Organic agriculture: Why Modi's 'advise' overlooks disastrous Sri Lankan experience

By NS Venkataraman*
Addressing a conclave virtually in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the farmers to adopt natural farming (organic farming) to protect the soil from the harmful impact of chemicals. Further, the Prime Minister said that crop produced from a chemical free process will fetch higher prices in the international market due to the growing demand for organic products.
The Prime minister pointed out that 90,000 clusters have been created all over India under the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and the target is to cover 10 lakh hectares under the scheme for organic farming.
The above statement of the Prime Minister clearly indicates his target and hope to promote organic farming in a massive way in India . All the information that he gave are factually correct.
However, a careful study of the ground conditions and considering the need to sustain and promote the production of food grains in a massive way and the agricultural productivity issues in organic farming, one has to keep the fingers crossed as to whether large scale organic farming would happen at any time in the near future.
The recent experience of Sri Lanka in suspending the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides and opting for organic farming and consequent fall in the agricultural production is fresh in memory. As a matter of fact, due to the total switch over to organic farming in Sri Lanka, the production of tea, paddy and other agricultural products declined steeply , driving Sri Lanka into a state of severe food crisis.
The Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board has said that Sri Lanka is now focusing on intensified application of synthetic fertilizer and synthetic pesticide, which is creating hope of increasing the production of tea to make up on the earlier year’s losses due to organic farming.

As it is well known, in organic farming, inputs like vermi compost, green manure, bio-pesticides, oil cakes and bio-digester liquids, bio-fertilisers are used , instead of synthetic fertilisers and synthetic pesticides.

In the use of bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides, there are also practical issues due to low shelf life

In the use of bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides, there are also practical issues due to low shelf life, need for controlled temperature conditions etc.
The arguments in favour of organic farming is that it is eco-friendly, saves Mother Earth by protecting the quality of the soil and fetch higher price in the market compared to the product produced using synthetic material.
The question is about the agricultural productivity and yield in organic farming. While some organic farms operated under ideal conditions by researchers and investigators are said to have given yield comparable to the yield using synthetic material, the farmers are not convinced that yield in organic farming would be on par with that of the farming done, using synthetic material in commercial agricultural operations , also due to various factors like different climatic conditions, soil conditions in different locations.
The ground reality is that nowhere in the world, there are takers for 100% organic farming based agricultural operations. Obviously, organic farming is good enough for selected crops in less acreage to cater to the requirement of consumers willing to pay higher price for organically produced products.
In such situation, considering that organic farming should be considered the be all and end all of agricultural operations is misleading and is likely to be counter productive.
The disastrous Sri Lanka experiment with total organic farming can be ignored only at the risk of facing national food shortage.
---
*Trustee, Nandini Voice For The Deprived, Chennai

Comments

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan* An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...

'Batteries now cheap enough for solar to meet India's 90% demand': Expert quotes Ember study

By A Representative Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, has urged India’s top policymakers to reconsider the financial and ecological implications of the country’s energy transition strategy in light of recent global developments. In a letter dated April 10, 2026, addressed to the Union Ministers of Finance, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, with a copy to the Prime Minister, Sharma highlighted concerns over India’s ambitious plans for coal gasification and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).

Health Day ads spark row as NAPi targets Britannia campaign, criticizes celebrity endorsement

By A Representative The advocacy group Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi) has raised concerns over what it describes as misleading advertising of ultra-processed food products (UPFs), particularly those high in sugar, fat and salt, calling for stricter regulations and an end to such promotions across media platforms.

Search This Blog