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| AGRICULTURE TRIBUNE | Monday, August 5, 2002, Chandigarh, India |
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ORGANIC FARMING
Pesticides kill... not just pests TREE TALK Farm operations for August |
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ORGANIC FARMING ORDEALS and dilemmas dominate the life of Indian farmers. They have immense capacity to endure hardships—natural or man-made. Their farming wisdom remains unchallenged despite technological advancements. The Green Revolution was the finest outcome of their vigorous performance even during crises, but the frequent policy changes have always affected their performance. Inconsistent policies create dilemmas, which sometimes prove disastrous. Ironically, the advocacies for the organic farming come from the Union, states and expert organisations when the fertiliser industry has started growing faster—the consumption of chemical fertilisers per hectare has increased from less than 1 kg in 1951-52 to 95 kg at present. India is fast emerging as one of the largest fertiliser producers with 66 large-size plants. Though, increase in fertiliser consumption has significantly contributed to the sustainable production of
foodgrains, many health problems have surfaced in past three decades. The point is that the fertiliser industry will have to overhaul its infrastructure to meet the demand of
bio-fertilisers. Secondly, the practice of organic farming would hit the sale of chemical fertilisers and lead to conflicts between promoters of bio-farming and chemical fertiliser manufacturers. Over 900 villages in Madhya Pradesh have been identified to promote bio-farming and organic farming is the major component of the state’s proposed agriculture policy. Organic farming should be used as a befitting environment-friendly mechanism to check further degradation of the environment. The constant use of pesticides not only pollutes the basic formative components of ecology but also human and cattle health. For instance, spray of Endosulphan used on cashew crop in Kasaragod district in Kerala caused mental disorders among local communities. The Fertiliser industry consumes harmful raw materials like rock phosphate, gypsum, sulphur and naphtha to produce nitrogenous, phosphatic and mixed
fertilisers. The toxic wastes—solid or liquid—concentrate in soil and gradually distil into the ground water. This phenomenon goes on for years unnoticed and often ignored by the profit maniac industries. The dire effects on the future generations could be well imagined. Tames and Lee rivers in the USA are eye-opening examples of water pollution by the excessive inflow of nitrate. Some parts of Haryana and Punjab have reported dangerous levels of nitrate in water due to the use of chemical fertilisers. According to a study, ground water pollution by nitrates is menacingly high in some parts of the
Indian-Gangetic zone, which is extensively exposed to inorganic farming. The Indian Council of Agriculture Research informs that productivity in Punjab and Haryana is coming down fast and vegetables grown in some parts of India contain heavy metals like cadmium, copper, lead and other toxic elements which cause blood pressure and kidney trouble. Undoubtedly, organic farming offers a lasting remedy to these environment and health problems. India offers tremendous scope for bio-farming as it has a local market potential for organic products. Absence of local markets for organic products in many of the Asian countries brightens India’s chances for exporting organic food. Why organic farming? The answer is simple. Every year 5.33 million tonne of soil erodes in India and with it 53.3 lakh tonne NPK flows away. The three major components of bio farming are integrated plant protection, integrated pest control and soil and water management. A task force on organic farming set up by the Government of India defines bio-farming as a holistic production management system, which promotes an agro eco-system of health, including bio-diversity and biological activity. The organic food movement is gaining ground in Europe and the USA where populations have accorded preference for organic food. Retail sales of the organically grown produce touched $7.8 billion in the USA in 2000 and today one out of every four Americans buys organic food. The reason for the growing preference for organically grown food is simple. It reduces serious health problems. The New Scientist reports that the consumption of organic food may reduce the risk of heart attacks and cancer. Expectedly, Indian farmers would penetrate the global organic food market with a solid market network facility. The potential of organic farming is signified by the fact that the farm sector has abundant organic nutrient resources like livestock of water, crop residences, aquatic weeds, forest litter, urban and rural solid wastes and agro industries’ bio-products. It is now the responsibility and solemn duty of the leadership to encourage organic farming.
