July 2022

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 jul 2022

Over the years, use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has grown tremendously. Even though it has benefited farmers in increasing yields and saving crops from pests, but its indiscriminate use had negative effects on soil, environment and human health. This overuse is creating concern in farming communities, governments and nonprofits, and giving rise to a farming movement, often termed as 'organic farming' or 'natural farming', that utilizes old techniques of farming in a new and more scientific way. Indian government highlighted this method of farming in 2021 Economic Survey and work towards lessening use of chemicals in farming. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her 2022 Budget speech said, 'Chemical-free natural farming will be promoted throughout the country, with a focus on farmers' lands in 5 km wide corridors along river Ganga, at the first stage.' Currently only about 3.8 million hectares, or 2.7% of the total area under farming in India, is farmed organically or through natural methods. Experts differ in their views regarding the level of transition required towards 'natural farming' and how much beneficial it would be for India's agricultural economy. Experts supporting 'natural farming' point out the benefits to farmers like reduce input costs, improve soil health and water efficiency, increase farm produce prices, but others experts mention concerns like lower yields, crops becoming more vulnerable to pests and plant diseases etc. Most debates related to agriculture in India often get politicised, but what is needed in India is a more long-term sustainable model in agriculture. G.V. Ramanjaneyulu, executive director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (Secunderabad), says, 'The focus should be on reducing agro-chemicals, water use and energy utilisation.' Economist Mihir Shah, in a January 2022 report in the journal 'Ecology, Economy and Society', wrote that due to impact of Green Revolution and current situation of pandemic, 'there is an urgent need to scale up alternative approaches of farming.' PM Narendra Modi in his speech to farmers in 2021 National Conclave on Natural Farming said, 'We have to take our agriculture out of the lab of chemistry and connect it to the lab of nature.', referring to agroecology, which guides public policies towards sustainable agriculture and food systems, according to the Food and Agriclture Organization (FAO). 'Natural Farming' and 'Organic Farming', both used interchangably, come under agroecological practices. Natural farming focuses on the use of bio inputs prepared from farm and local ecosystems instead of purchasing those from outside. Sridhar Radhakrishnan, activist and independent agriculture researcher based in Thiruvananthapuram, says, 'Organic farming is defined now more from a perspective of product certification. Except for such certification, organic and natural farming in India are largely similar.' R. Ramakumar, an economist at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), says, 'What binds organic and natural farming proponents is the thrust on the absence of application of chemical fertilisers or chemical pesticides during cultivation...But [some] natural farming proponents argue that even these external applications are not required, as the farm itself can generate much of the inputs required, therefore, they call it Zero-Budget Natural Farming.' Zero-Budget Natural Farming is one of the many methods of natural farming, popularised by agriculturist Subhash Palekar. Vineet Kumar, deputy programme manager of Sustainable Food Systems at CSE (Centre for Science and Environment), says, 'There is scientific evidence on the benefits of natural farming, but the government has to take the initiative to formally collate like it did under AI-NPOF.' Kavitha Kuruganti, a social activist with the Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), says, 'A modern agricultural scientist may not even be able to explain why a concoction sprayed by a farmer increased yield in natural farming, while the scientist may understand how chemicals work.' India's way forward in agriculture would require a robust scientific and economic approach that keeps in mind the interests of the farmers, quality of produce, environment and human health, agri-employment etc. Read on...

IndiaSpend: Explained: What Is Natural Farming?
Author: Shreehari Paliath

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 jul 2022

According to the study, 'Analysis of future wind and solar potential over India using climate models' (Authors: T. S. Anandh from Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM); Deepak Gopalakrishnan from IITM and Center for Prototype Climate Modeling (NYU, UAE); Parthasarathi Mukhopadhyay from IITM), recently published in the Current Science, 'changing climate patterns over the next 50 years are likely to reduce the generation of solar power in India and affect the major wind power plants in certain regions... the renewable energy sector should work on improving the efficiency of solar farms given that radiation is likely to dip by 10 to 15 watts per square metre (sqm) across all seasons.' The team utilized three projection models - CORDEX-SA, CMIP5, and CMIP6 - to analyse solar and wind potential in India. Parthasarathi Mukhopadhyay of IITM, says, 'We have tried to show the difference between historical climates and the future scenario. All the models show an overall decrease in wind and solar power generation potential in India. Every model has its own uncertainty, but we have used three sets of models to analyse solar and wind potential over the peninsular region.' SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE STUDY: Both wind and solar potential are decreasing in some regions e.g. western India; Central and south-central India must be considered for the sector during pre-monsoon months, as the potential loss was minimum in these regions; North-western India - the biggest solar energy hub - is likely to see a loss in its energy capacity; Global warming would result in a drop in wind potential in some regions, and a rise in others; The southern coast of Odisha and the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu show promising potential for wind energy in the climate change scenario. Researchers predict that the deficits in solar and wind potential in India could be overcome by including more farms and using highly efficient power generators. Read on...

ThePrint: Bad news for renewable sector - study says climate change will hit solar & wind energy in India
Authors: Mohana Basu, Tony Rai

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