There is so much written on this topic, yet so little is understood by most people!! Maybe I can say, a lot is misunderstood. I feel compelled to put my thoughts down... My thoughts are largely what I have learnt from Scientists I have been inspired by and also, facts on agriculture, working in this field for well over a decade. One thing I have noticed in most people is that he /she often take a stand /position, in other words, their mind is made up and is therefore not open for discussions. So, very conveniently people opt to refer to only those aspects that support their argument and therefore give a narrow picture of events. So, here I attempt to take you all through a journey of basics in agriculture and I will use quotes from well known scientists to present a balanced picture of things as they are. I would like you all to understand the issues, concerns and challenges facing us today.
In an effort to meet our food requirements, about 11% of the world's land surface is used to produce crops, a collective area about the size of South America, and only limited potential remains for expanding the area of land under cultivation. Most of the additional gains can be made in South America and in sub-Saharan Africa, and they will be made only with the full application of all the tools available to agriculture. At the same time, about 20% of the arable land since 1950 has been lost subsequently, to salinization, desertification, urban sprawl, erosion, and other factors, so we are left with feeding 6.3 billion people today on about four-fifths of the land on which we were feeding 2.5 billion people in 1950, this being possible though a combination of selection, breeding, improved irrigation systems, soil conservation, and the judicious application of fertilizers. Modern agriculture scarcely resembles the agriculture of the 1940s, and yet it is not adequate, partly for political and social reasons, to feed all people well.
Having said this, I would like to highlight that these past 40 /50 years, particularly, post green revolution, dramatic yields were obtained in the two main staple crops of India, rice and wheat. Scientists involved in the revolution had warned all farmers to adopt sustainable agriculture, namely, rotation of crops, leaving land fallow, to name a few. But being human beings, greed took over, and the soil in India today is far from desirable. Now, allow me to please bring to your attention an important fact. All countries that uses pesticides and fertilizers are not in the same situation as India, for example, the Netherlands. Therefore, the problem lies elsewhere and not on Inorganic agriculture.
Many NGOs think switching to Organic farming is the solution. But the fact is, that nowhere has any farmer shown comparable yields between the two types of farming. Few NGOs also use 'fear psychosis' to instil fear and apprehensions amongst laymen about the technological advances in Agriculture today. All these have created doubts, insecurities, mistrust against Scientists and the Government. Fact of the matter is inspite of fertilizers and other inputs, the farmer gets only half of what is the potential yield. I will address the problems faced in the second part of the post.
Let me draw your attention to a very important quote by Dr. Peter Raven, Director at the Missouri Botanical Garden, well respected by his peers both within and outside his country. He says says and I quote, "Among all human activities, agriculture, grazing, and forestry are the most destructive of biodiversity, accounting for the exploitative use of more than half of the world's land surface." Having said that he goes on to say that however, we need to practice agriculture to feed ourselves. In other words, its all about weighing our pros and cons.
There is no perfect way or solution. All we need to do is weigh our options and take calculated risks for survival of as many species on Planet Earth as we know. In the second post on this topic, I plan to present the advances Agriculture has made since 19th century, particularly in India and the challenges we face today. I decided to write on this subject as 2 separate posts, for easy assimilation. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments.