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A farmer who's upbeat being 'green' FROM the famous tea fields of Assam to the hinterland of Punjab, Mr Mohanpal Singh Sidhu has travelled a long distance. He has ventured into the new area of agriculture that is popularly called organic farming. His farm at Goniana village is at a stone’s throw from the historic Muktsar town. Mr Sidhu has spent about 35 years in tea fields before shifting to farming in Muktsar. Before retiring in 1996 as Joint Managing Director of the Assam Company Limited, Calcutta, one of the oldest tea companies of the world, Mr Sidhu established a wholly organic produce division for tea, which was registered under Swiss regulations. “My first attempt regarding organic farming proved successful and then and there I decided to enter into the area of organic farming even in the traditional agriculture sector. And when I moved to Muktsar, I re-tried my experience of organic farming to grow wheat, vegetables and fruit,” he says. “I feel excited about this in spite of certain problems of marketing the organic farm output. I can say from my earlier experience that once you enter a new field, you have to face hiccups at the initial stage, but I am sure that things would be normal in due course,” he adds. Mr Sidhu, who did his senior management programme from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and also has been to the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, is now focusing on transferring organic farming techniques to other farmers of the area. My effort is to develop clusters of organic farming in Muktsar, Mansa and Bathinda to create a viable market for those interested in the business of organic farming products. It would be easy for the buyers to procure such produce in bulk from a particular belt and transport it from there to potential markets. Till now, he has sold organic wheat and vegetables and even fruit at the normal prices. But he has been probing market for these products beyond Muktsar. “I have been interacting with a number of companies in Delhi interested in buying organic products. And there is all probability that soon the ongoing negotiations would turn into a permanent tie-up,” he adds. He brings organic manure from Symbhaoli Sugar Mills in Uttar Pradesh and uses no chemical-based fertiliser. Likewise, no pesticide is used. Contrary to the impression that the yield is less in organic fields, Mr Sidhu says that such impression is unfounded. One can have better yield from organic fields than those fed by chemical-based fertilisers. “I am also trying for setting up a proper certification system for organic produce. It should be a very credible arrangement and there should not be an iota of doubt regarding the organic nature of produce. Only then can one have good results as well as price,” reasons Mr Sidhu. “Kinnows and grapes from these organic farms have a better taste compared to the ones grown in conventional fields. Likewise, the quality of wheat is better when it’s compared to the normal wheat,” he asserts. Any problems? Yes. First the quality of subsoil water is very poor. It is a bit salty and not conducive for organic farming. People of the area mix canal water with tubewell water to irrigate their fields. But this does not solve the problem. The water spoils the upper layer of the soil because of the “concentration of unwanted stuff.” There is dearth of canal water also. The availability of power is also negligible. All these add to the problems. “But I am determined to increase the area under organic farming from the next season. I am also satisfied to see that a number of other farmers have started following this practice of organic farming, though at a very small scale,” says Mr Sidhu with all smile on his face. |
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Pesticides kill... not just pests PESTICIDES continue to play a significant role in both agriculture and public health, and the trend is likely to be sustained for many years to come. Initially, pesticides were regarded as advantageous means of abolishing famine. However, with gradual development of resistance and undesirable effects on non-target species and on man, the use of pesticides is cause for concern. There has been mounting fear that pesticide use has lead to harm to human health and environment. While the problems are numerous, let’s take a look at a few: Human health: The impact on human health depends on the toxicity of pesticides, duration and type of exposure. The International Development Research Centre has claimed that about 10,000 people die every year and another 4,00,000 suffer from various effects of pesticides poisoning in developing countries. Cases of blindness, cancer, liver diseases and nervous system problems from pesticide poisoning have been identified in the cotton growing districts of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Environment:
Persistence of stable molecules of organochlorine pesticides has been detected in low to high doses in cultivated soil. Pesticides and their metabolites can even migrate along the soil profile in horizontal and vertical directions and lower fertility. Water pollution with pesticides occures mainly due to rainwater drainage from sprayed fields to surface water and reservoirs and seepage of pesticides to underground water. Pest resistance: Resistance of pests to pesticides resulting from excessive or inappropriate use of the chemicals has been reported in 450 insect crop pests and disease vectors. Rice pests such as BPH and green rice leafhopper have developed high and multiple resistance. The most serious problem is in Diamondback moth, which has become a limiting factor in production of vegetables. In public health, resistance of mosquitoes to DDT is a much talked-about case. Non-targets: Pesticides kill not only pests but also their natural enemies. They have adversely affected nature’s balance and interfered with the pollination process through extermination of honeybees, butterflies, birds, frogs, etc. Contaminated water has been adversely affecting marine life. |
