cutting the usage of agrochemicals and nourishing soil through ecological farming

cutting the usage of agrochemicals and nourishing soil through ecological farming
Voice of ecological farming comes out here. Smart Farming’, a forum convened by Greenpeace India launched a dialogue series titled ‘Smart Dialogues’ to discuss smart and sustainable farming solutions with a vision to ensure food security in India. The dialogue series was kicked off with a panel discussion on Soil Health and Agricultural Productivity in Punjab, organized by the forum in collaboration with Punjabi University Patiala, first in a series of discussions to be organized across the country by the Smart farming team.
Scientists, farmers, development professionals and students participated in the discussion and concluded that cutting the usage of agrochemicals and nourishing soil through ecological farming was the only way to save Agriculture in Punjab, which was at the verge of a crash down due to resource degradation. Prof. Sucha Singh Gill, Prof. of Economics and Dean (Research), Punjabi University said that “Punjab is heading towards an ecological disaster due to indiscriminate use of agrochemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides. The degraded soils in the state pose a big threat to food security and can cause serious economic implications not only for the state but also for the country.”
“The chemical nitrogenous fertilizers usage in Punjab has increased to over 200 kg/acre from a mere 5kg/ acre at the start of Green Revolution, rendering the soil sick. There is no microbial activity and the productivity has gone down drastically”, said Mr Umendra Dutt, Executive Director, Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM) in his keynote address. Dr Gopikrishna SR, Sustainable Agriculture Campaigner, Greenpeace India, said that “International scientific community has already realized the need to shift to ecological farming as a paradigm shift from the present mode of agriculture. But to bring changes on the ground a multi-stakeholder approach and broad ended discussions.” Prof. Inderjit Singh, Prof. Sukhwinder Singh (Punjabi University), Dr BS Joia and Dr G.S. Romana (PAU, Ludhiana), Dr Balwinder Singh Butahri (Former Divisional Soil Conservation Officer, Punjab) participated in the panel discussion.