Você está na página 1de 2

Contours of Alternative Agriculture

That use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is a cause of serious concern is universally
recognized. Hence, even mainstream agriculture scientists and institutions are advocating INM
and IPM (Integrated Nutrition Management and Integrated Pest Management) which in simple
words means, at the least, that one need not rely exclusively on chemical fertilizers and
insecticides.
If one is not to rely on chemical fertilisers and insecticides are there other methods of
farming that can feed the world? If so, what are these methods? There are many such methods
but basic principles of Alternative Agriculture are few and simple. For healthy child, first thing
you need is a healthy mother. So, first need is to improve soil health in general and increase
organic content of soil in particular. It is universally recognized by agriculture scientists that in
areas of green revolution, organic content of soil in particular and soil health in general is
seriously deficient. Through chemical fertilisers we have been regularly and repeatedly feeding
soil with only limited number of nutrients which obviously is not a balanced diet at all. Common
sense, or rather school level science, tells us that all living being need balanced diet; all nutrients
needed by body of a plant or animal should be provided and moreover these be provided through
multiple sources. Hence, to ensure soil health two things need to be done.
Mono-cropping has to be shunned like plague. If we continue with same product cycle
based on one or two crops, then we are repeatedly taking out same set of nutrients in fixed
proportions from soil and there is no simple method of chemically replenishing all of these. So,
there has to be diversity in crop production. In fact mixed cropping, with leguminous crops as
one essential ingredient is advisable as these crops have nitrogen fixing property (i.e. ability to
convert huge amount of nitrogen available in air to a form where plant can make use of it). It is
common experience that wheat grown on fields where Guar (cluster beans) had been planted
earlier gives better yield.
Having ensured crop diversity, second important step in improving soil health is to
use/sell what ever we can use/sell but return most of the rest back to soil. This can be most
simply done by using crop waste for mulching. We can cut plant waste to small pieces and
spread it all over the field. Initially it will provide cover to the soil, retain moisture reducing
irrigation frequency, and curb weed growth but as it decays, it will also return nutrients back to
soil. So, mulching is a multipurpose tool and a simple tool at that. (However, for best results
from day one, it needs to be learnt as it has its own set of do’s and don’ts.)
But for mulching and bio-diversity to be able to improve soil health rapidly, for
agricultural waste to decompose rapidly and return nutrients to soil, number of living organisms
in soil has to increase. Therefore, use of insecticides and chemical fertilisers has to stop as these
chemicals kill living organisms of soil. To aid the process of regeneration of living organisms in
soil, use of simple preparations of animal dung and urine is made. These simple preparations of
dung and urine introduce living organisms to the field where bio mass is available for them to
feed on and decompose. Often it is argued that it is not possible to meet the nutritional
requirements of agriculture only through cattle dung as enough number of cattle is simply not
there. This involves a methodological flaw. In these calculations, mainstream agriculture
scientists calculate nitrogen available from cattle dung and come up with huge amount of cattle
dung that has to be used as farm yard manure to replace Urea. Actually, in alternative agriculture
cow dung is primarily used to introduce micro-organisms to soil and not to provide nutrients per
say. Hence, many acres of land can be managed with just one or two animals.
Sun is the only primary source of energy for earth and solar energy is mainly tapped by
plants for use of other living beings including humans. So, another basic principle of alternative
agriculture is to maximise tapping of sun energy. For that, a field should, as far as possible, never
be left with out crops. Therefore, mix of short, medium and long duration crops etc need to be
combined so that when one crop is harvested, another will be there to tap sun energy. Trees, with
their deep roots, play an important role in providing nutrition to crops. They do so by transferring
nutrients from the depth of soil, where they are generally available in abundant quantity but
which shallow rooted seasonal crops can not access, to top layer through their fallen leaves and
fruits. Hence, every acre of land must have 5-7 trees too. Around these trees, those crops can be
grown which are tolerant of shade.
If these simple steps are taken, soil health will improve tremendously. With healthy soil,
plants, if grown with good agronomic practices, are likely to be resistant to pest and disease.
Moreover, crop diversity will ensure that even if there is a pest/disease attack it does not go out
of hand and only part of farmers’ crop is affected. (By the way most of the farmer suicides have
been reported from area of commercial monoculture.) Then, there are various home remedies
like Neem preparations which have been found to be effective in controlling most of the pest
attacks.
These are some basic contours of alternative agriculture. Off course, alternative
agriculture is not limited to these. There are many other things like right way of irrigating a tree
or sowing rice like wheat or producing more rice with much less water. All these need to be
learned under suitable guidance but one can begin with basic principles mentioned here on part
of one’s land. However, one must be clear that alternative agriculture is not simply a throw back
to good old days but it combines use of traditional folk wisdom with scientific knowledge
generated during last half a century or so.
Finally, the million dollar question, is it viable? Can it produce enough? Can it produce it
at affordable prices for common man? To all these questions, answer is YES. There are enough
scientific studies, as scientific and as definitive or otherwise as any other ‘scientific’ study, to
show this.
In the era of TINA (There is No Alternative), it is difficult to convince people of the
alternative, particularly if it is a self-reliant alternative with no business interest to promote it,
which goes against the trend of ‘latest is best’ and which has a laser thin difference with ‘all past
was glorious’ approach. But we certainly have to look for alternatives for two reasons. One,
chemical fertilisers are petro-derivatives and their reserves are fast dwindling. Secondly, we can
not have our food supplies mortgaged to mega corporations as GM technologies do.
Coming back to Integrated Nutrition and Pest Management, one would not have much to
quarrel with it, and insist on only natural or organic, if it meant using chemicals as a last resort,
but in practice Integrated Nutrition and Pest Management is used as a smoke screen to ward off
well documented criticism of harmful consequences of these chemicals and gives an impression
that chemicals are only one part of the package. With business interest there to promote chemical
part and no agency to promote other simpler no cost local alternatives in a sustained manner, it is
not difficult to see what gets promoted. We need to recall that Bhopal happened at an insecticide
plant and it has powerful promoters. On the other hand, Alternative Agriculture which has
nothing to sell and profit from, hence, no powerful promoters, is making a slow progress.
(Rajinder Chaudhary, Professor, Department of Economics, MDU, Rohtak
<rajinderc@gmail.com>).

Você também pode gostar