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May 17, 2008

Of Food and Fodder

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The Cycle of Dependency Created by Industrial Agriculture in India
By Kate Green, Program Officer
May 2008

In the community of Kanivemadapura, in India’s Karnataka state, the use of synthetic chemicals had been longstanding and commonplace. During the Green Revolution of the ‘60s, farmers were encouraged to use high-yielding plant varieties and the chemical fertilizers needed to make them grow. This approach also required tractor tilling, so the need for livestock dropped.

Durgaprasad proudly displays part of his harvest.

The new varieties produced straw – used as animal fodder – that was low in nutritional value and filled with chemical residue. So feeding the animals became a problem. People could little afford both the high-yielding approach and extra fodder to keep livestock they weren’t using in a systematic way.

In losing livestock, it also became harder for farmers to return to a more organic approach. No livestock meant no manure to take the place of the chemical fertilizers. A vicious cycle of dependency on the industrial agriculture model took root. And the returns – enough food and income for vibrant family life – simply weren’t there.

Agricultural Training
Within this context, the efforts of Durgaprasad – a young farmer I met during my recent visit to Kanivemadapura – were really inspiring. For two years, Durgaprasad has taken sustainable agriculture training from USC’s partner, GREEN Foundation (GF). Where before he relied entirely on industrial agriculture approaches, now half his land is farmed organically and sewn with hardy local rice. He’s experimenting with intercropping to build up soil leached of its nutrients through a long dependency on chemicals.

“Next year, I’ll stop using chemicals altogether,” says Durgaprasad. “I’ll only use my own farm compost, the seed I’ve saved, and natural fertilizers like the ones I’ve learned about from GF. I won’t need cash to plant my fields.”

Livestock Returns
Breaking free of expensive chemicals, Durgaprasad can better afford his four head of cattle, which I could see nearby, happily munching away on the straw from his fields, waiting until they’re needed to help with ploughing and threshing, or providing milk and manure.

I hadn’t considered that straw and the animals its feeds, were such casualties of the chemical farming system, or what an impact that had on farmers’ choices!