Posts Tagged ‘agriculture’

Living in Context with Nature

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

 

 

Warli Lifestyle

Image Courtesy - Google

 

In the concrete jungle that the urban city has become, one tends to feel rather alienated from a natural eco existence. In fact, for people born and raised in urban spaces this is the only environment – and hence way of life one knows. Our household, cultural, educational and work related activities engage a significant proportion of our time. These life-style choices drive our interaction with the surrounding and consumption patterns. Hence, for millions of folks the urban experience is limited to their home, place of purpose and mode of commute.

‘What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare’ is a line from a poem called leisure written by William Henry Davies. Quite true, with regard to two aspects -

1) We have no time and

2) We do not have a lot to stare at, for there are quite a few surroundings that are a mere conglomeration of garbage and development debris.

Such was however not the case in every scenario, day and age. History offers us some fascinating insights in ways of living that were wisely connected with nature.

For example in the 3rd century A.D. in Ancient India groves and orchards were considered as sacred spaces where the local deities were placed. The domestic and monarchic setups within such a culture worked to protect the ecological surrounding that comprised of plants and animals.  These spaces were better known as the ‘sacred groves’ and people took their interaction with them very seriously. They were exempted from tax duties and even as of the present day they serve as rich reservoirs of seeds, saplings and plant posterity. Planting trees and donating groves earned merit. A culture such as this inspires and encourages one to live in joyous harmony with nature. Within the Sarguja district within Madhya Pradesh every village has 20 hectares of these groves. They’ve also been seen at Gani and Mangaon in Maharashtra.

One need not just look at an ancient culture to understand human life that is in harmony with nature. Even as of today there are many societies that function as part of nature and not independent from it – Meghalaya’s living bridges are a fine example of the same. Known to receive the highest levels of rainfall, the residents of these states make bridges out of fig tree roots to tackle floods. The Warli tribe from Dahanu and Talasari district, Thane also holds nature in high regard with respect to their culture and occupation. They teach their young ones to live in harmony with nature and not to fear its forces. In fact, at birth a male child is gifted an axe and a girl child a sickle to establish the connection with nature at a very nascent stage.

These examples bring us back to the urban city and our zone of familiarity. How do we make our existence more natural? We ought to take some time out to engage more with our surroundings and not live oblivious to them. We need a shift in our consciousness to change our thinking and finally impact our actions and lifestyle. We ought to make a serious audit on our consumption patterns and seek for a sustainable existence.

What we need is strong individual and collective action. A few small steps such as planting trees in the neighbourhood, composting, reducing consumption of plastic to the bare minimum, reducing waste , buying organic food , reusing & recycling , sharing, making our commute eco-friendly will definitely help the ecology around us and who knows it could be a very fun endeavour to get to know who your neighbour is.

None of these steps refer to an austere, serious life. Living in harmony with nature brings immense joy, peace and a sense of connectedness. We shape the world we inhabit – through conscious effort or inaction. Let’s honour the planet by conscious participation in the creation of a new world. In doing so the biggest gift will be to our self.

 

Join the buzz

Sunday, January 9th, 2011

Most of us possibly don’t have even a passing thought about bees . Much less ponder on the connection between human beings and bees. Yet , there is a connection . Bees don’t just make honey, they are a giant, humble workforce, pollinating 90% of the plants we grow.

Bees are vital to life on earth — every year pollinating plants and crops with an estimated $40bn value, over one third of the food supply in many countries. Without immediate action to save bees we could end up with serious disruption in food supply.

This is just the impact on human lives . There is a wider role that pollinating bees play in nature which possibly is not understood completely.

Recent years have seen a steep and disturbing global decline in bee populations — some bee species are now extinct and others are at just 4% of their previous numbers. Scientists have been scrambling for answers. Some studies claim the decline may be due to a combination of factors including disease, habitat loss and toxic chemicals. But new leading independent research has produced strong evidence blaming neonicotinoid pesticides. France, Italy, Slovenia and even Germany, where the main manufacturer Bayer is based, have banned one of these bee killers.

A world without bees is not necessarily a world that is completely devoid of life. Much of human existence is presently dependent on honey bees because they are currently the main pollinators. However, penguins and fish don’t need bees to sustain their diet. The human race is not likely to become extinct as a result of the bees becoming extinct. Instead, there would be massive deaths until the humans can evolve to eat foods that bees do not pollinate. Food production would decline as a result of the bees’ extinction but would never disappear entirely. Some type/quantity of crops can still be grown without the intervention of bees. The labor-intensive hand pollinating process would raise the price of food.

Life on Earth would survive without bees, but it would be a much different Earth. Most plants depend on insects like bees to pollinate them. Unless some other animal inserted themselves into that biological niche, most of our plants would disappear along with the bees. One source of photosynthesis that is independent of insects is in our water supply. Algae has a tremendous influence on the world’s oxygen production, so oxygen would not disappear. Because many trees and flowering plants depend on bees for their reproductive cycle, they would be highly stressed.

Avaaz is campaigning for a ban of neonicotinoid pesticides to stop the decline of bees . Pl click here to support the campaign.

Nutrition is a bigger problem than hunger

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

Incisive article by Swaminathan Aiyer.

…The big problem is malnutrition, not hunger. A recent survey revealed anaemia rates of 51-74% in women and small children. Of children under three, 47% were underweight and 45% stunted by global standards. Protein deficiency is a culprit.

How do we focus on nutrition rather than presumed hunger? Not through ever-rising subsidies on food. Sonia Gandhi wants subsidized grain even for better-off folk. This aims to provide electoral security for Sonia. Don’t confuse it with food security..

