Amid degraded soil health, natural farming is the solution, says Minister Bhagirath Choudhary

Minister of State for Agriculture Bhagirath Choudhary on Monday credited Green Revolution for making the country self-sufficient in food but said several challenges lie ahead to continue to be the self-sufficient amid rising population and degrading soil health.

Addressing an event on agtech start-ups, organised by industry chamber FICCI in New Delhi, Choudhary said it is time to adopt natural farming. “We have to save both animal and human population, so also our mother Earth from getting sick. Our mother Earth is more sick than us and until it is ill, we cannot lead a healthy life,” he said and blamed overuse of pesticides and chemical fertilizers for the current soil conditions in the country.

The minister said though India became self-sufficient in food from the days when there was a shortage, sickness too has increased. He linked the importance of leading a healthy life with the vision of making India a developed country by 2047 and said that it is not possible to achieve the target if the soil health remains bad.

States cooperation sought

Earlier in the day, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in the Rajya Sabha that the government does not want the entire agricultural land be turned into natural farming, but at least a portion of the agricultural field should be made chemical-free to save the degrading soil conditions. For instance, if one has five acres of land, one acre can be used for natural farming, he said.

He also said there are problems in the agriculture sector and he will discuss the issues with the farmers and their associations. He sought cooperation from the States and said he has started consultations with their agriculture ministers.

He was replying to a discussion in Rajya Sabha on the working of the Agriculture Ministry and farmers’ welfare.