Organic Farming Association of India

Dwindling production, rising costs, new diseases: ten years after genetically-modified cotton was introduced in India with high hopes of boosting the economy, farmers are deeply disappointed with its results and wondering if it was all worth it.

New Delhi – Ten years after its debut, genetically modified cotton is a huge disappointment.  Plants are vulnerable to new diseases; yields are far lower than expected.The Andhra Pradesh state government recently announced that the 2011 harvest was much lower than the 2010 crop. And for the first time, the Maharashtra government and a court from the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh, successfully sued German seed company Crop Science for 850,000 euros on behalf of more than 1,000 farmers for selling them seeds that did not deliver the promised yield.

The German company is denying responsibility and is blaming  “bad production control and weather conditions.”  It is thinking of appealing to get the sentence repealed. Since genetically-modified (GMO) cotton was introduced in India in 2002, crops have doubled and the country has become the world’s No. 2 cotton producer. But the “White Revolution,” as it was called, is now generating more suspicion than enthusiasm. Anti-GMO activists believe that the big harvests of the first years were due to better climate and irrigation systems. For the last six years, the average production has stagnated while transgenic cotton cultures have more than quadrupled. In 2009, GMO giant Monsanto admitted for the first time that its “Bollgard” cotton variety had lost its resistance against worms in the Gujarat fields, in western India. Two years later, the Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR) director, Keshav Raj Kranthi, warned against GM cotton’s growing vulnerability to bacteria.
Calls for a moratorium
“Productivity in northern India should decrease as the production capacity of the seeds is getting smaller. The latest hyrbid seeds have also contracted the ‘leaf curl virus’ and are more vulnerable to parasites, whereas non-genetically modified seeds used to be more resistant” a May 2011 CICR report explains.  Kranthi adds that transgenic seeds consume more water and nutrients, which lead to soil exhaustion. Fertilizers are needed to maximize production.
All these fertilizers, GMO seeds and insecticides are expensive: farmers have to take out loans from local moneylenders, or directly from their seed and fertilizer suppliers. A minor drop in the cotton rate or bad weather conditions can lead to tragedy. In 2006, in the Vidarbha region, thousands of farmers committed suicide by swallowing pesticide because they couldn’t pay off their debts. GMO cotton is a new technology that needs specific know-how to be put to the best use. Each one of the 780 varieties of transgenic cotton needs a different type of soil and different fertilizers. Local grains also have to be planted in just the right proportions to avoid bacteria and insects from developing resistance to transgenic seeds. “Small farmers don’t have the slightest idea about what they buy and how to grow GMO seeds. Their traditional know-how is about to disappear,” worries Sridhar Radhakrishnan from the Coalition for GMO-Free India. In case of bad crops, there is no legal action that the farmers can take to get compensation. “If anything goes wrong or if the farmers have difficulties, the states need to create laws to force companies to give them financial compensation,” Minister of Agriculture Sharad Pawar said recently in Parliament. Ten years after transgenic cotton was introduced, local Indian seeds have practically disappeared. The GMO seeds market represents 280 million euros. Companies promise to create new sorts of seeds that are more resistant and consumer less water. Meanwhile, anti-GMO activists demand an immediate moratorium on the culture of transgenic cotton in India.

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letter invitation for may 2012

For the last five years, leaders of Dumingag, a quiet rice-producing town in Zamboanga del Sur, have enlisted earthworms in a historic fight against poverty perpetuated by the costly chemical-dependent farming that kills the lowly organisms. Earthworms are natural agents of soil fertility; their presence indicates a healthy farm and its eventual produce. By helping restore conditions for the crawlers to thrive, municipal leaders expect to increase income from farming, on which most of the 50,000 residents depend. Dumingag is among the five winners of the One World Award given by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) for its organic farming program. The grand prize will be given in September. IFOAM is a leading world grouping on sustainable agriculture, mainly composed of civil society organizations and social movements. Started in 2008, the One World. Others vying for the grand plum are initiatives of groups in India, Cuba, Turkey and Nicaragua.“What they did in Dumingag serves as a lighthouse. I hope this experience inspires mayors worldwide,” said German community journalist Bernward Geier, the nonvoting chair of the five-member award jury and former IFOAM president. Geier visited Dumingag to validate the achievements of its program.

