Dr. Parveen Kumar
It is said that everyday at least three times a day, we need a farmer. It is because a farmer is the one who ensures food for all of us even if it means going to bed hungry for him. The scorching heat or the chilling temperature hardly matters for him/her. It is he who ensures food as well as nutritional security for all of us. Farming constitutes one of the oldest practices that mankind knows about and which is still in practice today. It dates back to over 10,000 years. One simply cannot undermine the role of farmer’s in our life and economy at large. To ensure that they get due credit and attention that they deserve, countries across the globe observe their ‘National Farmers’ Day’ every year. The event is also popularly called as ‘Old Farmers’ Day’ in the United States (US). There isn’t an exact date when celebrating Farmers’ Day became a trend, but the tradition is being followed since the early 1800s. In different parts of the globe, the National Farmer’s Day is celebrated on different dates by different countries.
HISTORY OF NATIONAL FARMERS’ DAY: A day at the national level dedicated to the farming community is infact recognition of them and a honour to them towards their services for the humanity and for the mother land. The National Farmers Day in India also known as ‘Rashtriya Kisan Divas’ is celebrated every year on 23 December on the birthday of the 5th Prime Minister of India, Choudhary Charan Singh. Choudhary Charan Singh was born on Dec. 23, 1902 and died on May 29, 1987. He was also a great farmer’s leader who remained Prime minister of the country from July 28, 1979 to January 14, 1980. During his tenure as Prime minister of the country, he introduced many farmer friendly policies and enacted much legislation to improve the lives of the Indian farmers. Recognizing his contribution to the agriculture sector and his pro farmer welfare measures, the Kisan Divas in the country is celebrated on his birthday. The Kisan Divas has been celebrated since 2001 in the country. The Day depicts that if the agricultural sector and the farmers are empowered, only than the nation can grow. It is because agricultural sector is a vital contributor to our economy creating and providing livelihood opportunities to more than 50% of the population directly or indirectly. Majority of the rural population including the women folk are engaged in this sector. Every year the day is being celebrated with a different theme. The theme for this year is ‘Delivering Smart Solutions for Sustainable Food Security and Resilience’. The theme focuses on the need to practice smart solutions in agriculture so that the damage done to the environment and biodiversity existing on this planet by the adoption of crude and unscientific agriculture practices can be halted or reversed.
Smart Solutions for Sustainable Agriculture: Different practices for sustainable agriculture that result in food security and resilience include: a. Zero/No tillage: The lesser known fact is that tillage also leads to soil erosion and formation of crusts which decrease soil fertility besides increasing time and labor for producing that crop. Under the new paradigm, the soil is not ploughed but disturbed to the least possible extent. Zero tillage involves opening a narrow strip about 2 to 3 cm wide or a hole in the ground for seed or seedling placement. Specialized machinery is now available for sowing of seeds in Zero/No till soils. At the time of seeding, fertilizers can also be applied simultaneously. It thus helps to minimize mechanical soil disturbance which is essential to maintaining minerals within the soil, preventing erosion, and preventing water loss from occurring within the soil.
b. Crop rotation: Growing the same crops year after year of the practice of monocropping depletes the soil of different nutrients. Therefore crop rotation that involves growing different crops doesn’t rob the soil of its nutrients; instead add to the nutrient composition of the soil. Practicing crop rotation with more than two species does not allow insect/pests and weeds to be set into a rotation with specific crops. When crops are rotated, these act as a natural insecticide and herbicide against specific organisms.
c. Taking care of the top soil: It is the top soil that supports entire vegetation on the planet earth. Its erosion or loss due to one or the other factors ultimately affects the soil fertility and its crop growth potential. Managing the top soil in order is also necessary to create a permanent organic soil cover that can allow for growth of organisms within the soil structure.
d. Raised beds with residue retention: This practice involves raising crops on raised beds. The irrigation is being provided through furrows. The beds made once can be used subsequently for other crops but a reshaping is necessary once in a year. It also results in reduction of weed population.
e. Water harvesting: Water is a very precious and scarce resource. Infact agriculture consumes the most of water. As rain water is the major source of water, it needs to be conserved with the help of farm ponds, roof top harvesting, water tanks and other water harvesting structures so that it is available whenever there is water scarcity. Water also needs to be used judiciously for irrigation by using drip, sprinkler technology that increase water use efficiency.
