Photo: Wikimedia CommonsA multi stakeholder gathering comprising of farmers, farmer union representatives, government officials, civil groups, agricultural scientists and women self help group members has demanded the Indian government to provide subsidy support for ecological/organic fertilisation to ensure food security. They were speaking at a public hearing organised by Greenpeace India and Sustainable Organic Initiatives for Livelihoods (SOIL), in Chitradurga district in the south Indian state of Karntaka to gather grass root level responses to the fertiliser subsidy reforms proposed by Government of India.
Finance minister during his budget speech had expressed concern over the declining response of agricultural productivity to increased fertiliser usage in the country and proposed reforms in the fertiliser subsidy sector to solve the crisis.
The government is planning to adopt a nutrient-based direct subsidy regime instead of the current product pricing regime. However, this proposed reform is being criticised by various stakeholders because this shift cannot solve the crisis as the soils are degraded due to years of indiscriminate use of chemical fertilisers and a shift to ecological fertilisation is inevitable to ensure food security. Every year India government spends millions on chemical fertiliser subsidies. The budget allocation for 2009-10 for fertiliser subsidies is Rs 49,980 crores.
Dr Bharathesh Reddy, district president, Karnataka State Organic Farming Mission who inaugurated the Public hearing said, “Generally, organic farmers who contribute to food security of the country with minimum damage to the environment are kept out of the subsidy benefits. Karnataka state government has come up with a model to promote organic farming. It is the only state in the country which is providing subsidy for popularising organic farming. This model can be adopted by the central government and can be scaled up. ”
Dr Ganapathi, a soil scientist from organic farming research institute, Shimoga said, “Soil is the capital for the farmer and this needs to be protected and saved through encouraging eco-friendly agricultural practices. Over-dependence on chemical fertilisers should be avoided as it can jeopardise food security of the country.”
“The degraded soils can be rejuvenated only through ecological farming practices and addition of organic matter in the soil. Tax payers’ money should be invested in a meaningful way by providing support systems for ecological fertilisation, which is the only way to ensure soil health and food security”, said P Srinivas, secretary, SOIL.
Siddhaveerappa, a farmer from Chitradurga, said that “time has come to slowly phase out the subsidies for chemical fertilisers and bring in alternatives”.
Earlier, Greenpeace India launched a report, Subsidising Food crisis, which provides scientific evidences to prove that soils are degraded in intensive agricultural areas due to excessive use of chemicals, and even balanced application of chemical nutrients cannot sustain yield under the present circumstances.
The report also dismisses the myth that enough organic materials are not available to shift to ecological fertilisation and finds that amount of nitrogen that could be potentially recovered in organic residues available in the country is similar to the total amount of synthetic nitrogen applied to Indian soils every year, 14 Mt. This highlights the potential feasibility of a complete shift from synthetic to organic nitrogen fertilisation.
The people’s forum came up with a people’s charter listing all possible alternative eco-friendly fertilisation practices that can be supported through subsidy.
“We will be organising similar public hearings in different parts of the country. The ideas and suggestions generated would be compiled and presented to the central government. We sincerely hope that the government will give due recognition to the suggestions from the real stakeholders at the grass roots and adopt a policy that will restore soil health and ensure food security ”, said Gopikrishna SR, sustainable agriculture campaigner, Greenpeace India.
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