Soil Health

Bringing back the natural fertility of the farms and putting premium on maintaining soil health are central goals of Dumingag’s organic agriculture program. Long years of agrichemical use had tied farm productivity to the application of costly fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides that, in turn, killed earthworms and degraded soil fertility. The high cost of farming and declining farm production resulted in poor income for tillers. People could barely meet basic necessities, such as food, and pay for services, such as education and health, Mayor Nacianceno Pacalioga said. Pacalioga said the municipality’s aggressive push for organic farming was the bedrock of a bigger program to bring socioeconomic uplift to the residents.

Gains

To win converts, technicians were deployed to train and assist farmers.In partnership with the Philippine Agrarian Reform Fund and the Assisi Foundation, it also promoted rice-duck farming to bolster the natural fertilization of paddies. Initially, those who shifted to organic farming grappled with a steep reduction in yield, although this was cushioned by the radical decrease in cost. Several cropping’s later, as natural soil fertility improved, output went up. For rice, yield per hectare was at par with farms still applying agrichemicals at 95 65-kilo bags during the dry season, and 70 to 80 bags during the wet season. But net earnings are higher with organic farming because cost has been reduced by at least a third. From only 20 in 2007, the number of organic farmers rose to about 500 by 2011, increasing by tenfold the size of farmlands cultivated along sustainable agriculture methods—from close to hundred hectares before to some 1,000 hectares. In upland villages, organic farming is gaining adherents among vegetable cultivators and livestock raisers. Rice farmers have produced 55 local organic varieties that ensure a stable seed bank.

Conversion

A seminar on sustainable agriculture in 2000 led to a change of mind-set. Pacalioga was impressed by the natural fertility of the soil in the farms of his former comrades in Calinan, Davao City. Minus inorganic inputs, the farms produce crops free from pass-on toxicity, he said.Positive result from his own practice drove Pacalioga to advocate organic agriculture to other farmers, finding kindred spirits among local leaders of the Catholic Church.“We realized early on that local policy is a key enabler for widespread adoption of the technology,” he recalled.

Roadblocks

After he was elected mayor in 2007, Pacalioga aggressively promoted organic farming, helped by the passage of a local ordinance.By then, entrenched roadblocks unravel. Still doubtful of its viability, municipal agriculture officials took almost a year to be convinced of the merits of organic farming.Soon, Dumingag leaders were up against the national policy architecture that promoted instead the use of chemical fertilizers and the cultivation of genetically modified crops. One time, Pacalioga had to turn down P2 million worth of chemical fertilizers offered by regional officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) for dispersal to the farmers.Another time, he rejected free genetically modified rice seeds for distribution. “It was a tough task defending our ground and protecting the program. Had those seeds been planted, local varieties would have perished and we have become captive market for seeds to be grown for the next planting season,” he said.

Policy change

The policy environment changed when organic farmer Proceso Alcala took the helm of the DA.Earlier, Alcala said the national government’s emphasis on organic farming “rests on our thrust to surmount dependency on imported agricultural chemicals which not only drain our foreign exchange reserves, but also contribute to environmental and land degradation.”He stressed those adopting sustainable agriculture systems to restore productivity of farmlands and generate rural livelihood “provides long-term economic benefits in the light of climatic and economic uncertainties.” Today, Pacalioga is confident that the organic farmers themselves will defend their ground amid policy changes that come with the vagaries of the political weather.

Unfinished task

Apart from increasing the span of farmlands where organic farming is practiced, the mayor stressed the equal importance of seizing opportunities in the food market so that their surplus production would pitch favorable prices.Related to this is the need to improve the system of guarantee that crops sold are grown using organic farming methods.A local survey in 2010 showed that some 90 percent of the townsfolk earn only P3, 000 monthly, which is below the rural poverty line. “This proves that there is still an unfinished task for the program,” he said.

(Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/184191/organic-farming-takes-root-in-zamboanga-del-sur)

New Book Released
Ecological Agriculture, Climate Resilience and a Roadmap to Get There
(Part of the Environment & Development series no. 14)
By Doreen Stabinsky and Lim Li Ching
Publisher: TWN
ISBN: 978-967-5412-67-7
Year: 2012   No. of pages: 48
14.5cm x 21cm

About the Authors:
DOREEN STABINSKY is Professor of Global Environmental Politics at College of the Atlantic in Maine, USA and she also closely follow the United Nations climate negotiations.
LIM LI CHING is a researcher with the Third World Network and coordinates its sustainable agriculture work.

