Green Revolution or Silent Spring?

During the 86th birthday celebrations of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Indian farmers “deserve a standing ovation”. However, he reminded the gathered scientists that it was not enough to sit in five-star seminar rooms and analyse why something could not be done; rather, they should think constructively.

In 1986, at the international soil science congress in Hamburg, Germany, I ventured to describe soil as “The Soul of Infinite Life”, and, compared it to a gift of God to humankind which should be handled with utmost care. The description drew both surprise and disdain from the assembled audience.

The gathering went on to discuss why the factory-type, high-input technology agriculture — ironically known as the Green Revolution — was falling on its face in Asia, in particular in India, with falling crop yields, degraded soils, dried aquifers, vanishing bio-diversity, excessive nitrate load in ground water making it no more potable, and so on.

It should be noted that several civilisations collapsed when the soil was abused ( see table ). There is a parallel here with Punjab’s experience, as the cradle of the Green Revolution.

Following three decades of severe “extractive agriculture”, vast stretches of Punjab soils have degraded beyond redemption, the main culprit being unbridled use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and water, continuous monoculture of rice and wheat, leading to severe depletion of soil carbon, the bedrock of soil productivity, leading to low nutrient and water-holding capacities.

The Roman civilisation collapsed when its north African soils desertified due to exhaustion following excessive soil exploitation; this was done in order to grow grains to feed the large Roman army.

In fact, it was not a Green Revolution that took place in Punjab, but a “greed revolution”.

How have Indian planners, starting from budget allocation, looked at management of Indian soil resources?

The most recent example of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sanchayee Yojana of ₹1,000 crore in the latest Budget speaks volumes. The money is exclusively for irrigation in rainfed areas.

In India, policymakers spend colossal sums of money on “water conservation” and “water management”.

This allocation of ₹1,000 crore for irrigation is one such example. Rarely does one come across projects which talk of “soil and water management” within one framework. Either it is soil or it is water.

But without soil, there simply is no water. Look at the basic electro-chemical reaction.

Of all the soil particles, the clay fraction, carrying an excess negative charge, less than 0.2 Angstron in size (one Angstorn equals one thousandth of a millimeter) is the most dynamic and, and, the most lively (almost like a soul as I have explained before).

A water molecule (H2O) has a hydrogen atom (positively charged atom) bonded to an oxygen atom (negatively charged atom), and, when rainwater falls on the soil after condensation of the water vapour, this hydrogen atom is electrically attracted to the clay surface, neutralising the negative charge, and this hydrogen atom, in turn, is bonded to an oxygen atom, with a negative charge, and thus, a chain of water molecules is built around the clay particle.

If there was no soil all the condensed water molecules will simply wash themselves into the sea. And, to be sure, water simply cannot exist in outer space, except as vapour.

How will the budgeted ₹1,000 crore be utilised? Will it be allocated based on soil type, or, just as a flat support to farmers irrespective of the soil characteristics?

The enormity of the problem can be appreciated given that India has thousands of soil series, and, even a tiny state like Kerala has 82 soil series. And each with specific characteristics. Water holding capacity is a very important characteristic.

Rainfed areas have different kinds of soils, like laterite, with low water holding capacity, and, its water requirement will be so very different from that of a clayey soil in eastern India with high water holding capacity.

In other words, to intelligently spend the ₹1,000 crore for irrigation, one also needs to know what type of soil one deals with, or else, it will be a waste of public money.

This is why “scientists” and “planners” should have soil and water management projects within one frame, not just a soil or water management project, exclusively.

The next is the ₹100 crore provision for “mobile soil testing laboratories”. The science of “soil testing” has made enormous strides, but in India, including in “research” institutions, the testing procedure is still rooted in classical and outdated “text book” knowledge.

Laboratory “test values” are extrapolated on a hectare/acre basis and a mistake at any stage, from sampling to chemical analysis, can inflate the mistake by a hundred to thousand fold, leading to very wrong fertiliser recommendations. Without doubt, this has contributed to the degradation of Indian soils.

Intelligent soil management is the core of sustainable agriculture. Because history has shown what happens without sustainability.

The writer is a senior fellow of The Humboldt Foundation

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