Perspect 110:445–456
Lobley M, Reed MG, Butler A, University of Exeter, Centre for Rural Research, Great Britain, & Department for Environment, F. & R. A (2005) The impact of organic farming on the rural economy in England: final report to DEFRA. University of Exeter, Centre for Rural Research
Lolis SDF, Sanches-Marques AMM, Arruda Reis SL, Benedito E (2009) Scientometric analysis of energetic ecology: primary production of aquatic macrophytes. Acta Sci Biol Sci 31(4):363–369. https://doi.org/10.4025/actascibiolsci.v31i4.5139
Lopez-Ridaura S, Frelat R, van Wijk MT, Valbuena D, Krupnik TJ, Jat ML (2018) Climate smart agriculture, farm household typologies and food security. Agric Syst 159(C):57–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2017.09.007
Muller A, Schader C, El-Hage Scialabba N, Brüggemann J, Isensee A, Erb K-H, Smith P, Klocke P, Leiber F, Stolze M, Niggli U (2017) Strategies for feeding the world more sustainably with organic agriculture. Nat Commun 8(1):1290
Nishi NY, Islam MM, Ahmed MB (2019) Participation of rural women in organic farming. Asian J Agric Ext Economics Sociol 33(3):1–14. https://doi.org/10.9734/ajaees/2019/v33i330178
Osareh F (1996) Bibliometrics, citation analysis and co-citation analysis: a review of literature I. Libri 46:149–158. https://doi.org/10.1515/libr.1996.46.3.149
Pandey PJ, Singh A (2012) Opportunities and constraints in organic farming: an Indian perspective. J Sci Res Banaras Hindu Univ 56:47–72. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228535384_Opportunities_and_constraints_in_organic_farming_An_Indian_perspective#fullTextFileContent
Paramasivam S, Henry P, Seethapathy P, Rajamohan T (2022) A strategic model for empowering farmers by improving livelihood security through organic farming practices in Tamil Nadu, India. J Agric Sci - Sri Lanka 17(3):471. https://doi.org/10.4038/jas.v17i3.9926
Paull J (2011) The uptake of organic agriculture: a decade of worldwide development. J Soc Dev Sci 2221-1152 2:111–120. https://doi.org/10.22610/jsds.v2i3.660
Ponisio LC, M’Gonigle LK, Mace KC, Palomino J, de Valpine P, Kremen C (2015) Diversification practices reduce organic to conventional yield gap. Proc Biol Sci 282(1799):20141396
Popescu D, Dima A, Radu E, Dobrota EM, Dumitrache V-M (2022) Bibliometric analysis of the green deal policies in the food chain. Amfiteatru Econ 24:410. https://doi.org/10.24818/EA/2022/60/410
Rajendran DP (2011) Scientometric analysis of contributions to journal of scientific and industrial research. Int J Digit Libr Serv 1(2):11
R Core Team (2019) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/
Redlichová R, Chmelíková G, Blažková I, Svobodová E, Vanderpuje IN (2021) Organic food needs more land and direct energy to be produced compared to food from conventional farming: empirical evidence from the Czech Republic. Agriculture 11(9):813
Rousseau R (2021) Naukometriya, Nalimov and Mul’chenko. Collnet J Scientometrics Inf Manag 15(1):213–224. https://doi.org/10.1080/09737766.2021.1943042
Rutherford D (2007) Malthus and Three Approaches to Solving the Population Problem. Population 62(2):213–237
Singh SP, Priya, Sajwan K (2023) Factors influencing the adoption of organic farming: a case of Middle Ganga River basin, India. Organ Agric 13(2):193–203. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-022-00421-2
Ullah R, Asghar I, Griffiths MG (2023) An integrated methodology for bibliometric analysis: a case study of internet of things in healthcare applications. Sensors 23(1):1. https://doi.org/10.3390/s23010067
Seufert V, Ramankutty N, Foley JA (2012) Comparing the yields of organic and conventional agriculture. Nature 485(7397):229–232
Sivaraj P, Philip H, Pirabu JV (2018) Marketing behavior of certified organic farmers in Tamil Nadu. J Ext Educ 30(3):3. https://doi.org/10.26725/JEE.2018.3.30.6140-6145
Statista Research Department (2022) Share of net area under organic farming in India from financial year 2016 to 2022. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1132405/india-net-area-under-organic-farming/
Thompson GD, Kidwell J (1998) Explaining the choice of organic produce: cosmetic defects, prices, and consumer preferences. Am J Agric Econ 80(2):277–287. https://doi.org/10.2307/1244500
Trewavas A (2001) Urban myths about organic farming. Nature 410:409–411
Trewavas A (2004) A critical assessment of organic farming-and-food assertions with particular respect to the U.K. and the potential environmental benefits of no-till agriculture. Crop Prot 23:757–781
Van Eck NJ, Waltman L (2019) Manual for VOSviwer version 1.6.10. CWTS Meaningful Metrics 1–53. https://www.vosviewer.com/documentation/Manual_VOSviewer_1.6.10.pdf
Willer H, Trávní J, Meier C, Schlatter B (2021) The world of organic agriculture statistics and emerging trends 2021. Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL. https://www.fibl.org/fileadmin/documents/shop/1150-organic-world-2021.pdf
Winter CK, Davis SF (2006) Organic foods. J Food Sci 71(9):R117–R124. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-3841.2006.00196.x
Zhong B, Wu H, Li H, Sepasgozar S, Luo H, He L (2019) A scientometric analysis and critical review of construction-related ontology research. Autom Constr 101:17–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2018.12.013
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Sarthak Dash drafted the manuscript by performing statistical analysis and extracting the dataset required for investigation. Sugyanta Priyadarshini contributed to the study design and data interpretation. Nisrutha Dulla contributed to the structuration and revision of the manuscript. All the authors read and permitted the manuscript for submission and publication.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Dash, ., Priyadarshini, S. & Dulla, N. Food security and sustainability dimensions of organic farming in the context of India: a comprehensive scientometric review (2010–2023). Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 14484–14502 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-31867-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-31867-4