THRISSUR: Expressing concern over the State Planning Board’s draft approach paper that proposes to enhance crop productivity but negates certain practices like organic farming, former Biodiversity Board chairman V S Vijayan said that the state government should take a firm stand to promote natural farming practices.
TNIE had reported about the draft policy of the Planning Board which termed organic farming as an irrational practice. Commenting on the issue, Vijayan said that though he was not fully aware of what exactly the draft policy meant, if it was right it should not be allowed.
“When organic farming policy was taken up first during the term of V S Achuthanandan-led government, I was the happiest person on earth. But it took several months for the policy to get sanction from the cabinet. Mullakkara Ratnakaran was the agriculture minister when the cabinet first approved the organic farming policy of the state. The actual policy document that was published after the cabinet decision was a diluted one, far from how it was actually conceptualised. Out of 39 provisions in the policy, 34 were amended,” he said.
Vijayan revealed that a top IAS officer in the state, who was the then agriculture production commissioner, was against organic farming and the file was put on hold for 14 months. Vijayan pointed out that the agriculture research scientists in the state were against organic farming “When the Kerala Agriculture University is against organic farming practice how can we expect the government that relies on the scientific advice of the university to take a different stand.
Yet, through proper discussions and awareness programmes, we came up with the policy. If it has to be continued, the government should be keen on promoting organic farming in a phased manner across the state within a stipulated time period,” he said.
He added that when V S Sunilkumar was the agriculture minister, what he recommended was Good Agriculture Practices, by promoting both organic and non-organic farming. Vijayan said that when the policy was discussed, it was recommended to give compensation to farmers when they adopt organic farming.
“We expected about 30 per cent loss to the farmer when they switch to organic farming. They should be compensated so that they could continue farming. It was also decided to promote organic farming of cash crops first before expanding it to other crops like vegetables,” he said.
“I am planning to meet the chief minister to bring his attention to the issue. Organic farming was planned for the betterment of people and the so-called experts in the field should understand that using chemical fertilisers for cultivation won’t be sustainable in the long run,” he added.
When asked about the debate surrounding the food crisis in Sri Lanka linked to organic farming, Vijayan said that adopting such a practice all of a sudden wouldn’t be possible.