Time to move from green to evergreen revolution

With soil fertility declining to almost zero; increased soil erosion expanding the spread of deserts; mining of underwater water sucking aquifers dry; and with chemical inputs contaminating the entire food chain, industrial agriculture has acerbated environmental destruction. Enough evidence is available worldwide to know that the days of chemical farming are nearing an end

Several years ago I was in a conference at the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai. A presentation by the Italy-based Third World Academy with the speaker explaining how in the absence of nitrogenous fertiliser application, considering nitrogenous fertilisers were very expensive since the State had refused to provide any subsidy support, Brazil had still emerged as one of top producers globally of sugarcane and soybean.

Nobel laureate, the late Norman Borlaug, who was also present in the conference, wouldn't agree. His argument was that crop production cannot increase at that level without the application of chemical fertilisers. Third World Academy scientists did answer by saying that their study showed farmers had gone in for alternative ways (including using biological alternatives) to increase crop productivity. Necessity is the mother of invention, they argued. Borlaug would still not agree. Eventually, Third World Academy invited Borlaug for a short visit to Brazil, to which the Nobel laureate agreed.

I do not know what impression Borlaug must have carried after his return from Brazil, but I found the analysis presented at the conference to be very exciting and of course futuristic. Why I thought the Third World Academy's research analysis had tremendous implications for the future was simply because it clearly showed that a world without chemical fertilisers (and also pesticides, as a lot of research subsequently demonstrates) was possible. All it needed was to shift the focus of research and development away from chemical farming – to move towards agro-ecological farming systems.

So when I heard Prime Minister Narendra Modi say: "Organic farming is our duty," while addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Aug 15, 2022, adding that "natural farming is also a way of becoming self-reliant," I tend to be in complete agreement. Despite a dominant class of mainline agricultural scientists arguing against the switch-over to organic farming fearing an anticipated decrease in food production, I think the time has come to dispel those largely built-up apprehensions.

Those who think India will be on a backfoot with regard to food security need to think again. Business as usual is certainly not the way forward, as the 2009 International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) had conclusively shown. With soil fertility declining to almost zero; increased soil erosion expanding the spread of deserts; mining of underwater water sucking aquifers dry; and with chemical inputs contaminating the entire food chain, industrial agriculture has acerbated environmental destruction. Enough evidence is available worldwide to know that the days of chemical farming are nearing an end.

A combination of worsening climate change factors on the one hand, the devastation of natural resources on the other and at the same time the growing farm distress that the world is grappling with, agriculture seems to be desperately crying for a change. It is a broken food system at best, that needs immediate fixing. It's time to move from producing food surpluses that suits the needs of the multinational food giants, and instead shift to ensuring safe and healthy food for the masses.

If the growing intent is to bring about a transformation in the prevalent food systems, it surely is the time to brace agro-ecological farming systems. But agro-ecological farming systems cannot be expected to work wonders when implemented in isolation. It needs an appropriate framework of business, trade and financial services to cater to the changing needs. It also needs the farm prices to be based on an ecosystem services approach, and more importantly to ensure that farming becomes an economically-viable enterprise all efforts should be to bring a smile on the face of farmers.

This will require a paradigm shift in thinking and approach. While the dominant economic as well as the agricultural research system will discourage any change, but drawing from what Albert Einstein had once said, and what the powers that be need to impeccably understand is that the same kind of thinking that led to the farm crisis cannot be expected to provide a way to emerge out of it. We therefore would need a change, bringing in freshness in policy planning, to usher in an ever-lasting change. Setting aside all the fears, the future of agriculture should entail a farming system that is ecologically sustainable, and drastically cuts back on Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

It all must begin by reforming the research and development infrastructure, as well as approach. When Green Revolution came in, a large number of agricultural scientists went to the Ohio State University and also to the University of California at Davis to be educated in the land-grant system of education that India had borrowed. No wonder, Green Revolution did bring in newer technology to increase crop production to fight global hunger, and it did increase food production several times. Global cereal production for instance did increase by 175 per cent since the 1960s. But intensive farming practices, in the process, have severely added to the worsening of the environmental crisis.

It is therefore high time to move from the era of Green Revolution to a sustained period of an Evergreen Revolution. It becomes absolutely necessary to feed the world in a sustainable manner, without inflicting any more damage to the already plundered but precious natural resources. While the Green Revolution has run out of steam, a radical reform in the education system is the first prerogative, and accordingly the urgent need would be to redesign the research curriculum towards meeting the renewed goals of sustainability.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier equated natural farming with self-reliance, an Evergreen Revolution, with reduced dependence on external inputs, can easily form the hallmark of atmanirbharta. The underlying aim should be to not only look forward to a happy farmer, who is pulled out of a continuing cycle of debt and suicide; but to also fulfil the raging health needs of the consumers. An ecologically vibrant farming culture and a healthy class of consumers together can truly lead to sabka saath sabka vikas. I am very hopeful that India can redraw the agricultural sustainability map thereby showing that a chemical-free world is possible.

(The author is a noted food policy analyst and an expert on issues related to the agriculture sector. He writes on food, agriculture and hunger)