Potrait of an agriculture savant
In my column on this page last month, I promised more information about the Isha Yoga Foundation, flowing from having attended a two-day Inner Engineering workshop conducted by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev in Mumbai. But my participation in the follow-up workshop was not to be. It was jinxed again, as it has been for the past three years. I was unable to attend, in spite of having paid the donation towards it. So this month I’m writing another piece that has been on my mind for quite some time. In last month’s despatch I had mentioned my farming mentor and friend, Dr. Sudhir Thimmaiah. I hope reading about his pioneering work will enthuse young readers to consider agriculture as a career. We are after all, a nation of farmers with almost 70 percent of the population still deriving a living from the soil. If I were young again, studying agriculture would definitely have been my choice of subject. It’s about the very basics of life. What can be more basic than growing the food we eat?
So getting back to Dr. Thimmaiah, I first met him last March at a biodynamics study programme (already covered in this column) in Mysore. He was a guest speaker and the moment I heard what he had to say, I realised that though only in his thirties, he has acquired wisdom, knowledge and compassion beyond his years. He is gifted with a rare combination of virtues which enables him to be a consultant for his livelihood, with enough spare time for helping people wherever he goes.
Personally I felt he had been divinely inspired to help me graduate from a city dweller to an organic farmer. Having met him a few times and corresponded with him by e-mail for the past nine months, I believe he should be appointed the Union minister of agriculture or at the very least, an advisor to him. That will be the day, when those who really know about agriculture are in charge of the ministry. Sadly, the current incumbents know precious little about the needs of the majority of citizens, animals or the earth.
That’s why knowledgeable professionals like Dr. Thimmaiah are honoured by countries like Bhutan which he has converted completely to organic farming. It boggles the mind to think of the chain reaction that would ensue if someone like him was in charge of Indian agriculture — there would be few farmer suicides, plenty of safe food, and enough for all. Malnutrition would be rare as organic food is richer in nutrients. Food would taste better and there would be less disease. Land wouldn’t be degraded, there would be less carbon in the air, and less pollutants in water. Consequently India’s huge landmass would be able to support and nourish future generations.
Yes, contrary to what myopic doomsdayers predict, this rich and diverse subcontinent can support a better life for all its citizens. But the people who govern us seem to have one prime objective: to fill their coffers with pay-offs from corporations who make millions selling goods that cause damage to health and/or environment, in some way or the other.
While reading for his Masters at the Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi, Dr. Thimmaiah researched the vermiculture process and discovered that earthworms multiply micro-organisms 10,000 times in the soil, thus enriching it. But he was only too aware that vermiculture and neem treatment are only part of the solution to restoring the productivity of India’s landmass degraded by the chemical blitz of the Green Revolution. Therefore he studied references to food and agriculture in the Gita, Rig Veda and other ancient texts. These studies were followed by intensive research in biodynamic agriculture, his doctorate subject for which he has been awarded the K.S. Krishnan fellowship by BARC, Mumbai.
Dr. Thimmaiah’s preliminary research indicates that fertilizers can only provide 17 to 19 elements, when actually all plant life requires 72 trace (some in parts per billion) elements. "Research evidence suggests that only 5-10 percent of the intrinsic nutrition of plant life is drawn from the soil (yes, even healthy soil). Plants draw the remaining 90-95 percent of energy for nutrient formation from the atmosphere and harvest 1-1.5 percent of solar energy. Thus if we need to heal ourselves, we need to heal our food supply, our water sources, our air quality, the earth itself. We are indeed fortunate that our ancient scriptures tell us of simple ways to do this. One of them is agnihotra — the process of healing the atmosphere," he says. Inevitably Dr. Thimmaiah has a prescription to help India’s farmers and the agriculture economy. "We need to switch to low cost agriculture wherein all inputs are generated at the farm level itself — seeds, manure, pest management, value addition, etc. The economy of permanence — very much part of Indian culture — has to be re-learnt," he advises.
Dr. Thimmaiah is increasingly getting a hearing in several private and public forums as well as NGOs. As far as I’m concerned, nothing less than seeing all of India’s soil being regenerated and nourished, will do. It will happen in time, but why not sooner, when the critical information needed is staring us in the face?
(Kavita Mukhi is a Mumbai-based eco-nutritionist and director of Conscious Food)