Is Organic the Answer to India’s Agri Sustainability?

 By Gaurav Manchanda, Founder & Director, Nimida Group

Agriculture began around 10,000 years ago and marked the beginning of civilisation. It shaped the evolution of human societies, bringing food for sustenance, cotton for clothing and a host of commodities to trade in. Despite millennia of experience, however, agriculture continues to throw challenges. The old ones of weather and pests persist, even as some brand-new challenges have emerged. On the one hand, there’s a growing population — projected to increase by nearly two billion by 2050 from the present eight billion — and on the other, shrinking farmlands. In India alone, cropland has shrunk by 69 million hectares between 2016 and 2022. The challenge to feed more while the cultivable land reduces is obvious. Issues related to the vagaries of weather and pests have been exacerbated by climate change. To top this, agriculture is a huge greenhouse gas emitter, accounting for 30 per cent of total emissions globally. Hence, lowering the carbon footprint of farming is imperative.

Organic farming has emerged as an obvious solution to the conundrum, and though India is a new entrant, the growth trajectory is inspiring. Sustainable Agriculture Practices (SAP), a term which encompasses several new agricultural interventions aimed at reducing the agricultural C-footprint, gets its direction not just from government encouragement, but also from conscientious consumers. Indian consumers, today, are keen to know how their food is produced, and also willing to pay more to ensure sustainable, chemical-free and fair practices.

Drivers of change

Sikkim’s agri products are famous for their organic tag; it is the first Indian state to become completely organic. It is, however, a small state with limited produce. Madhya Pradesh has emerged as the state with the largest land under organic cultivation — 0.76 million hectares, accounting for over a quarter of India’s organic fields. Such healthy competition between states is spurring the new agri revolution.

‘Green Growth’ was a priority in the Union Government Budget for 2023-2024 with an outlay of around Rs 449 crore for the National Mission on Natural Farming. It will also provide farmers easy access to bioresources like Jeevaamrit, Ghana Jeevamrit, Neemastra, etc. by setting up Bhartiya Prakritik Kheti Bio-inputs Resources Centres (BRCs) to prepare and supply bio-inputs. The goal is to facilitate the easy adoption of natural farming for the farmers, without the hassle of preparing bio-inputs, which is one of the most time- and labour-intensive aspects of natural farming.

Agriculture institutes have been tasked with developing new varieties of millets that address issues of yield and shelf life, the two biggest drawbacks millets face in comparison with rice and wheat. Millet are crops of poor soil and drought-prone areas, and thus, require much lower inputs than cereals. Popularising these ancient grains, too, is a shift towards sustainable farming.

Chemical-free fields, however, do not mean low-tech agriculture. Precision farming, using the latest Internet of Things (IoT) tools to ensure the optimum use of water, fertilisers and pesticides (chemical or natural) and to detect plant stress in advance, is not only kinder to the earth, but also augments yield. It is an inspiring example of how technology can empower and be a strong ally.

The challenges of existing agriculture practices — chemical build-up in fields and groundwater, for instance — have urged agri companies to develop non-chemical farm interventions like commercial pheromones to tackle pests and a range of agri biologicals (derived from beneficial viruses, fungi or bacteria) to improve soil health. Some early products are already in the market, and we are likely to see many more getting commercialised this year.

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 By Gaurav Manchanda, Founder & Director, Nimida