Technology can play a vital role in enthusing the conventional farmer to adopt low carbon agricultural practices that come with organic farming. It will significantly help reduce tillage and other machinery-based production activities
Driven by an irrepressible growth rate of 1.3 per cent per annum, the global population is projected to reach 9.6 billion people by 2050 while India is likely to touch a population of1.7 billion, which will be nearly equivalent to the combined population of China and the US. Given this immense population burden, the global agriculture sector is experiencing a never before pressure to make a quantum jump in food production in order to cater to the massive and imminent demand.
This urgency to ramp up food production is resulting in agricultural practices that are not environmentally conducive. Currently, emissions from farming and allied agricultural activities are contributing to 14 per cent of global greenhouse gases. In India, the agricultural sector contributes 28 per cent of the national green house gas emissions.The increase in GHG is mainly being driven by methane emissions from cultivation, enteric fermentation in cattle and nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer applications. The carbon dioxide emissions too are on the rise due to anthropogenic activities such as deforestation and changing the use of land from wild habitats into farmlands. This is also resulting in many thousands of wildlife species becoming extinct.
Given this scenario, there is an urgent need for India to balance food production and environmental conservation. This can be done by adopting smart and tech-savvy farming practices that not only increase the agricultural output significantly without contributing to rising GHG levels, but also conserve biodiversity through consistent reduction in the agricultural carbon footprint.In this regard, India can achieve sustainable progress by scaling up the organic agriculture initiative. According to the study conducted by the US-based Rodale Institute, organic agriculture can remove from the air and sequester 7,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per acre per year without compromising on the yield.
Given this potential, India can bank on organic farming to deliver a ‘carbon neutral’ agriculture sector by 2050. But to achieve this, the National Centre for Organic Farming under the Union Ministry of Agriculture must develop a multifactorial vision for the organic farming sector. This vision must ensure coordinated growth in organic farming that matches the rising demand for food production. This can be achieved by bringing at least five per cent to 10 per cent of the cultivable area of the country under organic agriculture. In addition, the NCOF can also consider support to the organic farming sector in the form of fiscal incentives and tax holidays to encourage private
sector investments.
However, to scale up the organic farming sector, it is crucial for the NCOF to develop a robust research and development capability that helps the farmers overcome yield and crop disease related challenges.This will instill confidence among the farming community in general, thereby helping more farmers to join the organic initiative. In recent times despite the well known benefits associated with organic products, the sales of the same have not been improving; this needs to be tackled by the NCOF by putting in place an effective system that extends comprehensive marketing and branding support for organic products.
Since a transition from conventional farming to organic farming will not take place overnight, the Government must ensure that the current farming practices are modified in order to ensure low carbon output. low carbon farming practices can help farmers leverage opportunities to capitalise on the carbon market, as they shift to methods that are more sustainable, involve lower input costs and result in emission reduction and sequestration by sinks.
Technology can play a vital role in enthusing the conventional farmer to adopt low carbon agricultural practices that help in reducing tillage and other machinery-based production activities. The Government can also initiate computer literacy programmes for farmers, especially on weather forecasting and provide suitable software to them, which can help the farmer plan his crop mixes and rotations, besides changing the timing, amounts, and frequency of the use of fertilisers. If effectively implemented, these efforts can contribute immensely in reducing the carbon output.
The world is increasingly testing newer methods of land use that can help in arriving at the optimum balance between an ideal agricultural productivity which is in harmony with wildlife and environment. land-sharing and land-sparing are two practices that are being intensely researched, debated and used across the world as tools for reducing the carbon footprint. Both concepts help the farmer achieve high agricultural yields without compromising on biodiversity or increasing the carbon footprint. India must explore these concepts and encourage farmers to adopt them.
Climate change is already affecting agriculture adversely; agricultural practices that foster high carbon footprint will further accelerate climate change. This is a vicious cycle that needs to be broken through proactive and eco-friendly agricultural measures.