f. Green manuring: This involves growing of certain crops in the fields and then ploughing them back in the soil to enrich the soil with various nutrients. Green manuring helps increase biomass production in the fields, increase organic matter content, micro-organisims activity and also increase availability of both macro as well as micro-organisims to the crops
g. Laser land leveling (LLL): At the field level also there are variations in soil moisture, nutrient status and other parameters in the fields. The LLL gives us the inter field variations and then plan as per the field conditions. The technique of LLL has been reported to increase water application efficiency, crop yields, nutrient use efficiency and also reduces weed problems.
h. Organic manures: Organic manures like compost, vermi compost, Farm Yard Manure are a rich source of nutrients, soil micro organisims and are made up of farm; kitchen and animal waste which have been recycled. Such manures improve the soil health and also do not produce pollution of any kind.
i. Integrated techniques: The integrated techniques like Integrated Weed Management, Integrated Disease Management and Integrated Nutrient Management are also an important part of Sustainable agriculture. These techniques make the best possible use of chemical physical, biological and cultural methods to control diseases, weeds and nutrient uptake by the crops.
j. Agro-forestry system: An Agro-forestry system or an alternative farming system refers to the planting of perennial trees and/or shrubs with annual agronomic crops or pastures. These systems have been proposed as more environmentally benign, alternative systems for agricultural production in both temperate and tropical regions of the world. An Agro-forestry system comes with a number of environmental benefits that include carbon sequestering abilities, biodiversity conservation, soil health enrichment and air and water quality improvement.
k. Integrated Farming Systems: Such a system encompasses diversification. The integrated farming system involves different components like cereals crops, vegetables, livestock, horticulture mushroom cultivation, goatry, apiary and other allied enterprise. An integrated farming system (IFS) approach is thus advocated for increasing the income of the farmers. An IFS approach also ensures that the local resources and family labour is used effectively.
i. System of Crop Intensifications: In recent years, the system of crop intensification (SCI) has emerged in a number of Asian and African countries, raising the productivity of the land, water, seed, labor, and capital resources that farmers invest can for growing a wide range of crops. SCI methods are particularly relevant for resource-limited, nutritionally vulnerable households because SCI like System of Rice Intensification relies minimally on purchased inputs. SCI is an agricultural production strategy that seeks to increase and optimize the benefits that can be derived from making better use of available resources: soil, water, seeds, nutrients, solar radiation, and air.
j. Organic farming system: This type of system is largely devoid of the use of chemicals. In the simplest terms, organic farming is based on maintaining a living soil with a diverse population of micro and macro soil organisms. Organic matter is maintained in the soil through the addition of compost, animal manure, and green manures and the avoidance of excess tillage and nitrogen applications.
k. Natural Farming System: Natural farming is a closed system, one that demands no human-supplied inputs and natural farming is related to fertility farming, organic farming, sustainable agriculture, agro-ecology, agro-forestry, eco-agriculture and permaculture, but should be distinguished from biodynamic agriculture. The system works along with the natural biodiversity of each farmed area, encouraging the complexity of living organisms both plant and animal that shape each particular ecosystem to thrive along with food plants. Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) is a Natural farming method being in use in India.
l. Digital Farming: Digital Farming is ‘ICT and data ecosystems to support the development and delivery of timely, targeted information and services to make farming profitable and sustainable while delivering safe nutritious and affordable food for all’. Today agriculture is witnessing what is called ‘digitalisation’. Just as our smart phones have become necessary for us, in the future the farming community is all likely to see through digital glasses and at the same time young farmers are likely to don the digital glasses or consult devices that will help them to analyze their work and accordingly take decisions for their betterment. For farmers it has come as a fascinating experience. Digitalisation of agriculture has also emerged as another revolution, more so for the large numbers of the world’s smallholder farmers. Various digital farming technologies include Internet of Things (IoT), Precision Farming, Agricultural Drones and Robots and smart greenhouses,
There is an urgent need to propagate and practice technologies which do not compromise with our natural assets and our huge biodiversity. Sustainable agriculture practices bring with them smart solutions for most of the environmental problems we are facing today.
(The writer is a scientist at SKUAST-Jammu).