About the Book:
The phenomenon of climate change poses a serious threat to agricultural production and, therefore, to the lives and livelihoods of the hundreds of millions who are dependent on agriculture. Adaptation to the increased variability in weather patterns requires the adoption of ecological farming practices which are climate-resilient as well as productive.

This paper looks at how ecological agriculture, by building healthy soils, cultivating biological diversity and improving water harvesting and management, can strengthen farmers’ capacity to adapt to climate change. Accordingly, the authors call for a reorientation of policy, funding and research priorities from the dominant industrial agriculture model to ecological agriculture. At the same time, recourse to carbon markets to finance adaptation efforts through trade in soil carbon credits is rejected as an unsustainable, wrong-headed approach to meeting the climate challenge.
Instead, facing the vagaries of climate change demands a concerted effort by governments, multilateral agencies, researchers and farmers to support the transition to ecological agriculture. Towards this end, this paper outlines a roadmap of measures for promoting truly climate-resilient farming systems.

Contents:

1.  Introduction
2.  Climate Change and Agriculture
Climate impacts on agriculture: the role of temperature and rainfall
Coventional agriculture is a major contributor to climate change
3.  Ecological Agriculture is Essential to Meet the Climate Challenge
Building healthy soils
Building resilience through diversity
Emphasizing water management and harvesting techniques
Increasing productivity in the face of climate change
4. False Solutions: The Carbon Market Threat
Carbon market basics
Creating agricultural soil carbon offset credits
5.  A Roadmap towards Climate Resilience through Ecological Agriculture
6. Conclusion

References
Order the Book from:

TWN Online Bookshop at: www.twnshop.com or contact Third World Network at 131 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia.
Website: www.twnside.org.sg
Tel: 604-2266159
Fax: 604-2264505
Email: twnet@po.jaring.my for further information.

Organic farming is a production system that relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions to sustain the health of soils, ecosystems and people. Instead of using synthetic inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides, hormones or feed additives, organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment for a good quality of life for all involved. The system largely depends on crop rotations, crop residues, animal manures, off-farm organic waste, mineral grade rock additives and biological system of nutrient mobilisation and plant protection. A growing awareness, rising market demand, inclination amongst farmers to go organic and increasing institutional support has contributed towards making organic farming a lucrative career opportunity.

Academics

There is a lot of demand for organic produce in the national and international markets. Many organisations are entering this sector leading to a need for qualified or trained manpower for guidance in production, processing and marketing. In order to pursue a career in organic agricultural production, students must possess a basic knowledge in agriculture. A number of institutions have started graduate and postgraduate courses in organic agriculture such as a masters programme in organic food production and certification at Amity University, Noida. The agronomy division of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi has started a postgraduate course in ‘Package and practices for organic farming’ while the National Centre for Organic Farming, Ghaziabad offers need based training programmes for interested entrepreneurs.

Skills required

“A good knowledge of soil science, water management, crop production, plant protection and harvesting techniques is absolutely essential. Knowledge of organic standards, certification and market is important as well,” says Harish Tewari, an agricultural microbiologist, organic farming expert and part owner of Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farming (WWOOF) India. “Students can explore new technologies related to organic farming like bio-fertilisers, bio-pesticides, pheromone traps, etc,” adds Tewari. Organic producers must adhere to well-defined production, post-harvesting processing and certification standards which are founded by International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). The nodal agency in India is Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) which formulates guidelines for organic farming in the country and accredits different agencies for organic certification. Organic producers must follow the principles of health, ecology, fairness and care established by IFOAM in September, 2005.

Scope

“India’s rich heritage of agricultural traditions makes it suitable for designing organic production systems. But chemical farming methods have dominated for so long that there is a great need for qualified specialists capable of providing the know-how,” observes Tewari. Organic agriculture offers price premiums due to high demand, natural resource conservation and social benefits like generation of rural employment and local food security. “India can greatly benefit from the export of organic foods but it needs to devote attention to market intelligence regarding which product to grow, where to sell, distribution channels, competition and marketing access,” points out Malavika Dadlani, joint director, IARI.  There is awareness amongst farmers, researchers and policymakers about organic production but more is needed to streamline production, certification and marketing of organic produce. “With greater political will and investment in research, extension and marketing infrastructure more of this potential could be realised,” adds Malavika.

Job opportunities

The global market for organic food has touched $ 31 billion and is set to increase while the worldwide organic area is more than 24 million hectares in more than 130 countries. In organic production system, labour is relatively cheap compared to input costs, thus favouring a conversion to less input-dependent and a more labour intensive production system. Students can join organic production companies or certification and export agencies after the completion of their training. They can also start their own production and marketing chains for organic produce involving different self-help groups in the process.

