To understand the resurgence of the concept of organic farming, we need to revisit the era of the Green Revolution (‘ >State View — “Organic farming caught in ‘quality vs quantity’ debate ”, Aug.30). The Green Revolution, and the resultant and phenomenal increase in grain productivity, had a dramatic and far-reaching impact. The fundamental strength of India actually rests on the foundation of food self-sufficiency. Therefore, would it have been possible to achieve all this had farmers followed the traditional methods of organic farming?
What our commercial farmers follow today, in terms of the use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and irrigation, is certainly not scientific agriculture. The successes accomplished during the first phase of the Green Revolution made our farmers overzealous and their greed overtook needs. There was an overuse of fertilizers, pesticides and water, which is at the root of all problems today. No one is conceptually against organic farming. But, admittedly, our knowledge and expertise in the “science” of organic farming is inadequate to realise the productivity potential of our high-yielding crop varieties. We have to prudently regulate and control the commercial production of edible crops by introducing a farmers’ registry and provide them all possible help in terms of scientific guidance, materials and financial incentives. What we should aim for is scientific-precision farming with the least damage to our natural resources. An evergreen revolution should not be confused with traditional organic farming.
M.R. Sethuraj,
Thiruvananthapuram
