MALNUTRITION: India: Organic farming can't augment food supply

BS Reporter / Chenai/ Dharwad December 28, 2010
Though organic farming has its own advantages, depending solely on it will not help augment food requirements of the country, said director general of ICAR S Ayyappan.
“Organic manures can augment the microbial activity, prevent environmental deterioration and restore soil health. It can reduce the chemical load in soil and farm produce. But at this juncture, when quantum of food is close to deficit, one cannot truly identify with the sole purpose of environmental resurrection alone. The fields around the world will be burdened with the responsibility of supplying grains to this oversized population. Organic farms alone cannot bear this responsibility,” he said while delivering the convocation address at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad on Monday.
Ayyappan who is also secretary, department of agricultural research and education, Government of India said the precision that manufactured mineral fertiliser offers helps overcome limitations of organic fertiliser.
“Chemical fertiliser will remain the key inputs in agriculture. It has time and again been proved that they can augment production levels and can help fill the granaries,” he asserted.He called on agricultural scientists and the agricultural universities to develop location and situation-specific strategies for adapting rain-fed farming to emerging climate patterns as the global climate change is now a reality and there is a need to address the issue on a mission mode.
He also stressed the importance of low cost agricultural technologies as there has been a decline in profitability of agricultural sector due to fragmented holdings, an increase in input prices and the reduced ability of farmers to invest.
In future, growth in agriculture productivity can be sustained only through low-cost agricultural technologies, Ayyappan asserted.

Nutrition Security Act
Ayyappan stated that India needs a Nutrition Security Act to help the Nutrition Security Mission and Nutrition Policy become effectively functional. “Just a Food Security Act will not help eliminate malnutrition.
There has to be a coordinated effort between departments which can directly or indirectly influence nutrition security, by means of exhaustive research and by making use of the latest advancements in science and technology.
By breeding highly nutritious and fortified foods, it would be easier to combat issues of food scarcity and malnutrition at the same time,” he said.Expressing concern over the low per capita consumption of fruits and vegetables in India though India stood second in the world in the production of these, Ayyappan advocated the need to identify crops which have lesser demand for water and other inputs besides being more remunerative than field crops.
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