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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Ban pesticides in suicide-hit districts, demands activist

Ban pesticides in suicide-hit districts, demands activist

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published Published on Jan 22, 2016   modified Modified on Jan 22, 2016
-The Times of India

Nagpur: Chairman of state task force on farmers, Kishore Tiwari, has urged chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to ban use of chemicals in 14 suicide-prone districts of Maharashtra. Tiwari's suggestion follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to emulate Sikkim, which has become the first state to switch over to total organic farming to save environment.

"To start with at least the 14 districts of Maharashtra, affected by farmers' suicide, should be declared as organic farming zone, thus banning use of chemicals in the form of fertilizers, pesticides, micro nutrients and other toxic substances used in cultivation and post-cultivation processes," Tiwari said.

"This will also reduce the cost of cultivation by over 50%. Sustainable farming methods are the only way to reduce farmer distress. Excessive use of costly chemicals has destroyed the soil's fertility and led to spirals of increasing costs. Organic farming is only way to provide safe and poison-free food to the people," said Tiwari.

A farm activist, Tiwari was appointed as chairman of Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavalamban Mission which was constituted as a task force to redress the hardship of farmers.

"The acute distress among 5 million cotton growers in dry land farms at present is a result of a complete failure of chemical farming. It has not only increased debts and cost of cultivation but also caused soil degradation," he added. The small North-East state of Sikkim embarked on project to free its farmers from chemicals since 2010 and achieved the target this year.

Tiwari said that unregulated use of chemicals and unsafe technology have been the main causes of farmer suicides. "So in the 14 distressed districts, adopting sustainable agriculture and a holistic non-chemical farming is only ray of hope," he said.

Tiwari also runs an NGO Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJS) which works for widows of farmers who commit suicides because of financial problems.


The Times of India, 21 January, 2016, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Ban-pesticides-in-suicide-hit-districts-demands-activist/articleshow/50661189.cms


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