Special Focus: Re-establishment of Indian Agriculture

The knowledge and techniques of farming have always been a part and parcel of Indian civilisation. The culture and civilisation of Vedic Aryans was based on and centred around agriculture is even mentioned in the Vedas. The importance of Indra, the Rain God and the large number of prayers addressed to Him in the Rig Veda proves beyond doubt that the Vedic Aryans were agriculturists.
Krishi was initially a part of wider discipline called Varta which included krishi, pasupalya and vanijya. Animal husbandry even today is considered a branch of agriculture.
Pashupalya, a science of rearing and caring of domestic animals associated with krishi has been discussed in considerable detail in Krishi-parashara in the section called Vahanvidhanam Vanijya—comprising of commerce and economics. It was also regarded as a sister science of agriculture as agricultural produce was the chief commodity traded in the old times. That prosperity is directly linked with success of agriculture is emphatically stated by parashara in various contexts in Krishi-Parashar. Gradually, as more and more sources of marketable commodities came to be explored and as the kings management and control of these resource became more and more necessary for general prosperity of the land, Vanijya could not be linked solely with agriculture. This country flourishes well because its firm foundation is Varta states Vyasa in the epic Mahabharata. This land is considered rich because it takes care of its cattle and agriculture says Patanjali.
The great scholars and thinkers of ancient India such as Parasara, Garga and Kashyapa persued the subject of agriculture methodically and scientifically. These three scholars (and perhaps many others whose memory has not been preserved in the course of time) laid the foundation of agriculture science.
The science of agriculture, Krishi Parasara deals with several theories of rain forecast, general management of agriculture, plough and other implements of farming. Even detail instructions for ploughing are given. Most of farming operations such as procuring seeds, ploughing, sowing, levelling, transplanting, water management weeding and plant protective is dealt with considerable detail. Harvesting, threshing, measuring and storage are also dealt with.
Present scenario
Before Britishers Indian agriculture was a way of life it was no more an economic activity and its main function was to fulfil their life need. This agricultural practice was naturally organic, self sustaining and strengthening the village.
Britishers changed the agriculture and forest policies and imposed heavy tax on agriculture. They also forced the farmers to grow cotton, jute, indigo, tea and coffee which were the raw materials for the industries.
Then came Green Revolution which changed the self-sufficient nature of agriculture. New artificial seeds, chemicals fertilisers, chemical pesticides, tractor and other machineries and modern irrigations systems adopted by farmers have changed the self sufficient nature of agriculture; it has become an appendage of modern industries. The Green Revolution package was introduced in selected pockets of our country but its impact has been felt in the entire countryside. Concentration of resources in pockets implied a total neglect of other regions which further lead to the decline of all traditional technologies and resources and even of the aggregate rate of growth of our agriculture production.
The greatest impact has been on traditional seeds varieties – thousands of seeds tested and evolved over thousands of years started disappearing in less than fifty years of practice. The high yielding seeds tested in laboratories started founding universal application leading to all sorts of diseases and pest attack. Simultaneously, the impact on soil has been devastating.
The chemical fertiliser and pesticide not only killed almost all micro organisms which played the role of revitalising the soil but also removed the valuable nutrients from the soil. Once modern agriculture started taking hold of Indian agriculture the role of cattle changed. The cattle no longer remained a friend of this new
agriculture. The cattle power was takenover by tractors and trucks. Cattle manure no longer remained important. Cattle's role became only one sided, i.e., to provide milk – even that was primarily for industrialised urban sector. The White Revolution was borne out of such a philosophy.
The primary aim was to collect milk from rural areas for supply to cities. Farmers have become only the producer of milk not the consumer which is the main cause of mal nutrition of the population of rural India. The so-called second Green Revolution in forestry and agro forestry which replaced indigenous species of trees by exotic varieties and mono culture plantation is again to fulfil the need of the industries.
Modern agriculture which is mainly based on synthetic (chemicals fertiliser and pesticides) hybrid and GM seeds and flooding system of irrigation has changed the traditional Indian agriculture as a whole. Other disadvantages of this modern agriculture are its market based tendency which converted the independent farmers to live on the mercy of pesticide, fertiliser and seeds companies.
The agriculture universities and other agriculture research institutions have not developed an alternative package of farming system, technology and managements up till now.
Committing suicide by farmers, decreasing fertility of the soil, reducing productivity of the crop, hazardous pollution of the soil ,water and air , decreasing taste and nutritive value of the produce, reducing bio-diversity, farmers being poorer every day and committing suicide due to debt have created a very alarming situation. Thus there is a dire need to research a new farming system, technologies and management.
The ancient Indian text and other resources of knowledge in the field of agriculture ,horticulture, animal husbandry and agribusiness gives us a golden opportunity to look in to it and rediscover the new agricultural tools, technologies and managing systems leading to prosperous sustainable agriculture.
-Dr Raghuvansh Mani Pandey (The writer is the Founder Trustee-Food and Agriculture Integrated Development Action (FAIDA), Uttar Pradesh)