Prospects

The Indian organic farming industry is estimated at $ 78 million and is almost entirely export oriented. According to APEDA, about 585,970 tonnes of organic products worth Rs 301 million are being exported from India. In India, 528,171 hectare area is under organic farming with 44,926 certified organic farms accounting for 0.3 per cent of total agricultural land. Organic farming is gaining gradual momentum across the world.

Remuneration

A global survey shows that organic agriculture is now practiced in more than 130 countries with a total area of 30.4 million hectares in 0.7 million number of organic farms. Global demand for organic products remains robust, with sales increasing by over $ 5 billion a year. However, as a market driven sector, it is tough to quote a specific figure for entry-level remuneration.

Institute watch
Amity University, Noida
Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
National Centre for Organic Farming, Ghaziabad
Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi
Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab

Farm Based Curriculum for School Aged Children and Youth

Source : http://multiworldindia.org/natural-farming-institute/

Samudra Gupta Kashyap : Guwahati, Fri Apr 13 2012, 00:02 hrs

The state government is set to embark on a mission to popularise organic farming. Once the monsoon gets over — right now the state is witnessing only pre-monsoon showers — the agriculture department will identify 30 bighas of land in each of the 126 Assembly constituencies across Assam and encourage people to take to cultivation of organic crops in a big way.

“We are initially looking at creating role models and success stories in every Assembly segment. This will not only spread the message but also engage the respective legislators to get involved in the initiative,” says Agriculture Minister Nilamani Sen Deka. For this, Deka’s department has already earmarked Rs 20 crore, which will not only take care of the necessary inputs but also provide Rs 15 lakh as financial assistance against every 30 bighas of land.

Plans drawn up by the department have a three-pronged strategy — encourage younger people to take up farming, give them good returns and create role models, and discourage farming that uses a lot of pesticides and fertilisers.

“We want to encourage groups of youth, say farmers’ cooperatives, to grab this opportunity. It will also help check exodus of rural youth to the urban centres. And most importantly, we can also look at the export market in order to send out premium items like bora (sticky) and joha (aroma) rice,” says Deka.

Other items identified for promotion as part of the organic farming mission include turmeric, ginger, potato and lemon and various kinds of vegetables. Assam is one of the major producers of ginger in the country.

Interestingly, between 20 and 25 per cent of Assam’s farmlands are already organic by default, thanks to shortage of chemical fertilisers as also due to the Brahmaputra and most of its tributaries leaving behind rich alluvium in the fields after the floods recede.

With organic farming now on the official agenda, the Assam government is looking at how to check the rampant use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides in agriculture. “We also intend to create a general awareness among the people about the dangers of consuming such products, particularly vegetables. A special market exclusively for organic products is being opened soon in Guwahati, which will help make people aware,” hopes Deka.

Lauding the Assam government initiative, Dr K M Bujarbaruah, Vice-Chancellor of Assam Agricultural University, says organic farming would also help boost the agricultural output. “If the state can achieve a record 50.8 lakh tonnes of rice production during 2001-11 and set for itself a target of 54.7 lakh tonnes for the current year, it can also produce more through the organic route,” he adds.

Dr Bujarbaruah has suggested identification of land in the high-production zones where different areas could be categorised for organic and hybrid farming. “With soil mapping already done for 13 districts, it is now not difficult to know the deficiencies in different areas. Accordingly, we can take steps to tackle the area-specific problems,” he says.

(Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/assams-new-farm-mantra-go-organic/936098/0)

A two-day training programme on organic farming of turmeric was inaugurated today at Tiger Camp in Imphal East organised by KVK Andro under the sponsorship of Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture, and Government of India.
As resource persons of the training programme, Dr Th Ribindro, Plant Protection Subject Matter Specialist of KVK Andro and Th Ramananda, Project Assistant of Biotechnology have spoke on the use of artificial fertilisers for larger production.Around 30 progressive farmers of Tiger Camp and its surrounding areas have participated in the training programme.

(Source: The Sangai Express, Imphal, April 20 2012

http://e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=Snipp6..210412.apr12)

Train 339 has been famously dubbed as India’s “Cancer Train” leaves every night at 10.30 pm, from small station of Punjab to a very special destination. Passengers wear a sad and dismal face and comprise mostly of young children and adult men. It carries passengers from the state of Punjab to a government run hospital to the neighboring state of Rajasthan, a grueling journey of 8 hours.