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TREE TALK A fast-growing plant of Chinese origin, Paulownia, is set to replace other wood being used for timber, like poplar and eucalyptus, by projecting itself as a wood that can be used for furniture purposes. Growers are likely to get a much higher remuneration than from it than through other forestry means. Having been super-cloned for Indian conditions by the Tatas, the plant is slowly making its presence felt in Punjab. Pavittar Singh, a farmer of Nurmahal, says he got four plants of Paulownia around two years back to see their growth cycle and capability to adjust to Indian conditions. Recently he went in for more cultivation of the plant as he felt its growth was faster than that of poplar. Another farmer, Harwinder Singh, has planted Paulownia in two acres of land on the Patiala-Sirhind road in Reetkheri village. He says he is satisfied with the growth of the trees, which is more than one foot per month. He went for Paulownia plantation after getting details about the plant from the Internet and seeing how farmers of Australia had profited from. Mr Satinder Singh Harika, who is a distributor of the plant in Patiala, says the plant has been in existence in China for nearly 2000 years and has been used extensively for paper-making, wood products and furniture purposes. He says quality timber could be realised from the plant in six years, adding it could be grown on plains and mountainous regions up to a height of 2000 meters under Indian conditions. Mr Harika says Paulownia could attain a height of 16 to 18 feet in the first growing season. In the northern plains of the country, the growth starts with the onset of spring and continues till the beginning of winter. He says the tree yields nearly 30 to 35 cubic feet of quality, merchantable rough-sawn timber and can be harvested seven times. Literature on Paulownia, culled from the Internet, says it can become the foundation for ecologically sustainable communities. As the plants are fast-growing deciduous trees, they provide shade, valuable hardwood and create ideal microclimates for growing a wide variety of food crops. The plant makes an excellent agro-forestry tree that can be inter-cropped with wheat, maize, groundnut, soyabean, millet, gram, vegetables, tea and coffee. At present, sources say, the saplings are expensive, priced at around Rs 30 per piece, as their cultures are imitated from plant materials obtained from Australia. Later, it would be possible to distribute these plants on a large scale through tissue culture. Sources say so far more than 1.5 lakh tissue cultured plants have been transferred to the field in both northern and southern states. |
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Farm operations for August SUGARCANE — To prevent lodging, prop up the crop at the end of August by using the trash twist method. — Iron deficiency has been observed both in the ratoon and plant crop on light textured and calcareous soils. Deficiency symptoms first appear on young leaves as yellow strips between the green veins, later the veins also turn yellow. In severe cases, leaves become white and the plants remain stunted. To correct this deficiency, 1% ferrous sulphate solution (1 kg ferrous sulphate in 100 litres of water per acre) may be sprayed 2-3 times at weekly intervals. — Collect and destroy the infected shoots affected with different borers, particularly that of Gurdaspur borer, at weekly intervals regularly to prevent further infestation of the healthy canes. — In case sugarcane Pyrilla is noticed in serious form then spray Thiodan 35 EC or 225 ml of Folithion/ Sumithion/ Ascothion 50 EC per acre in 100 litres of water. — Whitefly also becomes serious on this crop. Control this by spraying 1 to 1.5 litres of Malathion 50 EC in 150 litres of water per acre. FODDER — Sow leguminous and non-le-guminous crops in mixture to improve the nutritive value of the fodder, i.e. maize + cowpea, sorghum +guara. — Apply 30 kg N to the multicut fodder after every cutting. — For controlling it sit/chaupatti in maize, sorghum, bajra, spray Atrataf 50 WP (atrazine) pre-emergence @ 800 g, 400 g and 200 g per acre, respectively, before August 15. Late application will have residual toxicity effect on the succeeding crops like wheat, berseem, etc. — Harvest the fodder crops at optimum stage maize at milk-ripe stage, bajra at flagleaf stage, napier bajra or guinea grass at one metre height and sorghum at pre-flowering to flowering stage — to obtain maximum nutrients for the milk production. —Conserve surplus fodder like maize, sorghum, napier bajra, guinea grass as stage to be used in lean periods. — Progressive Farming, PAU |
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Now, the farmers are being persuaded to switch over to the age-old organic farming and phase out the consumption of chemical
fertilisers. It is again a policy-driven dilemma. No doubt that organic food is the best for human health, but it is not so easy for the performance-oriented farm sector to revive a conventional practice until it becomes sensitive to the ecological crises ahead. Organic farming is still in practice in many parts of the country. The farming community had been using
bio-fertilisers until asked to use chemical fertilisers. Repeated warnings about the harmful use of chemical fertilisers were grossly ignored in the euphoria of the Green Revolution. 
Though the plant has been grown on an experimental basis by only a few progressive farmers since the past two years, it is only from this year that farmers of the district, as well as adjoining ones, have gone in for its mass plantation.