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Even today, the country's large population is a huge burden on the country's resources. India has 17.6 percent of the world's total population, while the area is about 2.5 percent and water resources are 4 percent. But after 1968, many new things were adopted in India in an effort to increase food grains. As a result of electrification, maximum irrigation was arranged through tube wells and 14 big commercial banks were nationalized and they were instructed to give loans to farmers at particularly cheap rates.
The government made arrangements for self-procurement by announcing support prices for wheat and paddy crops and this increased the production of wheat and paddy to such an extent that India changed from a food importing country to a food exporting country.
But the increase in the yield of this Green Revolution happened due to the maximum use of fertilizers. Earlier, chemical fertilizers were not being used to the maximum. A big reason for this was that there was a great need for irrigation, which was now fulfilled by tube wells. Chemical fertilizers were used more in those areas where water was more available.
Punjab, Haryana and UP were the three states where water was found 7/8 feet below the ground. Tubewells started being installed in these areas. Punjab, which had 7000 tubewells by 1960, now has about 14.5 lakh tubewells. With the increase in electrification and especially after free electricity for agriculture in 1997, these tubewells started drawing more water from the ground than the water requirement.
So where the water level was 8/10 feet, it has now gone down to more than 150 feet in many places, due to which environmental degradation has started. Environmental degradation has occurred due to two reasons. One is excessive use of chemicals and the other is the water level going down a lot. The use of chemicals undoubtedly increases the yield but it is at the cost of soil fertility. The use of chemicals reduces the fertility of the earth.
If 4 bags of chemicals have to be used to get one unit of yield in the first year, then 5 bags of chemicals will have to be used the next year. To get the same yield, not 5 but 6 bags will have to be used next year and this way this quantity will keep increasing every year, then guess where it will end. On the other hand, the poison of these chemicals will first enter the air, then water, then soil and then food, which will cause many problems.
Nowadays, these chemicals have caused a great disturbance in the natural environment. These chemicals not only affect the fields in which they are used, but they also affect the adjacent fields. This is the reason why it has created many obstacles in doing organic or natural farming. Electric motors were installed above the ground to extract water which was available at a depth of 7/8 feet, but after 1980, the motors installed on the ground could not extract water.
So a well was dug underground and motors were installed. They could only draw water because this was the second layer of water. Then the water from this layer also got exhausted. So a submersible pump is being used to draw out water. If the water continues to be drained in this manner, then the water from this layer will also get exhausted. What will happen then? It is scary to even think about it. So it is important to solve this issue without delay.
Chemicals are used to maintain or increase the yield of grains. If the yield can be increased with organic manures and other fertilizers and substances as an alternative to chemicals or the same yield can be obtained from organic crops by changing the methods of farming, then the need for chemicals will end which is the main cause of environmental degradation. Government protection is required in this regard.
With the same zeal and dedication with which agricultural universities and agricultural research centres research new seeds, chemicals and methods of cultivation which have yielded such promising results, research should be done on organic fertilizers and methods that give higher yields. It has been observed that some natural farms are getting higher yield than chemical farms such as the farm near Jandiale run by Pingalwara Sansthan and some other farms in other districts.
Another thing that has been observed is that there are some misconceptions about organic farming. A few years ago, I was given a project on the competition between organic and chemical farms in Punjab by the Indian Council of Social Sciences, New Delhi. I also visited some farms which had small poultry farms. I particularly noted that those farms took more than 150 quintals of potatoes per acre while the yield in chemical farms was 100 quintals.
Similarly, with that poultry manure they were producing 400 quintals of sugarcane per acre, while chemical farms produced maximum 300 quintals of sugarcane.
But when I spoke to the extension director of the agricultural university who is supposed to take good research to the farmers, his answer was that the chickens are vaccinated. So not only does that manure remain organic, but I understand that chicken coop manure left in the sun for several months is not that toxic. This should be researched and products should be recommended that help maintain the natural environment and give more agricultural yield.
These chemicals have destroyed many species of birds and microorganisms that increase production. Only organic and natural farming can maintain the natural environment. The government has to be aware of this. It is difficult to improve the natural environment without their protection, guidance and support. The government should take this issue seriously before it is too late.