Precision farming needs to be promoted to get more output with less exploitation of natural resources

Source: The post is based on the article “Precision farming needs to be promoted to get more output with less exploitation of natural resources” published in the Indian Express on 5^th September 2022.

Syllabus: GS 3 – Different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints.

Relevance: About India’s farming activities.

News: Humans are over-exploiting planet’s natural resource endowment. This may boomerang and threaten the very existence of humanity.

What are the challenges in current farming methods?

a) Lands are degrading, especially the topsoil that is crucial for providing food, animal feed and fibre, b) Groundwater is depleting and its quality is becoming poorer with the increasing use of chemical fertilisers and other industrial waste, c) Air human breathe is polluted. When stubble burning peaks in farmers’ fields in Punjab and Haryana it is difficult to even breathe in a city like Delhi.

The extreme weather events such as the recent heat waves in Europe and Asia alongside droughts and floods in other areas exacerbate these issues even more.

Why there is an imbalance between people and the planet?

In 1804, for the first time in history, the human population touched one billion. The next billion was added in 123 years with the count touching two billion by 1927. Several major breakthroughs in medical science ensured that the next billion was added in just 33 years by 1960.

Thereafter, humanity progressed even faster. For instance, it took only 12 years to reach six to seven billion in 2010, and another 12 years to touch eight billion in 2022.

This created a huge imbalance between the demands of people and the capacity of this planet to supply them in a sustainable manner.

What is the role of natural/organic farming in correcting this imbalance?

Many governments, religious organisations, and some NGOs believe that organic/natural farming is the only way to correct this imbalance. Most of the studies conducted by ICAR in India show that with the adoption of natural farming yields go down for major staple crops like wheat and rice by as much as 30 to 50%. But the yields recover back to normal levels after some time.

Organic farming in India: Sikkim was declared an organic state, etc. The Indian government has initiated a major programme on natural farming along the Ganga, five kilometres on each side of its banks. Many states like Andhra Pradesh are also scaling up natural farming.

Why does India need to focus on farming?

Sri Lanka wanted to get rid of chemical fertilisers but facing an economic challenge. India is going to be the most populous country on the planet in 2023. So, India needs a proper policy decision with better and more scientific evidence if India wants to avoid a Sri Lanka-like fiasco.

What should be done to improve farming activities?

Focus on precision farming: It can give India “more from less”. The innovations and developments in GIS (Geographical Information System), AIML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) can use enormous data and bring about precision in farming.

Reduction of subsidies: In India, there is a culture of free power, free water, almost 80 to 90% subsidy on urea, and so on. These subsidy policies may have been good in the 1960s or the 1970s when the country was hugely food deficit. But now these subside have to be reduced.