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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Green therapy by Anju Agnihotri Chaba

Since the advent of the Green Revolution popularised use of excessive irrigation and fertilisers in India in the 1960s, biodynamic farming, an advanced form of organic farming, had largely faded into oblivion. Biodynamic farming, a return to natural farming free from the use of pesticides and chemicals, is readying for a revival in Punjab, the hub of the Green Revolution in the country.

While organic farming is basically a holistic management system, which promotes and improves the health of the agro-ecosystem, biodynamic farming is a variant where chemical fertilisers are totally replaced by microbial (biological) nutrient givers such as bacteria, algae, fungi, mycorhiza, actinomycetes. This kind of farming looks upon the soil and the farm as living organisms. It regards maintenance and furtherance of soil life as a basic necessity if the soil is to be preserved for generations which is a forward linkage to high-quality crops leading to better feed for livestock and better food for human beings.

The farm experts here feel that the overdose of fertilisers has not only made the soil “lazy, sleepy but also dead” at certain places because of over exploitation and excessive use of harmful chemicals. The soil, they claim, needs to be healed after sustained exploitative agricultural practices.

Dr Naresh Raheja, Agricultural Development officer Chandigarh, who deals in this variant of farming, said that it needs application of sufficient organic manure and compost in the best possible state of fermentation by proper crop rotation, green manure, and diversified crops. Only a few grams of herbal fertilisers and herbal pesticides are required to treat just one acre in this type of farming. “Biodynamic compost preparations play a significant role in this system. These are made of certain medicinal herbs that have undergone a long process of fermentation in order to enrich them in growth-stimulating substances. These react like “yeast in dough”” said Dr Raheja. These are diluted in water, stirred for one hour, and sprayed directly on the soil or plants respectively, he said and added that this kind of farming was the need of the hour.

Jaspal Singh has been following these practices with great success in his 30 acre farm at village Musewal village near Nakodar. He said that while the green revolution was a beneficial development, the means used to achieve it made the soil in Punjab “ill”. He said that not only had the soil suffered degradation, this had also led to farmers and their families in the countryside becoming victims of various diseases since deadly metals, harmful chemicals and pesticides had seeped into their bloodstream through various faulty agricultural practices.

Singh, who switched to biodynamic farming five years back, said that in the initial years one requires more of physical labour but the results are “wonderful and unbelievable in terms of quality and quantity both”. He grows a multitude of crops on his farm including wheat, Basmati, maize, pulses, vegetables and fruits. “In such type of farming, sun, moon and planets and other cosmic energies play a significant role. Actually the coordinated working together of earthly and cosmic energies is what brings about healthy and nutritious food,” he added.

Singh has received training in biodynamic farming from the BASIL Academy at Mysore and is a faculty member of the prestigious SUPA Agriculture Research Group, Nainital. “My crops are lifted by the big companies and even I am Certified with IMO Switzerland, National Programme for Organic Production (India), and can also export my product to North America,” said Jaspal.

Jaspal pointed out that the Punjab government needed to realise the quantum of problem the overuse of pesticides has created, leaving soil devoid of nutrition and increasing input cost for farmers.

“Farmers are caught in a vicious cycle since they have to use a heavier dose of fertilisers for soil which lost its productivity primarily due to the overdose of fertilisers, “ said Jaspal. He revealed that states like Maharashtra and Uttarakhand were more sensitive towards overuse of pesticides.

“A lot of damage has been done. But it is the right time for Punjab farmers to return to natural farming gradually ,” Avtar Singh, another farmer from Dheera village in Mohali District said.

Avtar Singh said that organic farming is the need of the hour, but farmers cannot do it all alone. They needed guidance and resources from the government to adopt organic farming.

There are a few NGOs in state which have been working towards organic farming and sensitising the farming community against non-judicious use of fertilisers and pesticides. Director of Punjab Agriculture Department Dr Balwinder Singh Sidhu said that even the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, had not doing anything in this regard. He pointed out that the emphasis of the state government was on diversification of crops rather than on replenishing the soil through healthy agricultural practices.