Our planet’s biodiversity is under attack from many different fronts. Chemical centric agriculture is not only affecting the ecology but is turning out to be a death warrant for many communities around the world. This is clearly evident in Punjab where the so called “Green Revolution” of 1960s has resulted in the devastation of the ecosystem and the loss of its biodiversity. The new farming technique with fertilizers and pesticides has resulted in an environmental degradation which is bringing a fast death to one of the world’s oldest civilization.

Being one of the world’s oldest civilization as some western archaeologists working on the ruins of Harappa and Mohenjodaro (present day Pakistan) estimate it to be as old as 10,000 years. Punjab (Punj = Five, Ab= water) translates to the land of five rivers. This is the birthplace of the world’s oldest religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. The concept of Karma, yoga, Vedas, and the elusive Sanskrit language took shape on the banks of these five rivers in Northern India. Punjab’s old way of living disappeared in the midst.

According to the world health organization, India will be the most populated country on Earth by 2050. Currently its education is in disarray and corruption is rampant not only in the government sector but also amongst the majority of the local. It is puzzling that a land capable of producing enlightened and brilliant minds is now the reason of its own demise. The most damaging blow to India and particularly to Punjab is shaping up in the form of an ecological disaster. Green revolution was termed in the 1960s and was a collaborative effort to increase agricultural production around the world. It included the distribution of hybridized seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides to the farmers. To conserve and sustain life on earth, ecologists and evolutionary biologists advocate for the protection of nature. Many ecologists need to educate public and government about environmental issues.

Dr. Carlson studied the environmental problems caused by pesticides, particularly DDT. Her research concluded that uncontrolled and unexamined pesticide use was harming not only animals, but humans as well. Dr. Carlson documented her research and published Silent Spring (1962). Aptly named, the book paints a sad scene in spring in which no birds could be heard because they had all died by over use of pesticides. Her research showed that DDT and other pesticides cause cancer and their use in agriculture was a threat to wildlife, particularly birds.

DDT is one of the most well-known pesticides. It is highly hydrophobic, colorless, and with a weak chemical odor. Due to its hydrophobic property, it readily gets absorbed in soil. In soil, it has a half life of between 22 days to as long as 30 years. Some of the ways that it can degrade is through photolysis, which is the breakdown of chemical compound by photons. It is also degraded by microorganisms in soil that conduct aerobic respiration, in which prokaryotes’, in the presence of oxygen, break down the chemical compound by hydrolysis. However, the rate at which DDT biodegrades is slow. When introduced in the aquatic environment by means of runoffs, it is quickly absorbed by the organisms and the rate at which this pesticide accumulates is greater than the rate at which it is lost. Therefore, this bioaccumulation is greater in apex predators like predatory birds. DDT is lipophillic and it is stored mainly in body fat. It is highly resistant to metabolism with a half-life in human ranging from 6 to 10 years.

DDT use in the United States was banned in 1972 due to the determination of Rachael Carson who summed up her message, “The control of nature is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and philosophy, when it was supposed that nature exists for the convenience of man”.

Traversing 7500 miles to the other face of the globe we arrive in Punjab where to this day harmful pesticides including DDT are being used liberally since 1960s. Since then, India’s few fertile lands increased their production of wheat and rice by four fold. This green revolution of India came in the form of new irrigation methods, hybrid seeds, and pesticides and was hailed as a great success. Punjab became the bread basket of India feeding billions of its citizens. But 50 years later, Punjab’s water table is nearly tapped out, its soil severely degraded, and farmer livelihood at stake under mounting debt burdens.

Dan Zwerdling; of npr.org, filed reports on the public-health implications of Punjab’s chemical centric agriculture. He says, “People say they never used to see so many cancer patients in this farm region. Cancer was considered an urban disease, suffered by people who lived in cities choked with industry and pollution.” As Zwerdling travels through the villages of Punjab he reports that every village with a population of 3000 to 5000 has at least 100 cases of cancer.

A South African toxiocologist Dr. Carin Smit reported that some regions that grow cotton in Punjab have their water sources polluted and this resulted in widespread cases of Cancer.

Dr Smit found shocking levels of Uranium content in these water sources. He conducted an experiment where the hair samples of young children were sent to Germany’s Micro-trace Mineral Lab. On June 13, 2010, the lab reported high levels of uranium in these samples. Dr Carin Smit stated, “The hair results are surprising. We expected an arsenic exposure. Instead, over 80% of adult and children, many of which are suffering from cerebral palsy and mental retardation, showed pathological levels for uranium.”