..Ajai Shankar, former industry secretary, has an excellent suggestion for self-targeting in food — mix wheat flour (atta) with soya flour, raising its protein content but making it less palatable. Richer folk will not eat this, but poor people will. Such protein fortification of atta could help reduce protein deficiency in pregnant women and children. Ajai Shankar also suggests offering brown, unpolished rice, which has more nutrition but is less palatable than white rice, and so will be self-targeted at the poor.

I would fortify atta with not only soya but iron (to combat anaemia), iodine (to combat goitre) and Vitamin A (to combat night blindness). This will cost very little extra, yet combat serious nutritional deficiencies. It’s not a silver bullet: other nutritional programmes need overhaul and strengthening too.

Brown rice has two drawbacks. First, it can be resold by shopkeepers to mills at a huge profit, so the PDS incentive for massive diversion will remain. Atta mixed with soya cannot be unmixed, and so eliminates diversion.

A bigger objection should be to rice in any form. Rice is the most expensive cereal, and guzzles the most water. It requires 22 irrigations per crop against eight for wheat. Rice cultivation is sustainable in high rainfall areas, but is environmentally disastrous in moderate-rainfall areas (Punjab, Haryana). It lowers the water table precipitously, so drinking-water wells and shallow tubewells of small farmers run dry, and some of them commit suicide.

Any food entitlements should be for basic food, not for the most expensive cereal. A right to rice is conceptually like Marie Antoinette’s right to cake. For centuries, poor Indians have eaten coarse grain (bajra, jowar) costing half as much as rice. If necessary, India can export rice to finance imports of twice as much coarse grain, which can then be fortified with nutritional supplements for the PDS. It will be self-targeting: richer folk will not buy it..

Sound suggestions . Will a govt that allows millions of tonnes of food grains to rot have the will to do something meaningful for the poor ?

Fruit trees and the girl child

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

A completely amazing aspect of tree plantation by connecting it to the birth of a girl child .

In many parts of India, where traditionally boys have been preferred over girls, a village in Bihar state has been setting an example by planting trees to celebrate the birth of a girl child.

In Dharhara village, Bhagalpur district, families plant a minimum of 10 trees whenever a girl child is born.

And this practice is paying off.

Nikah Kumari, 19, is all set to get married in early June. The would-be groom is a state school teacher chosen by her father, Subhas Singh.

Mr Singh is a small-scale farmer with a meagre income, but he is not worried about the high expenses needed for the marriage ceremony.

For, in keeping with the village tradition, he had planted 10 mango trees the day Nikah was born.

The girl – and the trees – were nurtured over the years and today both are grown up.

“Today that day has come for which we had planted the trees. We’ve sold off the fruits of the trees for three years in advance and got the money to pay for my daughter’s wedding,” Mr Singh told the BBC.

“The trees are our fixed deposits,” he said.

In Bihar, payment of dowry by the bride’s family is a common practice. The price tag of the bridegroom often depends on his caste, social status and job profile.

The state is also infamous for the maximum number of dowry deaths in the country.

But the mango trees have freed Nikah’s parents of undue worries. And their story is not unique in Dharhara village.

With a population of a little over 7,000, the village has more than 100,000 fully grown trees, mostly of mango and lychee.

From a distance, the village looks like a forest or a dense green patch amidst the parched and arid cluster of villages in the area.

One hopes that this tradition of tree plantation will spread . And that it will not be limited to the birth of a girl child alone.

Food Rules

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Brilliant , much needed book by Michael Pollan. While he has written this book based on food habits of Americans it is (sadly) true and relevant for urban inhabitants in many parts of the world.

Besides the food wisdom in the book I love the design and style of the content . Simple , easy and quick to read . The style of writing may ensure that the book is widely read and many of the ideas are adopted by readers.

Some of the food rules…

- “Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”

- “Don’t eat anything* with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can’t pronounce.” (* processed food)

- “Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.”

-”Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself”

-”It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language (think Big Mac , Pringles..)”

It’s amazing to see the cocktail of ailments many folks bring upon themselves due to poor eating habits . There seems to be a generation of children who are being raised with irregular food habits and ‘industrial novelties’ aka processed foods. As my grandmom used to say ‘it’s better to pay money to the grocer than to the doctor’ (a point of view endorsed in the book as well).

Read the book . More importantly recreate your relationship with food .

Organic state

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

The Indian state of Sikkim is working towards the goal of  100% organic agriculture by 2015 .

Silently, this ecological hotspot of the eastern Himalayas has moved towards sustainable agriculture in a big way, covering almost 90% of its agricultural land. Use of chemical pesticide, insecticide or chemical inputs was slowed down as early as 2003 but what was awaited was blanket certification. Now, even that seems to be on the fast track. Of 70,000 hectares of arable land in Sikkim, 6000 hectares is already organic-certified. By 2015, Sikkim aims to be completely organic certified.

Organic farming combines ecologically-sound modern technology with traditional agricultural practices including crop rotation, green manure and biological pest control to ensure reduction or total elimination of chemical inputs. In several parts of Sikkim, farmers have succeeded in growing completely organic maize, paddy, ginger, cardamom and turmeric while expanding the practices to other horticultural crops.

The first step came in May 2003, when the state government withdrew the subsidy on fertilizers. From 2006-07 onwards, the transport and handling subsidy and commission to the retailer was also withdrawn. Alongside, the government also adopted a seven-year plan to phase out use of chemical fertilizers, by gradually replacing these with organic sources.

“The government had taken the decision because it had seen the adverse impact of chemical fertilizers on our soil, water and on human health, considering ours is a biodiversity hotspot,” says S K Gautam, secretary in the department of food security and agriculture.

Wonderful to see the concerted , sustained , planned efforts to make an entire state organic . Yet another reason to visit this beautiful spot of the pale blue dot we inhabit.