Natural Health

Growing organic farms movement

Kavita Mukhi

Notwithstanding its currently elitist character, I’m very pleased about this development because I’ve been an evangelist for organic farming for several decades, long before it became trendy. I recall having helped an NGO, Prakruti, to organise the first ever natural farmers’ meet in Bordi on the Maharashtra coast in 1990. Many of the farmers and activists whom I met then have become good friends and suppliers. Subsequently there have been several conferences in different parts of the country organised by other NGOs.

That is not to say that nothing happened on the organic farming front prior to 1990. In fact Bhaskar Save’s farm was showcased at the meet as a success story in organic farming. Since then Save has painstakingly explained his farming methods to anyone who cares to visit him. He discovered many natural pest prevention techniques, achieved high yields and grew delicious organic crops, through observing and following nature’s rules on his land.

The Japanese organic farming pioneer Masanobu Fukuoka has certified Save’s farm as one of the best he has seen. Bharat Mansata, an eco-brother has written and will soon be publishing, a book on organic/ natural farming detailing many of Save’s practices. Mansata and his equally committed wife, Vinita, publish and sell books under the Earth Care banner.

We are fortunate in India that even before the word organic became popular, a substantial proportion of the foods we consumed were grown without the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. This is because natural farming is a traditionally accepted practice in India. It was only after the Green Revolution of the 1970s that chemicals, in the form of fertilisers and pesticides, including some brands banned in other countries, bombarded the good earth in India.

Now three decades later a growing number of farmers are becoming aware that the need for chemicals escalates each year while yields keep falling. Fortunately India’s soil fertility has stood us in good stead. Therefore despite three decades of chemical bombardment, many farmers armed with traditional wisdom and eco-consciousness are able to make a return to natural farming. Rural India endowed with many perennial rivers and bright sunny weather, has natural advantages which don’t need agro-chemical supplementation.

Some facts that I read in the transcript of a speech delivered by S. Gurumurthy, the all India co-convenor of the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, make amazing reading. While the rest of the world put together offers 250 cereal varieties, India has 35,000; the world has 2,500 plant varieties, India an estimated 85,000. We are a nation naturally blessed and the sooner we realise it the better. This amazing diversity is our wealth. Indeed diversity is part of our very culture, with each state having its own language, its unique lifestyle and nutrition based on what is indigenous to its agriculture.

The bio-diversity with which we are blessed is the key to maintaining soil balance. It is also crucial to organic farming because if pest infestation is to be prevented naturally, multi-cropping i.e bio-diversity of soil is critical. Which is why cash crops are inimical to true organic farming as it requires growing one crop on large tracts of land. Therefore contrary to popular opinion, it’s a plus point that nearly 60 percent of farmers with less than two hectares till half of India’s arable land. These are the citizens who sustain our agriculture. Where would city dwellers be without their diverse production of foodgrains and vegetables?

A study by former UN official turned farmers’ leader Sharad Joshi is worth mentioning. According to him the Indian farmer does not add on several costs when he sells his produce which anyway gets low wholesale prices determined by market forces. We must know that what we pay for agricultural produce is not its real cost. Unlike a businessman, the farmer doesn’t add cost of land, labour (his or his family’s), water, and electricity. Besides he is governed by nature and caprices of weather can destroy him. Since he does not charge the ‘real’ price for his produce, if calamity strikes, he is left with no income, no savings, no food and has to wait for another season for things to get better.

So you can well imagine the reaction when an aware, conscious farmer tries to get the ‘right’ price for his organic produce. He is labelled an expensive, unaffordable profiteer when all he is doing is trying to get the ‘correct’ price for his inputs and labour. The price of his produce is high not because he is an organic farmer but because he is a farmer passing on actual costs.

So thanks to India’s traditional farmers (who cannot afford chemical fertilisers and pesticides anyway) most of the food that appears on our tables tastes like food should — delicious, while being safe and pure. It is organic de facto. Long before organic became hip in the West, we ate good, pure, safe ‘organically’ grown foods. Unfortunately today aggressive chemical companies ensure that inspite of the poor and aware farmer not using chemicals, much of the food crop is contaminated with agro-chemicals and pesticides.

Unfortunately even organically produced food is not always safe because traders who need to store it to sell year round, spray their stock and premises. This is why the new convenient mill-ground fortified flour (atta) is not a patch on hand washed and stone-ground wheat. Neither health-wise, nor taste-wise! Unchecked food adulteration, one of contemporary India’s most flourishing industries, makes all food and food products suspect.

(Kavita Mukhi is a Mumbai-based eco-nutritionist and director of Conscious Food)