Farmers turn to organic farming in Dheradun

Dubbed the slow food movement, organic farming is the concept behind the Go Green mantra these days.

It is food that’s grown with only natural resources like manure, vermicompost and the likes, instead of chemicals and pesticides that are generally used on crops. So far, organic products haven’t had too many takers but a few like author Chandrakant Rathi won’t have it any other way.”Spinach used to taste real bad. My doctor advised me to have lots of it for my health. But the spinach from the market tasted and smelled bad. I switched to organic and realised it’s healthier and safer to have,” said Rathi. Probably, that is encouraging small farmers in places like Dehradun to join the slow food movement.

Mixed cropping
With the monsoons almost in Dehradun, the farmers in a village called Ramgarh are busy preparing crop beds for sowing 25 varieties of pulses and lentils to be sown along with herbal medicines; seasonal vegetables using green manure.”Formerly farmers in Garhwal used to spray their farms with urea and dye with the result that not only their crops but also their hands and feet were adversely affected by chemicals,” said Beeja Devi, farmer.

“We only use leaf manure or compost which helps in vegetables growing round the year without our hands and feet being affected,” she said. Resisting the temptation of going high tech, the farmers have seen their hard-work come to fruition, being content doing things the traditional way.Perhaps the future lies in organic farming and definitely not in the vortex of modernization.Organically grown food scores most of the times when the value proposition for a consumer to switch organic path is considered.

More expensive
However, despite all the benefits that environmentalists and activists put forth in favour of organic, there are a few blocks. For starters, organic food is at least 25 per cent more expensive than chemically produced food. That’s because the level of production is a lot smaller. Today only 0.03 per cent of India’s cultivable land- around 40,000 hectras – practices organic farming.”Organic farming cannot be practiced on a large scale as we simply don’t have the resources. We don’t have enough natural inputs like manure, fertilisers, compost etc,” said PD Sharma, ADG, NRM, ICAR.

The Indian Government has started a few initiatives like the National Program on Organic Production under the Ministry of Agriculture to help promote organic farming. That means, the costs of organic fruits and vegetables might come down.
Source: NDTV.