Organic farming and other earlier methods can be effective, provided they can help us improve soil health and plant health. Plant pesticides like neem and tobacco need to be promoted.
— M. S. Swaminathan
I always ask the farmers, when you get up in the morning, is there some information which you are lacking which you would like to have? Invariably they talk about weather, the market price.
Farmers are happy so long as their net income will not be adversely affected. In organic farming, in the first couple of years you may drop in yield until you build up the soil fertility - you need inputs for output.
It will be very foolhardy and suicidal for a country like India to forgo food security.
The government should promote community nurseries of mangrove species and other appropriate tree species chosen under the coastal bio-shield and agro-forestry programmes.
Where two or more crops are taken normally, it is time to begin preparation for a good rabi crop by assembling the seeds, soil nutrients, and other agronomic inputs needed for timely sowing and good plant population.
I had the privilege of knowing and working with Norman Borlaug - who has been aptly described by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee as the greatest hunger fighter of our time - for nearly 50 years.
There is talk about the need for a second Green Revolution. However, such a revolution is nowhere in sight.
2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. We can classify our crops into those which are climate resilient and those which are climate sensitive. For example, wheat is a climate sensitive crop, while rice shows a wide range of adaptation in terms of growing conditions.
India’s future has to be built on the foundation of social protection of the economically and socially handicapped sections.
I have frequently pointed out that the future belongs to nations with grains and not guns.
Without the wholehearted involvement of farmers, particularly of young as well as women farmers, it will be impossible to implement a Food Entitlements Act in an era of increasing price volatility in the international market.
The loss of land for food security has to be measured not only in quantitative terms but also in respect of land use.
A life cycle approach to food security will imply attention to the nutritional needs of a human being from conception to cremation. The most vulnerable but neglected segment is the first 1,000 days in a child's life - the period from conception to the age of two, when much of the brain development takes place.
The smaller the farm, the greater is the need for marketable surplus, so that the family will have cash income to meet their needs.
One of India's major blessings is the rich store of experience and knowledge available in the rural and tribal areas.
If agriculture goes wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right.
Most pesticides lose their efficacy after a few years, because of pest resistance to pesticides. This is why companies go on changing the varieties.
Wireless technology has completely revolutionized information transmission and exchange in India. If you go in the coastal areas, small-scale fishermen who go out in small boats, they now carry a cellphone, which has GPS data on wave heights, where the fish are, et cetera.
Ultimately, multiple livelihood opportunities alone can insulate farmers in rainfed areas from the debt trap.
The construction of permanent sea walls can be taken up only in places where there is sea erosion due to heavy anthropogenic pressures. The locations for such non-living barriers should be determined on the basis of a carefully conducted erosion-vulnerability analysis.
We have to initiate a bio-shield movement along the coastal areas by raising mangrove forests, plantations of casuarina, salicornia, laucaena, atriplex, palms, bamboo and other tree species and halophytes - all that can grow near the sea.
At least five cents in every acre should be reserved for the construction of ponds to store rainwater.
Agriculture can trigger job-led economic growth, provided it becomes intellectually satisfying and economically rewarding.
When in 1963 we started large-scale research and testing with semi-dwarf varieties of wheat obtained from Mexico through Norman Borlaug, the new plant types attracted media attention immediately.
India unfortunately has the unenviable reputation of being the home to the largest number of undernourished children, women and men in the world.
To ensure food security for all, we should be clear about the definition of the problem, the precise index of measuring impact and the road map to achieve the goal.
Farming is the riskiest profession in the world since the fate of the crop is closely linked to the behaviour of the monsoon.
Micronutrient deficiency in the soil results in micronutrient malnutrition in people, since crops grown on such soils tend to be deficient in the nutrients needed to fight hidden hunger.
Land is becoming a diminishing resource for agriculture, in spite of a growing understanding that the future of food security will depend upon the sustainable management of land resources as well as the conservation of prime farmland for agriculture.
A number of non-banking finance companies have entered the rural microcredit market. Many microcredit agencies have been charging interest rates not very dissimilar to those charged by moneylenders. Borrowing then becomes more to meet pressing consumption needs, rather than for farming or small-scale enterprises.
Green Revolution technologies are scale-neutral but not resource-neutral. Inputs are needed for output; therefore market-purchased inputs become important in providing soil and plant healthcare for higher yields.
Looking ahead, the bright spot in Indian agriculture is the availability of a large untapped production reservoir.
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Bengal Famine, Parliament is likely to pass the National Food Security Bill which will be the world’s largest social protection measure against hunger.
Training of farmers in integrated pest management is exceedingly important to protect them during the use of pesticides.
Genetic modification is a very powerful tool. But like any powerful tool, when using it, you have to take into account the environmental impact, the food safety aspects and so on. There must be a strong regulatory mechanism.
Farmers in rain-fed, dry areas such as Vidarbha and parts of Andhra Pradesh may own several hectares of land but their farm produce depends on the vagaries of the monsoon.
There is an urgent need for regeneration of fisheries and fostering a sustainable fisheries programme. What I mean is, designing new fishing vessels and nets so that they do not disrupt the fish lifecycle by catching young ones and also do not destroy sea grass beds, which serve as habitats for dugongs.
The Climate Risk Managers can be trained in the science and art of managing uncertain rainfall patterns leading to drought or flood.
Farmers, young and old, educated and uneducated, have easily taken to the new agronomy. It has been heart-warming to see young college graduates, retired officials, ex-armymen, illiterate peasants and small farmers queuing up to get the new seeds.
The National Policy for Farmers calls for a paradigm shift from measuring agricultural progress merely in terms of growth rates, to measuring it in terms of the growth in the real income of farm families.
Integrated coastal zone management procedures involving concurrent attention to both the landward and seaward site of the ocean and to coastal forestry and agro-forestry as well as capture and culture fisheries are urgently needed.
Floods will become more serious and frequent in the Indo-Gangetic plains. Drought induced food and water scarcity will become more acute. South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the small islands will be the worst victims.
Rice, wheat and other grains can help to address protein-calorie under-nutrition. But only attention to horticulture, milk and eggs can help to overcome hidden hunger caused by the deficiency of micro-nutrients like iodine, iron, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin B12, etc.
Contract farming can be promoted if it is structured on the basis of a win-win situation both for the producer and the purchaser.
Land tenure is key to protecting land rights. The Central and State governments should have accessible systems for registering, tracking and protecting land rights, including customary rights and common property resources.
Denying a child even at birth an opportunity for the full expression of its innate genetic potential for physical and mental development is the cruellest form of inequity.
In spite of the dominant role played by women in both farming, they are denied credit as they lack land titles. Only a small percentage of Kisan Credit Cards goes to them.
The future of food security will depend on a combination of the ecological prudence of the past and the technological advances of today.
The Green Revolution was criticised by social activists on the ground that the high-yield technology involving the use of mineral fertilizers and chemical pesticides is environmentally harmful.