Water footprint denotes the volume of water (cubic meters per year) required to sustain a population. About 84% of the water footprint of cotton consumption is in India and Uzbekistan (Chapagain and Hoekstra 9). Cotton demands large amount of water and requires enormous amount of fertilizers and pesticides. The total quantity of pesticides used in the production of cotton leaches out of the plant root zone and gets in the ground water bodies. The nitrate ions in the blood can inactivate hemoglobin, reducing the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. According to Dr. Hoekstra, “Nitrates in the drinking water can be harmful as the nitrite ions are formed in the gastrointestinal tract by the chemical reduction of the nitrate ions.” (Chapagain and Hoekstra 19).

He further adds, “Only 2.4 percent of the world’s arable land is planted with cotton yet cotton accounts for 24 percent of the world’s insecticide market and 11 percent of the sale of global pesticides.” (Chapagain and Hoekstra 19). The pesticides and nutrients from the cotton plant also make its way into the surface water which stimulates the growth of algae and creates vast dead zones in the bodies of water. Figure 1.1 shows the fertilizer application during the production of cotton and the nitrogen injected into the water bodies.

Rise in cancer cases has taken the authorities by surprise and the lack of proper diagnosis center weighs heavily on the villagers. Zwerdling of npr.org reports that every night train 339 pulls into a small station in the western Punjab and carries 60 cancer patients from Punjab to a government run Acharya Tulsi Cancer Hospital and research centre in the neighboring state of Rajasthan. Zwerdling cannot help but notice the young ages of the passengers and interestingly most of the passengers are from the cotton belt and other regions where wheat is heavily grown.

So, is there a way out for Punjab or any other region of the world experiencing an ecological genocide due to pesticides? The answer may lie literally in the “root” of the problem. Annual plants are plants which sprout from seeds, produce new seeds and die every year. All the grains (rice, wheat, corn, etc.) that feed billions of people around the world come from annuals.

Perennials are plants that have life expectancy of many years. According to USDA geneticists Edward Buckler who studies corn at Cornell University, “The whole world is mostly perennials. We used domesticate annuals not because Annuals were better but because Neolithic farmers rapidly made them better by replanting the ones from thriving plants, year after year. Perennials did not benefit from that kind of selective breeding. Their natural advantage became a handicap. They became the road not taken.” The main advantage of Perennials is its deep dense root systems which make them resilient and its deep roots fuel the rebirth of plants each spring.

Annuals mostly tap into the top 1 foot of the soil. This area of the soil gets depleted very fast forcing farmers to inject more fertilizers. Most of this fertilizer washes away into surface and ground water. Since annuals leave the ground bare much of the year, it gives rise to weeds and in-turn promotes more use of pesticides by the farmers. Annuals also are the main reasons for soil erosion.

According to Wes Jackson, president of the Land Institute in Salina Kansas, “Worldwide, one estimate put the rate of soil erosion from plowed fields at ten to a hundred times the rate of soil production. Unless this disease is checked, the human race will wilt like any other crop.” Perennial grains would help in all of the above mentioned problems. They reduce soil erosion by keeping the ground covered annually. Ground cover also prevents weed from invading the fields and dramatically reduces the use of pesticides. Deep roots stabilize the soil and make the grains resilient. According to Buckler; “Perennials’ capture water and nutrients 10 to 12 ft down in the soil, 11 months of the year. The deep roots and ground cover would also hold onto the fertilizer – reducing the cost to the farmer as well as to the environment.”

Scientists like Edward Buckler are going back to that road not taken and have successfully produced perennial wheat-wheatgrass hybrid which now can be converted into flour. Although the yield at their research centers might be low to compete with the annual wheat yield in Punjab but given the life or death situation in the developing world, it is one of the few available choices. Amber waves of perennial grain maybe decades away, but Buckler says, “I think we should take a shot at revolutionizing agriculture.” Regions like Punjab need people like Edward Buckler and Rachael Carlson to avoid its untimely death. Until then, an ever increasing line of passengers can be seen travelling right back to that station for that 8 hour ride back home, on the cancer train.

Author: Ranbir Singh Gill (UC Berkeley), Global Sikh News

(source and full article: http://sikhsangat.org/1699/punjab-green-revolution-a-death-to-a-civilization/)