*A MUST READ* Open Letter from an 84-Year Old Indian Organic Farmer

[nosmokes]

this comes at a particularly important time, as warren buffet, bill and melinda gates and george soros, in a very well intended but sorely misguided attempt to alleviate poverty and hunger are turning to the tools they're familiar with, giant corporations and wowza technology, to fix the problem, and while the money is welcome, what is needed is *appropriate* technology, not, frankenfoods that require double doses of petro-chemical based fertilizers and destroy the natural richness and fertility of the soil . what is not needed is technology that allows companies to own seed patents and terminator technology that may escape and get into other plant species it was never intended for; what is not needed is vegetables grown artidficially that have less nutrients than those that are grown organically. i'm all for buffet, soros and the gates helping people out of poverty and hunger, but let's do it in a manner that's sustainable, for those that are being helped and the planet.
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original


Open Letter from an 84-Year Old Indian Organic Farmer: For the Sake of the Children

* Subject: Mounting Suicides and National Policy for Farmers
By Bhaskar Save
July 29, 2006

Open Letter

From: Bhaskar Save, 'Kalpavruksha' Farm,
Village Dehri, via Umergam,
Dist. Valsad, Gujarat - 396 170
(Phone: 0260 - 2562126 & 2563866)

To: Shri M.S. Swaminathan,
The Chairperson, National Commission on Farmers,
Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India

July 29, 2006
Subject: Mounting Suicides and National Policy for Farmers

Dear Shri Swaminathan,
I am an 84-year old natural/organic farmer with more than six decades of personal experience in growing a wide range of food crops. I have, over the years, practised several systems of farming, including the chemical method in the fifties - until I soon saw its pitfalls.
I say with conviction that it is only by organic farming in harmony with
Nature, that India can sustainably provide her people abundant, wholesome food. And meet every basic need of all - to live in health, dignity and peace.
organic farming; (2) an introduction to my farm, Kalpavruksha; (3) some
recorded opinions of visitors; and (4) a short biographical note on myself.]
You, M.S. Swaminathan, are considered the 'father' of India's so-called
'Green Revolution' that flung open the floodgates of toxic 'agro' chemicals
- ravaging the lands and lives of many millions of Indian farmers over the
past 50 years. More than any other individual in our long history, it is you
I hold responsible for the tragic condition of our soils and our debt-burdened farmers, driven to suicide in increasing numbers every year.
As destiny would have it, you are presently the chairperson of the
'National Commission on Farmers', mandated to draft a new agricultural
policy. I urge you to take this opportunity to make amends - for the sake of the children, and those yet to come.
I understand your Commission is inviting the views of farmers for drafting the new policy. As this is an open consultation, I am marking a copy of my letter to: the Prime Minister, the Union Minister for Agriculture, the Chairperson of the National Advisory Council, and to the media - for wider communication. I hope this provokes some soul-searching and open debate at all levels on the extremely vital issues involved. - So that we do not repeat the same kind of blunders that led us to our present, deep festering mess.
The great poet, Rabindranath Tagore, referred not so long ago to our
"sujhalam, sufalam" land. Ours indeed was a remarkably fertile and
prosperous country - with rich soils, abundant water and sunshine, thick
forests, a wealth of bio-diversity, . And cultured, peace-loving people with a vast store of farming knowledge and wisdom.
Farming runs in our blood. But I am sad that our (now greyed) generation of Indian farmers, allowed itself to be duped into adopting the short-sighted and ecologically devastating way of farming, imported into this country. - By those like you, with virtually zero farming experience!
For generations beyond count, this land sustained one of the highest
densities of population on earth. Without any chemical 'fertilizers',
pesticides, exotic dwarf strains of grain, or the new, fancy 'bio-tech'
inputs that you now seem to champion. The many waves of invaders into this country, over the centuries, took away much. But the fertility of our land remained unaffected.
~snip~
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complete article available here

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

1. K & R. Great letter on a very important topic.

[Nutmegger]

2. Second to kick and recommend.

:kick:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. hmm.

"frankenfoods that require double doses of petro-chemical based fertilizers and destroy the natural richness and fertility of the soil ."

Why would 'frankenfoods" need more petro-chemicals? Since they're hardier, wouldn't they need less? ANd how do they destroy soil fertility?

"what is not needed is technology that allows companies to own seed patents"

Technology does that? I thought it was patent law.

:shrug:

"For generations beyond count, this land sustained one of the highest
densities of population on earth."

Heh. It also sustained huge famines.

[Richard D]

4. K&R

with 5th vote. This is such an important letter.

[mom cat]

5. K&R for the truth!

[TygrBright]

6. Recommended. If I could recommend more than once...

...I would.

India is the last country on earth that needs to further destroy its arable land in pursuit of mass-quantity industrially produced foodlike substances. They are already seeing the consequences of embracing the McFood culture in the huge upswing in diabetes and other nutritionally-related disease among their population.

If you examine the matter in depth I would put a large sum of money on the finding that India's waves of famine over the past couple of centuries are largely due to the transformation of traditional farming practices by the British Empire implementing a cash-crop economy and encouraging monocropping and other land-depleting, watershed-distorting, ecosystem-perverting practices. Many times with the best of intentions, but nevertheless, based on an imperfect understanding of what kinds of care and agriculture land needs in order to be continually in intensive production.

It's POSSIBLE, as many small-scale demonstration projects have proven, to keep land in continuous and intensive production, but it requires complex, labor-intensive, highly-diversified livestock-plus-crop farming done in SMALL units. And it requires the farmers to eschew "hard" short-term techniques in favor of "soft" long-term practices. It integrates sustainable, low-energy-use technologies based on incremental improvements of traditional practice but they don't generate any profits for chemical and machinery suppliers.

India, ironically, is one of the few places that has the infrastructure of rural labor and agricultural tradition that would enable them to begin implementing this type of agriculture in stages, on an increasing scale. It could virtually eliminate famine and nutritional diseases, and restore India to sustainable self-sufficiency in food and textile production. But it requires a radical, small-scale, highly-diffused form of constrained capitalism to support it, and India seems to have already jumped the laissez-faire 'bigger-is-better,' 'centralization, efficiency and economies of scale' shark.

sadly,
Bright