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"Research for supporting organic agriculture: Are we getting there?
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"The efforts made during the last 35 years on sustainable, non-chemical agriculture by Honey Bee Network and affiliated institutions are showing results. The government has started major programs on natural farming/organic agriculture/sustainable agriculture at state as well as central level. Ironically, the subsidy on urea fertiliser has also been enhanced, thus enabling those who wish to continue conventional agriculture to become more profitable. This may be so given the experience of Sri Lanka, where a sudden transition to organic led to a huge fall in production causing a national crisis. However, a decade-long experience in Indonesia had shown during the nineties that with IPM, the paddy productivity went up and consumption of pesticides went down. But the commitment to this policy went down with changes in the governance and the resurgence of pest attacks has resumed.
Let me suggest the kind of research in agriculture and social sciences we need to make the movement towards sustainable agriculture successful.
It is well known that most of the research in universities/institutions is done under high fertility conditions. Under such conditions, the varieties that are selected respond well to fertilizer and pesticides. This is what led to green revolution. It is also well established that even NPK fertilizer are not supplied in the right proportion by most farmers, much less can be said about micro nutrients. Soils in many cases have become deficient in such nutrients. Singh (in Alloway, 2008) observed,” Analysis of soil and plant samples has indicated that 49% of soils in India are potentially deficient in 12% in Fe, 5% in Mn, 3% in copper (Cu), 33% in boron (B) and 11% in molybdenum (Mo), Zn.” It is natural that deficiency in the soil will get transferred through food chain if not supplemented in the human system. Pizzorno, 2015 observed, “Boron has anti-inflammatory effects that can help alleviate arthritis and improve brain function and has demonstrated such significant anticancer effects that boronated compounds are now being used in the treatment of several types of cancer.” Organic agriculture may alleviate micronutrient deficiencies and through better microbial activity may improve transportation of nutrient available in the soil to the crop.
Experiments may thus be needed at larger locations to link soil, crop, animal and human health to make an empirical case for sustainable agriculture transition. An earlier exploratory study by us with the help of volunteer scientists from agricultural, livestock, and human medical domains had indicated that copper might be able to explain a little bit the difference between the communities having high chronic disease among people than otherwise. But this was a preliminary study and more thorough larger studies are called for.
The crop varieties may also be selected for low external input environment. New varieties may be screened under intercropping conditions so that their root and shoot systems are appropriate for such combinations (for instance sorghum and red gram in Karnataka). Resistance to pests and diseases ideally may be bred into varieties but experience shows that such an approach takes time and is not always possible for all major pests in important crops. The huge consumption of chemical pesticides is causing well-known consequences on the environment and health. Organic farmers may get higher prices when they have access to urban consumer market but food supply safety for the whole country has also to be ensured. It has to be a slow and steady process but with right precautions. Adverse effects on predators, emerging resistance among pests to pesticides, farmers’ use of cocktails, and other such practices lead to a treadmill effect of the pesticides. The option of Integrated Pest Management has to be revived. Budget allocation on IPM is minuscule and thus is unlikely to have much impact at a large scale in the near future. Even though, many decades ago, district-wise pilots had shown very admirable results in Gujarat and many other states.
The weeds also grow more in organic agriculture and good practices for weed control in this time of labour constraint in many places are not too many. Growing berseem or lucern or crops needing multiple cuttings do help because they don’t let weeds set seed and thus reduce incidence in the next season. But not everyone needs fodder crop.
Similarly, the shelf life of organic produce is generally found to be shorter than the ones sprayed with synthetic pesticides. It poses its own challenge for farmers and consumers, research is needed to elongate it sustainably.
Every municipality should provide dedicated space for such farmers to sell their produce directly to consumers once a week at least and leave the place cleaned up after a few hours market.
Many of the farms in tribal, arid and other high-risk environments including mountains are compulsively organic. They can not afford chemical inputs or don’t have water to irrigate their crops. The movement for organic agriculture has not yet provided enough opportunities for such farmers. Public policy outreach towards them is also weak. But they as laggards of the green revolution can easily become champions of organic, diverse agriculture.
The crops which grow on mineral-rich soils in rainfed environments can also become functional food recommended for people lacking those minerals in their diets. Because of low rainfall, minerals in the soil dint leach down. This is a potential waiting to be harnessed though we have made some beginning in this direction.
Recently, in an analysis of 30 rajma (kidney bean varieties from Kiphire, Nagaland) supported by a DBT project at GIAN, six were found by TIGS to have higher iron content than most other pulses. These can be so labelled, and growers can be compensated for low production but high nutrition.
Role of agro-biodiversity must also be stressed along with organic and low external input agriculture. Climatic fluctuations becoming more frequent need more resilient varieties which has been stressed in the recent policy pronouncements.
There is also a need for developing small farm tools for marginal and small farmers who have taken to organic farming at small holdings. Many organic farmers in different parts of the world have small refractometers which measure sugar value in the leaves to manage pest attacks, But this needs much more intensive research to be useful practically. The diversity, crop rotations, soil health management, integrated pest management, biocontrol measures, and farm lab to develop one’s own microbial such as dead bug solution, shelf life, etc., are some aspects which need much more focussed research to give fillip to organic agriculture. Food quality, nutrient content and other characteristics of organic food also need much more attention for consumer education. Eventually, we may achieve a transformation of Indian agriculture towards healthy soil, healthy crops, healthy animals and a healthy society.
anil k gupta" |
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Honey Bee, 35(2)1, 2024 |
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