Every farmer, every grower, worth his or her salt knows that organic cultivation today maybe seen as a ‘healthier’ choice, but is actually a necessity, in view of the widespread damage we’ve already caused every living thing on the earth. We see organic growing as cultivating a clean connection with the living spirit of the earth, or gaia
I was talking to a taxi driver who owned fields in his Haryana village (the tilled lands of Haryana, are rumoured to be the most ‘chemically abused’ after Punjab). He was clear about the harm that the overdose of synthetics in the land was causing.
“We have a separate land for our own consumption. We don’t use any chemicals on that. We sell the rest.”
A look at agriculture in Punjab tells the full story. The much touted ‘Green Revolution’ of Punjab's agriculture has been giving the same yields for the past many years, while the quantity of agro-chemicals required to maintain these static yields have steadily increased.
In the case of a chemical farm converting to organic, however, there is often a loss in yield and it takes a few years before yields increase and stabilizes - at a level often higher than that achieved under a chemical regime. It is therefore recommended to convert gradually over a period of three to four years, if income from the farm is a key issue.
But there is no doubt that organic cultivation for the home gardener is not only totally possible, but also the best choice. And these notes are essentially for the home gardener. The do-it-yourself type, with a small or large patch in the front and back, or a rooftop with pots, or even a balcony. There can be no rationalisation for using chemicals on such a small scale. We wouldn’t try to get rid of a fly on the sitting room wall with a sledgehammer, would we?
Though this is intended principally for individual gardeners, there are some resources here for the small-scale cultivator, and I am sure that many of these principles can be applied there with positive results. Some links at the end of the page can tell you a lot about organic gardening.
Steps you can take
Small steps, long leap.
Even if you are totally dependant on your mali (gardener), you can monitor what’s happening in your green patch, if you know more. If your mali insists on that DDT (banned elsewhere but still sold in India) or Malathion, remember that he’s getting his cut from the local garden shop or nursery, and probably is ignorant about its effects anyway.
Here are some commonly used pesticides in the third World countries. Are you using any of these? They have been tested and proved to be damaging to human, animal, and plant life. Most of these are banned or severely restricted in developed countries. But lack of information and awareness keeps them in unregulated use in developing countries.
