Organic farming only for rich farmers; chemicals for the rest

By Mattia Michielan

Bangalore(Feb. 21)—For centuries in the 33 villages of Yellandur Taluk farmers had grown rice, sugar cane, coconuts, paddy, jowar and ragi using what Mother Nature provided.

In 1968, when the Western world was being rocked by the hippie revolution and women’s rights movement, chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides began to be used in India, drastically changing farmer’s lives.

Although the produce increased, the land began to lose nutrients, and locals started facing health problems.

“In recent years farmers are becoming aware of the hazard­s that chemicals bring,” said N. Mahadevaiah, assist­ant director of the Agricultural Depart­ment, Yellandur, “They are using less chemicals and they choose bio-pests or bio-fertilizer but the soil had lost many of its nutrients.”

The Agricultural Department is providing bio-manure, vermi-compost and other organic fertilizers to farmers, but according to Mahadevaiah “the switch to organic will take time.”

He says fertilizers are still necessary to ensure a good harvest.

Organic farming seems confined to people that do not depend primarily on agriculture.  Dr. Shashikala Ramesh, owner of a private hospital in Yellandur, is an example. She owns 40 acres of land where bananas, paddy, sugar cane and turmeric are being cultivated with organic methods.

“A mixture of neem, datura and pomegranate is prepared, left to ferment for a few days and mixed with urea and cow dung. After it fer­ments we spray this organic pest instead of the chemical one,” Shashikala said.

“Organic farming gives good results,” said A.V. Shetty, who is among the big­gest farmers in the taluk, “but the problem is that the land has lost a lot of nutrients, and farmers are looking for short term revenues.”

Anand, owner of Nanda Agro Agency, a shop selling agricultural products, said that in the last few years he has been trying to spread awareness among the locals about the hazards of chemicals and what benefits organic plantation can give. It is only recently that the sale of bio-products is increasing, he said.

“Organic grown turmeric plants are much more resistant to pests, and the product is of excellent quality,” he said, pointing to some pictures of the plant.


Green revolution effect

“Once upon a time, farmers were saving some seeds for the next season,” said S. Puttanah, from the Sri Siddeswara Agro Agency in Yellandur. “Now they prefer to buy packs of seeds.”
 
For Rs.1,200 a farmer can buy a 5-kilogram pack of hybrid maize with a red label on the pack that says: “Treated with poison (tiran, K-obioland, carban­dazim). Do not use for food, feed and oil purposes.”

Puttanah explains that this hybrid-seed has a thin layer of poison that is supposed to be enough to last all the season.

“After two months the clients come back to buy some pesti­cides,” he said. “Here it is not possible to grow anything without chemical fertilizer. After decades of usage of fertilizer and pesticides, the land now needs chemicals because other­wise it will be impossible to harvest.”

Anand picked up a bottle of Rulout from between a box of fungi­cide and acaricide pesticide. “This product—made by Hy­derabad Chemicals—is the Indian version of Roundup,” he said.
“Roundup is mostly sold to big farmers—small ones cannot afford to buy it,” Puttanah said. The pesticide costs Rs.1,400 for a 5-liter container. He said that the the pesticide, made by Monsanto, is mainly sprayed to rid fields of weeds.
“Rondup is mainly for ciprus rotundus—a bad weed—but other plants don’t have any prob­lems with it,” said Mahadevaiah, the shop owner.

Young people prefer to move into cities and work in indus­try instead of working on farms. The lack of laborers play a big role in agriculture because farmers have to use pesticides in place of the labor force that once upon was employed in cutting down weeds.

The expenditure per acre of each farmer de­pends mainly on the kind of crop, but Mahadevaiah said farmers spend an average of Rs.5,000 per acre of pest and fertilizer. Shetty, the Yellandur Taluk farmer, said he spends between Rs.2,000 and Rs.5,000 per acre of crop, but he also uses manure from his farm to fertilize his fields. Sometime it is enough to spray only one time a season, but sometimes he needs to spray up to three times.

The Agricultural Department gives a 50 percent subsidy to farm­ers who want to buy fertilizers, but Mahadevaiah said that the demand is mainly for pesticides, and they are not subsidized. This is the reason that a lot of agro agencies in the town sell pesticides.

“Farmers have to ask for loans from neighbors to be able to cover this high expenditure and that puts them in this circle of debt from which can hardly escape,” Mahadevaiah said.

Endosulfan used in moderation

“Endosulfan is used only in peanut plantations—it’s not needed here.” said Dr. Shashikala Ramesh. A few steps from her private hospital it was possible to find endosul­fan sold for Rs.75 for 250 millilitres.
                                                        
“To buy endosulfan you should have a special permission from the Agricultural De­partment,” said Chan­drashekar, owner of an agro agency.

“In west Karnataka, endosulfan caused a lot of problems because it was sprayed by helicopters in wide coffee plantations,” said Nanda Agro Agency’s Anand. “Here, it is not affecting the farmers,  who spray it on just a few acres.”
Anand suggests “moderate usage” of endosulfan to the farmers who buy it, but he denied the need for any permit

to buy it. Mahadevaiah said endosulfan is freely available, and that it is mainly use for paddy crops and sugar cane.

“So far we haven’t faced any problems because we use only maximum of a liter per acre,” he said.

GM seeds needed?

When asked about the use of genetically modified seeds, S. Puttanah frowned at me—he did not know what a GM seed is.

Mahadevaiah said GM seeds are unlikely to be introduced in Yellandur anytime soon because the primary crops

are ragi and paddy, and so far there is no interest from big multinationals to work on these crops.

“I am not supposed to give any comment regard­ing Monsanto’s seed, but my personal opinion is that it’s not good at all because this food causes health problems and it will not help the farmer,” he said.

Last word to the farmer

The last word goes to Mahasantra, a small-scale farmer who was cycling in the sunset to a bar to have a sip of alcohol, his only luxury and expenditure of the day.

“Only young farmers can understand what chemicals are,” he said. “The old ones don’t even know what product they are using.”

While he earns around Rs.45,000 a year, he has to spend at least Rs.5,000 annually for chemical pesticides and fertilizer for his one-acre crop. In addition to that he said that in case of need of help in the farm he has to pay a laborer Rs.100 per day. All of this is beyond the budget of someone that earns about Rs.125 daily.

“Government people hardly came once a year to see the farms,” he said. “They simply give us the pesticide, but we need to rent the tools to spray it—that costs Rs.25 per day—and it is only with experience that we learnt to tie a cloth around our mouth to avoid vomiting or even worse problems.”

In Yellandur, there is no AM radio station, no local TV programs and farmers cannot afford a radio. The only media that reaches them is the newspapers, but farmers like Mahasantra have never been to school.

The lack of information and assistance from the government are the biggest hurdles the organic movement faces. Farmers depending on their crops, like Mahasantra, cannot risk investing in organic cultivations.

“Why should I leave everything to go to the city?” Mahasantra said. “In Bangalore no one can feed me. Here I have no money, but I can feed you for seven days.”