Natural farming is still dogged by uncertainties, making it an emotive issue. Simply put, practising agriculture within the confines of ecology is natural farming. Agriculture must be sustainable and with no adverse environmental impacts.

Natural farming needs to be practised on scale and in areas that do not impact food security. Rain-fed and tribal areas which are still not agri-input intensive, producing our nutri-cereals, pulses and oilseeds are the ideal places to begin with. Productivity of these areas must be stabilised and improvised as nearly 55 per cent of our net sown area is rain-fed and 61 per cent of our farmers inhabit these areas.

What are the challenges facing natural farming?

First, in the past, India was practising subsistence and sustainable farming. The British commercialised Indian agriculture with ‘indigo’ plantations. Gandhiji’s first Satyagraha of 1917, in Champaran, was aimed at protesting unfair practices of the British planters. Growing crops for the markets gradually became the norm and world wars accentuated this commercialisation. The system of self-sustenance faded away and recurrent droughts began straining our agriculture.

Second, the 1943 Bengal Famine wiped away nearly 4 million of our 60 million population, scarring the Indian psyche. Third, after the Second World War, ammunition companies repurposed themselves, producing nitrogenous fertiliser using the Haber-Bosch process. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in the US became the forerunner of usage of chemical fertilisers to boost the production and productivity of American farmers. India’s Damodar Valley Corporation of 1948 was styled on TVA.

In the early 1970s, the then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger established the International Fertiliser Development Center to use the TVA’s prowess to address the world’s hunger, through fertiliser use.

Green Revolution impact

Fourth, India’s Green Revolution in the 1960s was based on high-yielding varieties, irrigation and fertilisers.

Fifth, India’s scientific agriculture was based on collaboration and training from the UK’s Rothamstead Experimental Station and the American Land Grant Colleges which trained our agricultural scientists. The Green Revolution transformed India from a ‘ship-to-mouth’ existence, through the American PL-480 food grants, to a food-secure, agri-exporting nation. We moved into a different realm and created a huge stability and resilience. Hence it is time to look back at our past and prevailing successful examples and stop being diffident.

Interestingly, there is a huge political commitment to natural farming. Post Covid-19, the demand for immunity boosting natural food has increased, and urban population is ready to pay the price differential. There are many successful examples of natural farming around the country where agriculture is practised in conjunction with animal husbandry. Fertiliser subsidy is skyrocketing and fertiliser use efficiency is decreasing, but we are still dithering. Is it because of our agricultural history?

It is time we look at natural farming afresh, validate it scientifically and practice it on scale. We are the food we eat. Soil, in our culture, is called ‘mother’. Only when our mother is healthy, we, as her offspring, will be healthy.

The writer is Deputy Managing Director, Nabard. Views are personal