Ecological Farming for Better Health

Objectives of the Course
Several city based young people are interested in agricultural initiatives; they want to return to the soil, but find it difficult to adjust with realities of rural life. Moreover, they may not have thought of farming without intensive technology and chemicals. The course on ‘Ecological Farming Training for Better Health’ is excitingly geared to bridge these gaps. Even a city-bred person can learn how to produce food on his own land. And what is wonderful is that this food can be clean and chemical free!

Who is the Course For?
This course will be held for educated, city-based young people with a curiosity and pang for farming. If you are one, you are invited to explore a new world of possibilities while working closely with nature.

Context of the Course
Small and marginal farmers are being pushed to extinction. The current agricultural crisis and the farmers situation in the era of globalization, increasing capitalization of agriculture, chemical intensive and bio-technology oriented farming and implications of soil and water degradation or depletion has serious implications for farmers’ livelihoods. The course will demonstrate the possibilities for survival of the small farm in such a context.

Food is our most basic need, the very stuff of life. As monocultures replace biodiversity crops, farming is transformed from the production of nourishing and diverse foods into the creation of markets for seed company products. At the same time, farmers are being transformed from producers to consumers of corporate-patented agriculture products. To arrest these two worrisome trends in agriculture, a series of short courses on ecological farming training for better health is being proposed by Baduku College of SAMVADA.

It is a two days traininig program, Send your querries, comments about training program to my e-mail address

Millets as Miracle Grains!

Millets need little water for their production, compared to cash crops. Millets and require just around 25% of the rainfall regime demanded by crops such as sugarcane and banana. Thus, they do not burden the state with demands for irrigation or power. Millets are often growing on skeletal soils that are less than 15 cm deep. It does not demand rich soils for their survival and growth. Hence, for the vast dryland area, they are a boon. Millet production is not dependent on the use of synthetic fertilizers. Most millet farmers therefore use farmyard manures and in recent times, household produced biofertilisers. Therefore, they can significantly reduce the huge burden of fertilizer subsidy borne by the government. Grown under traditional methods, no millet attracts any pest. They can be termed as crops. A majority of them are not affected by storage pests either. Therefore, their need for pesticides is close to nil. Thus, they are a great boon to the agricultural environment. Millets are amazing in their nutrition content. Each of the millets is three to five times nutritionally superior to the widely promoted rice and wheat in terms of proteins, minerals and vitamins

Millets as Climate Change Compliant Crops

All these qualities of millet farming system make them the . Climate change portends less rain, more heat, reduced water availability and increased malnutrition. If there is any cropping system that can withstand these challenges, survive and flourish, it is the millet system. It is important to note that with the projected 2 degree celsius temperature rise, wheat might disappear from our midst, since it is an extremely thermal sensitive crop. Similarly, the way rice is grown under standing water makes it a dangerous crop under climate change conditions. Methane emanating from water-drenched rice fields, is a green house gas, that severely threatens our environment. Millets are all-season crops whereas wheat is season specific.

Disappearing Millet system

In spite of all these extraordinary qualities and capacities of millet farming systems, the area under millet production has been shrinking over the last five decades and rapidly, since the Green Revolution period. Between 1966 and 2006, 44% of millet cultivation areas were occupied by other crops signifying an extraordinary loss to India’s food and farming systems. Declining state support in terms of crop loans and crop insurance has significantly contributed to this decline and fall of millets in Indian agriculture. Unless this is halted urgently through a slew of policy and financial incentives,millets might disappear from the agrarian landscape of India over the next fifty years. This will not only be a loss to India’s food and farming systems, but will also prove to be a civilisational and ecological disaster. climate change compliant crops cultivated round the year While wheat and rice might provide only food security, millets produce multiple securities (food, fodder, health, nutrition, livelihood and ecological) making them the crops of agricultural security.

Debate for the month?

Karnataka to enforce cow slaughter ban !

The Karnataka government will enforce a ban on cow slaughter strictly by amending a 1964 act to prohibit the sale and consumption of beef, Home Minister V.S. Acharya said Wednesday.“An amending bill will be introduced in the coming budget session to make cow slaughter, sale of cows and consumption of beef a cognizable offence under a new law,” Acharya told reporters after a cabinet meeting here.

The amending bill will replace the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Prevention Act, 1964. According to section four of the proposed bill, no person shall slaughter or intentionally kill any cattle. The definition of cattle in the bill includes cow, calf, bull, bullock, and buffalo. Section five of the proposed bill prohibits sale, use and possession of beef

The cabinet also decided to enhance punishment with seven years imprisonment and a penalty of Rs.100,000 for serious offences against cows. “The minimum punishment will be one year imprisonment and a fine up to Rs.50,000 for smaller crimes against the domestic animal,” Acharya said. The month-long budget session will commence Feb 25 with an address by state governor Hans Raj Bhardwaj to the joint legislature and the state budget will be presented March 5. In a related development, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) protested against the cow slaughter ban and criticised the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state for hurting the sentiments of Dalits, Muslims and backward classes with an anti-retrograde measure. “Each individual is entitled to his/her own food habits. The government has no right to force people to not consume a particular food,” BSP vice-president N. Mahesh said.