Maati Ma — Festival of living Soil was recently held in the city to promote the organic way of farming instead of relying on chemicals. By A Mishra
living soil in our Indian history has been respected the giver of life. But the increase in use of chemicals and pesticides has led to rapid distortion of the fertile soil.
Bhoomi, an annual festival that Navdanya celebrated last week, was dedicated to the living soil and was titled as Maati Maa — Festival of living Soil. At the event, agricultural experts around the world participated and provided their expert views.
At the festival, experts spoke about the fertility of the soil and the farmers’ suicide which is not only a threat to the Indian economy, but it is a phenomenon that is affecting the entire world. These suicide can be kept in check only when the soil will regain its fertility. “India has more farmers than people living in North America and these are the people who are going to save the world from the climate disasters. People living in developing countries like China and India have the power to save the world, but this can only be done when people reconnect with their traditions and start regenerative practices,” said Ronnie Cummins, director of Organic Consumers Alliance.
The event was organised to spread awareness regarding living soil losing its generativeness by the use of harmful chemicals. Another reason behind usage of chemicals in India is that farmers here had started practicing monoculture. Planting the same crop in the same field every year makes the soil weak and quality of the crop deteriorates. To avoid such scenario, farmers rely on chemical fertilisers.
Barbara Geiger, vice president at Parasec, performed an act on earthworms, stressing on their importance. “My performance was on earthworms. In the show, the earthworm was the king of the animals because if there will be no soil, then there will be no plants. Soil is the essence of life so I celebrate the creature in the soil to make people aware that soil is the origin of life on Earth. Earthworm is the animal which we need for soil. There is a key difference between soil organisms and life. The little earthworms are actually the progenitor of real life.”
Geiger, who hails from Germany, tells us that in Germany there are 46 different types of earthworms and “I have come to India to do a research on different types of earthworms found here.” She thinks that there are more varieties of earthworms in India than in Germany. She has also translated her work in Hindi and in English for the Indian farmers.
Andre leu, president of IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) said, “We work with farmers around the world, trying to help them to make a transition to organic and step away from chemicals. We teach them how to work and how to farm so that they can produce good amount of crops without using chemicals.”
Vandana Shiva, who was the organiser of the event said, “TheBhoomi festival is part of an annual effort of spread awareness about the living Earth and since 2015 is the UN Year of Soils, Bhoomi was dedicated to the living soil.”