Haryana farmer’s lesson for Sri Lanka: Path to transform is slow & steady
By Manish Anand
Sonipat, April 30: The Sri Lankan economy crashed last year after the farmers in the island nation found that the authoritarian measure of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to adopt organic farming left them with failed crops. Sri Lanka subsequently faced extreme food crisis, which along with the accompanying drying up of remittances made the island nation default on servicing its over $50 billion of foreign debt.
Sonipat in Haryana was also reeling under excessive usage of chemical fertilisers in its principal paddy crop. The district in Haryana, bordering India’s national capital, is India’s cash-rich basmati rice bowl. But the district being close to New Delhi has seen the agricultural scientists from within the country and abroad working in a close association with farmers, helping them to embark on the path of transformation for chemical-free farming.
“There can be a gradual shift from chemical-based farming to natural ways of cultivating crops, and also shifting away from water guzzler rice for better crops, which can fetch more prices for the farmers. An abrupt change can bring disruption, but gradual approach with significant scaling will ensure that the agrarian economy is stable,” said Kunwar Singh Chouhan, a Padam Shri awardee farmer from Aterna village in the Sonipat district in Haryana.
In the course of the past few years, Chouhan led villagers to shift to natural farming and grow babycorn, sweetcorn, mushroom, and cotton. “We began shifting away from rice cultivation in 1998 and now farmers are raising the four short-duration crops in over 2500 acres of land in Aterna and the adjoining villages. The farmers are exporting sweetcorns and babycorns to Norway and Dubai,” added Chouhan.
The farmers have taken advantage of the scheme of the Haryana government ‘Mera Pani, Meri Virasat’, which incentivises them to shift from the water-intensive rice crops. “Nature can take care of pests and insects. But by excessive chemical spraying we even kill the friendly insects which devour the crop harming pests. We have demonstrated to the agricultural scientists that the nature very effectively deals with pests and insects. We have been just using Neem oil to deal with pests,” said Chouhan, who is also a member of the governing body of the Indian Agricultural Research (ICAR).
The ICAR governing body recently decided that it would work with the farmers to discourage them from using chemical farmers when crops have matured. “From 15 days to maturing of the crops, there is absolutely no need for spraying with chemical pesticides and insecticides. This will ensure that food will be without chemical residues. Also, the banned chemical insecticides must not be available in the market,” added Chouhan.
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