The evergreen revolution: Making hunger history

The agrarian crisis sweeping the country underlines the need to address the problems of farmers and farming with the same seriousness we showed in the early 1960s. According to most estimates, farming is no longer remunerative and over 40 per cent of farmers would like to quit if they have an option.

Farming is both a way of life and the principal livelihood for nearly two-thirds of our population. It is clear that we cannot progress in improving our per capita income or human development indicators if agriculture continues to stagnate.

There was reason to rejoice. It was a bumper crop thanks to Green Revolution in the early 1970s Photo: The Hindu Archives | Photo Credit: PIB

‘Green revolution’ was the term coined for the process of productivity enhancement. The green revolution in the 1960s and 1970s was based on the development and spread of new genetic strains of wheat, rice, maize and other crops characterised by their ability to utilise water, sunlight and plant nutrients effectively and convert them into grains. This revolution was confined to areas with assured irrigation in northwest India. However, even here, farming is becoming unremunerative due to adverse ecological and economic factors, with farmer indebtedness on the rise. The challenge now is to fight and overcome the fatigue of the green revolution in its heartland.

Man and machines: partners in green revolution. This is how the Government showcased the progress made during Green Revolution. Photo: The Hindu Archives | Photo Credit: PIB

Dryland-focused solutions

Our agriculture is a gamble both with the monsoon and the market. Public investment in irrigation has been falling, but can hopefully be reversed by the Bharat Nirmaan programme. We need to improve productivity in dry-farming areas, which can grow pulses, oilseeds and other high-value crops that require less water, but many of which we continue to import. It is too risky for small farmers in these regions to adopt expensive technologies like Bt cotton, since they will be forced to take large loans to meet the cost but have little capacity to deal with potential crop failures.

Millets like ragi, bajra and jowar can be the superfood that helps fight hunger and climate change Photo: Mohd Arif / The Hindu File Photo | Photo Credit: MohdArif

Traditional crops like jowar, bajra, pulses and fodder should be revived and promoted under the Prime Minister’s package for seed replacement. Organic farming and crop-livestock integration should be promoted on both ecological and economic grounds. But this is not enough. A key requirement of farmers in such dryland areas is the minimum support price, as also an efficient farmer-centred marketing system. Local crops, both grains and pulses, rich in nutrients, should be included in the public distribution system. Our food security system must be based on locally grown, rather than imported crops.

A focus on pulses is essential for nutrition security | Photo Credit: SAMPATHKUMAR GP

A blend of sustainable approaches

About 15 years ago, I stressed the need for developing technology and public policy for an evergreen revolution designed to improve the productivity of crops in perpetuity without associated ecological harm. The evergreen revolution is based on an appropriate blend of different approaches to sustainable agriculture such as organic farming, green agriculture, eco-agriculture and agriculture based on effective micro-organisms. While organic farming excludes the use of mineral fertilisers, chemical pesticides and genetically modified crops, green agriculture, practised widely in China, is based on the principle of integrated pest and nutrient management, alongside integrated natural resources conservation and enhancement. We need to promote a diversity of sustainable agricultural practices, suited to different agro-ecological and social environments in both rainfed and irrigated areas.

We should adopt a “do-ecology” approach to ensure that ecologically sustainable farming technologies become available. A do-ecology approach involving, for instance, mandatory rainwater harvesting and the adoption of a three-year rotation in which a legume is introduced both during kharif and rabi seasons will help promote a win-win situation both for farm families and the country.

Nutrition security

Food security has three major dimensions — chronic hunger caused by inadequate purchasing power; hidden hunger caused by deficiency of micronutrients like vitamin A, iron, iodine and zinc in the diet; and transient hunger caused by disruption due to drought, floods, cyclones and other manifestations of climate change. Any hunger reduction strategy must address all three dimensions. Also, the emphasis must shift from food security of the aggregate to nutrition security of the individual. Nutrition security is best defined as physical, economic, environmental and social access to a balanced diet, safe drinking water, environmental hygiene, primary healthcare and primary education. This implies a need for integrated attention to both food and non-food components of nutrition security.

Every panchayat in our country should develop its own plan for achieving the goals relevant to its socioeconomic, sociocultural and agroecological conditions. The most effective method of overcoming the malnutrition burden is to marry agriculture with nutrition and health. Farmers could be trained in restructuring their traditional farming systems by adding the dimension of nutrition. This can be done in two steps. First, a genetic garden of biofortified plants may be established to introduce farmers to plants which can provide them with the needed micronutrients and proteins, such as orange-fleshed sweet potato to help mitigate vitamin A deficiency. Second, members of the community should be trained as community hunger fighters, well versed with the malnutrition problems of the area as well as the methods to overcome them.

Farmers are crying for lifesaving support today and not just schemes which may fructify a few years later. India’s future lies in becoming a strong, vibrant and prosperous agricultural nation. This can be achieved through synergy between appropriate technologies and public policies. Unfortunately, both are in deficit today.

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