HYDERABAD: Praising organic farming as a successful technique that saves farmers from the debt trap and makes them self-reliant, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Friday that those in opposition to organic farming must get down from their high horses and see the success that farmers utilising the technique are reaping.
The RSS chief said that organic farming requires far less financial input than modern farming techniques, as there is no requirement for farmers to buy imported and costly fertilisers, pesticides or seeds. He said that farmers taking up modern farming techniques will continue to incur losses even if they receive MSP for their produce.
Bhagwat said, "Organic farming helps farmers break free from the debt trap. Secondly, it makes farmers their own bosses and gives them actual freedom. Organic farming allows farmers to have their own seeds. They can grow whatever they want."
He added that farmers practising organic farming are not enslaved by private seed companies like those using genetically modified BT seeds. Bhagwat further said, "The benfit of organic farming is not just limited to the fact that the soil quality does not get degraded due to organic farming but the system of crop rotation ensures that the soil quality improves as well."
Bhagwat further said, "Organic farming does not just mean fertiliser-free farming. It means farming the way our ancestors used to do, which includes animal husbandry, growing various crops in the same farm as per a set plan, using available water and improving groundwater quality."
He was addressing farmers practising organic farming in various parts of Adilabad district of Telangana at an event organised by the NGO Eklavya Foundation.
Bhagwat also blamed modern farming techniques requiring artifical fertilisers and pesticides for the degradation of soil quality and causing cancer among farmers. He gave the example of the 'cancer train' that ferries passengers between Bhatinda in Punjab and Bikaner in Rajasthan, a considerable number of whom are cancer patients.
The RSS chief said that due to the organic farming practices in India, the country was the world leader for thousands of years in agricultural production, even during the rule of the Mughals, adding that agricultural production dwindled since the arrival of the British who caused two famines in India.