Will an Organic Revival Overthrow the Green Revolution?

[Guest guest]

Poster's Comment: I agree with this -' Says G.P.I. Singh, a specialist in

public health community medicine who has worked in the region of southern

Punjab for over 25 years: " What are you achieving by feeding people at the cost

of their health? " '

Will an Organic Revival Overthrow the " Green Revolution " ?

_http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/91200/?page=entire_

(http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/91200/?page=entire)

By _Daniel Pepper_ (http://www.alternet.org/authors/9296/) , _AlterNet_

(http://www.alternet.org/) . Posted _August 2, 2008_

(http://www.alternet.org/ts/archives/?date[F]=08 & date[Y]=2008 & date[d]=02 & act=Go/\

) .

 

 

In places like India, backlash is increasing against the chemical-dependent

farming techniques of the " Green Revolution. "

 

 

Inside a hot, dun-colored courtyard at the edge of India's northwestern

Punjab state, Jagdev Singh, a wheelchair-bound boy of 15, jerks violently,

fruitlessly, in search of some relief. " I can't swat the flies off of my face, "

says Jagdev. A debilitating muscular disorder (he doesn't know what) prevents

him from raising his arms more than few inches above his lap. Doctors in New

Delhi have told him the cause is an excess of urea -- a chemical fertilizer

used in abundance in the surrounding wheat, rice and cotton fields -- that

courses through his bloodstream. Three other children nearby suffer similar

fates.

Jagdev's illness is part of a pattern, say villagers, activists, government

scientists and academics: early onset of disease brought on by environmental

pollutants. Punjab is where India's Green Revolution began, leading the

subcontinent out of cycles of famine and realizing the dream of

self-sufficiency.

But after decades of overusing fertilizers, farmers are now saying that the

benefits of the Green Revolution have come at too great a cost, slowly

siphoning the health out of both the soil and the surrounding community. In

particular, they say, the high use of fertilizers is leading to a spike in

cancer and

other illnesses, including reproductive ailments.

Backing up the villagers' claims is a recent study by researchers at Punjabi

University that has found a high rate of DNA damage among farmers due to

pesticide use. A second study, also conducted this past year, found widespread

contamination of drinking water with pesticides and heavy metals, revealing

that drinking water is one of the major causes of death in Punjab. The

government is slow to take action, say villagers, whose access to health care

is

often across state lines, via uncomfortable overnight train journeys, in

neighboring Rajasthan.

But neither of the two recent studies conclusively link fertilizers to

disease, says Tilak Sarangal, the top civil servant in charge of health and

family

welfare in Punjab. Sarangal points out that according to the latest figures

from the Indian Council of Medical Research, cancer rates are around 58 per

100,000 in the area worst affected by the overuse of pesticides and

fertilizers, far below the national average of about 70 to 90 cases per

100,000.

" Certainly we are in a danger zone as far as the toxicity and danger of

fertilizers

are concerned, " says Sarangal. " Whether (cancer rates) are as good as other

parts of Punjab and elsewhere in the country, " he cannot say for certain. The

state government is now commissioning two new cancer survey studies as well

as the construction of two new specialty cancer hospitals in Punjab.

But public health professionals, farmers, doctors and academics all agree

that Punjab is overloaded with pesticides and say they see a correlation.

Punjab is one of the biggest users of fertilizers in India -- some of which are

highly toxic and banned, but easily accessible in the marketplace.

However, a new, growing association of organic farmers in Punjab is

championing a high-value, low-yield anti-marketplace approach to farming. Their

products pose a dilemma to the government: The fruits and grains may be

healthier

and environmentally sustainable, but many doubt that organic farmers can feed

an entire nation.

" This is a country that can well remember mass hunger, " says Sarangal. " The

Green Revolution came in, and today we are quite comfortable. If we go back

to organic food, how will we feed ourselves? "

Starting in 1964, the Green Revolution transformed Punjab overnight into

India's breadbasket, doubling its output of wheat and rice and supplying almost

half of India's grain. With the advent of new irrigation techniques, hybrid

seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and mechanization, Punjab's farmers

became heroes of a self-sufficient India, no longer dependent upon shipments

of foreign grain. But times have changed, says Professor R.K. Mahajal, an

agricultural economist at Punjabi University. " The Green Revolution is not as

green as it was earlier -- it has now become brown and pale, " says Mahajal.

" The profit margins have skewered to the minimum. At this rate, in 50 years

Punjab will become a desert, like Rajasthan. "

Umendra Dutt, a towering, energetic activist with chest-length locks and a

thick beard, goes a step further, arguing, " The Green Revolution has

devastated the entire ecosystem of our society -- the ecology and economy. We

have

lost almost all of our biodiversity. (It) is input-intensive, techno-centric,

resource-guzzling. It is not a cultural transformation leading to

self-sufficiency.

" Our (organic) farmers are living a life that is much more sustainable. "

To be sure, Dutt represents a minority voice in Punjab, and fewer than 5

percent of Punjab's farmers cultivate organic crops because of a combination of

factors, including the minimum price support that the government offers

farmers for wheat and rice made with the aid of fertilizer and pesticides and

the

social pressure to prevent farmers from changing decades-long practices.

" People are fed up with chemical farming, " says Amarjit Sharma, a farmer for

30 years who began organic farming four years ago. " The earth is now

addicted to the use of these chemicals. " Sharma is now the custodian of his

village's organic seed bank. He sells his crop of wheat for more than twice the

price

of his neighbors who use pesticides and fertilizers, while he reaps just

over half the yield. And he doesn't have to invest in costly inputs from the

marketplace, such as hybrid seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, which keeps him

from going into debt every season. He uses natural, homemade pesticides such as

cow manure mixed with urine, soured milk, garlic, chilies and the leaves of

a native plant to ward off parasitic insects.

" The major difference between chemical farming and organic farming is that

with chemical farming the yield either decreases or stays stagnant over time,

while of organic farming, field and quality of the soil increase, " says

Sharma. " After two or three years, the yield will be equal. "

A short visit to his fields reveals a chaotic mix of plant life -- sugarcane

and sorghum, vegetables and marigold plants. The chirping of insects is

heard -- the experience is odiferous and tactile. In the adjoining field, two

men

spray fertilizer. " When I see the pesticide sprayers, I see how we are

slowly becoming a slave to that stuff, " says Amarjit Sharma's son Mahinder, 28,

who is busy toiling in the field.

The feeling in Channu, located in a district of Punjab with a spike in

cancer patients, is that the government should be taking action. This is a

common

problem in India: Government is viewed as a distant, corrupt and wealthy

entity too concerned with the business of politicking to solve the problems of

poor villagers. And there are not enough resources from within the village to

solve its own problems.

" We had never even heard of cancer before, " says Burbachan Singh, 75. Like

most farmers, he doesn't have an alternative form of livelihood or see a way

out of the overuse of pesticides and herbicides. " The soil is now addicted.

The yield is low, and it is difficult to make ends meet. We are completely

dependent on the poison. "

Many doctors are now encouraging both patients and farmers to pursue organic

farming. Says G.P.I. Singh, a specialist in public health community medicine

who has worked in the region of southern Punjab for over 25 years: " What are

you achieving by feeding people at the cost of their health? "