Organic farming methods revive ancient traditions in India
Updated
India has the highest consumption of pesticides in the world. But it's also home to a strong environmental movement which is trying to revive ancient farming methods to produce crops with a high export potential.
Presenter: Alana Rosenbaum
Speakers: Vikram Bokey, organic farmer, Indian state of Maharashtra; Vijay Laxmi Pandey, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research; Pushpa Trivedi, economics professor, Indian Institute of Technology; N.R. Shetty, organic seed farmer, Bangalore
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(sound of cow mooing)
BOKEY: We believe that a cow is the source of everything;, she gives you everything; whatever a family needs to look after themselves to survive, a cow is capable of giving it.
ROSENBAUM: Vikram Bokey has a small organic farm in the western state of Maharashtra. Instead of chemical fertilisers, he uses cow waste.
BOKEY: We call it organic tea; cow dung mixed with 10 litres of cow urine and added to that about 200 grams of jaggery, and you keep it for four days, stir it in a clockwise manner, and on the forth day of the concoction you get, you add 180 litres of water to that and you apply to one acre of farm.
ROSENBAUM: There are no artificial chemicals on the property, its owners even maker their own medicines.
BOKEY: We extract the concentrates from the cow urine by way of decantation. We also make medicines that are extremely helpful for the Diabetes.
ROSENBAUM: India has a large organic farming movement; throughout the country, there are about 200,000 registered organic farms. One of the movement's goals is to convince conventional farmers to give up chemical fertilisers and pesticides and embrace ancient Indian methods of agriculture.
BOKEY: I'm sure that organic farming, the sustainable way of agriculture is the only solution to all the evils and the problems that India is suffering from. It's only the wrong agricultural practices that have led India to the present condition of farmer suicides, indebtedness and malnutrition and all the problems related to that.
ROSENBAUM: Many believed that India's farming sector is in crisis. Food production is steadily declining, and agricultural growth is at a mere three per cent, well below India's economic growth of nine percent. But economists say that a return to organic farming is not he answer.
Vijay Laxmi Pandey of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, says that organic farming reduces yields, and India would be plunged into famine if it gave up pesticides.
PANDEY: India cannot go for organic farming altogether, because we have to keep in mind food security issues for feeding these many mouths. We need to be using chemical fertilisers but in many parts we are not using fertiliser to the level it should be used.
ROSENBAUM: But many believe there's huge export potential for organic produce. Pushpa Trivedi is an economics professor at the Indian Institute of Technology.
TRIVEDI: Organic farming can allow India to access international markets in a much better manner, because it's the rest of the world, especially developed countries which can afford the cost and prices of organic farming."
ROSENBAUM: In the southern city of Bangalore, N.R. Shetty has built up a bank of native Indian seeds, which he trades with farmers.
SHETTY:The speciality of native seeds, it's scientifically proved that it's more tasty, more nutritious. It has the capacity to withstand any disease, and it suits better than any modern seed to the local conditions.
ROSENBAUM: About an hour's drive from the seed bank, Mr Shetty has a one-acre organic farm.
SHETTY: You see organic farming is a way of life, because it's to go with nature. You should not burn anything in this farm. Burning means what? You are killing the microorganisms. No killing, even the pests we control by repellent methods.
ROSENBAUM: For Mr Shetty, the property is an experiment; he wants to see if a family can remain completely self-sufficient on a small farm.
But for many Indians, subsistence farming is a necessity, not a choice. Millions still use ancient farming practices simply because modern techniques haven't reached them.
