Climate change, water shortage, soil erosion are increasing the crisis on our farmers and agriculture, agricultural scientist – Professor Pyarelal.

Daya Shankar Tripathi.

Bureau Prayagraj. Dr. Ashok Kumar Pyarelal, who is a professor at the Government Agricultural University in Himachal Pradesh, has said that climate change, water shortage, soil erosion are increasing the crisis for our farmers and anyone else in the environment. Keeping an eye on the impact of climate change and pollution on agriculture, he had a detailed conversation with Dayashankar Tripathi, head of Allahabad Bureau, on which he explained many reasons for the adverse effects on agriculture. He said that environmental challenges like climate change, pollution, deforestation and loss of biodiversity are no longer a distant problem. All these are directly affecting our daily lives like extreme weather changes, water shortage, soil erosion and decreasing air quality. In such an environment, our farmers and agriculture are facing serious problems. The crisis is increasing.

Farmers and gardeners are not going to get much benefit from the changing weather conditions. On the other hand, this year’s monsoon will also trouble the general public. According to an estimate, this year there will be less rainfall than normal and along with it the effect of El Nino will be very dangerous, drought and heat will increase due to which the production of Kharif crops will be hampered, especially in those areas where there is no facility of irrigation of crops, sowing will be late and the production will also be less. And inflation will increase in the country. Income will be less this year than last year.

Today, every country in the world is on the verge of severe inflation due to the war between Iran, Israel and America. But those fighting the war are not concerned with the weather, monsoon, inflation and the people. There is a competition on the world stage to show oneself powerful that I am the great winner. Due to this war, India is also going through a huge crisis. Inflation is increasing in the country, the price of energy is increasing. At the same time, this monsoon is giving the indication of wreaking havoc on India in a different way and is forcing the poor people of India to live in more poverty.

India will be hit from three sides. Bad monsoon, shortage of fertilizers and energy. Even though the supporters of the government on TV channels keep trapping the public in the web of figures, the truth is different from these figures. How long will the war last? It may continue till August or beyond, then such measures may have to be taken like demonetization in the country, restrictions on everything like withdrawing less money from banks, ban on oil and gas, limited use of everything etc. In view of the fertilizer crisis, the Agriculture Ministry is going to start the Save Farm Campaign from June 1 to June 30, in which agricultural scientists will tell the farmers the benefits of reducing the use of chemical fertilizers, promoting green manure and using more cow dung manure.

Which right method will be beneficial for the farmers to increase the decreasing fertility of their fields and also reduce the cost of farming and increase the production? This is a right step. Now the farmers need to adopt the old farming along with the modern farming in which green manure and nutritious manure are very important but many small and medium farmers have little to no livestock i.e. bulls, cows and buffaloes so that cow dung can be made as manure and the fields can be saved and the production also increased. In the seventies, The government started a scheme to make compost. Farmers installed cow dung gas plants and used the manure. Laborers started migrating from farming. As the livestock decreased, cow dung gas plants kept getting closed. Now farming is dependent on tractor chemical fertilizers.

Farmers have suffered a lot due to intermittent unseasonal rains, hail and strong winds in the last two months across the country including Himachal. There has also been loss of life. This harsh weather has caused huge losses to apple farmers and other fruit farmers in Upper Himachal. It is also estimated that Himachal Pradesh does sev business of Rs 5000 to 6000 crore every year. This year the production of apple is expected to be less due to unseasonal rain and hailstorm. Due to which farmers will suffer a loss of Rs 1500 to 2000 crores. The general public also has to bear the loss of low production that fruits, vegetables, grains, milk and oil will all be sold at high prices. The poor will become poorer and the businessmen will become rich.

According to IMD, rainfall may reduce as the effect of El Nino is increasing in the Pacific Ocean. Monsoon will arrive early this year. There may be less rainfall in North and Central India. The production of agricultural crops along with fruits like apples and pears and power generation may be reduced. Weak monsoon has a direct impact on the income of farmers and prices of food grains. Weak monsoon will result in less yield and kharif crops along with vegetables and fruits will become expensive. The cost of irrigation will also increase. The government has been trying to promote water harvesting. This effort did not work very well; Amrit Sarovar is being built in every village. But the benefits are not as much as the government is expecting. Amritsarovar has become a victim of corruption. If the farmers have advance knowledge that the monsoon is weak and there will be less rainfall, then instead of high water crops, sowing low water crops like market jowar, maize, urad moong, sesame and other millet crops can be very beneficial.

The government will also have to ensure the purchase of these crops. Mixed farming with Arhar, Moong, Urad and Bajra will be more beneficial. When the monsoon is weak then this type of farming is beneficial for the farmers. This year hailstorm is happening in Himachal and other states of India. As a result, most of the sev fruit producing farmers are being affected. Due to this monsoon, the sev production in Himachal will be reduced by 50 to 70%. Due to unseasonal rains the flowers of apple plants have stopped blooming. Pollination is also done by bees. In Himachal, 2.5 lakh families are dependent on horticulture, especially apple.

India is an agricultural country, is self-sufficient in food grains and stands at the first position in the world in milk production. It has also made its place in the world in vegetable and fruit production. But till now our scientists have not been able to develop such seeds which can give more yield in less water when there is favorable weather or less rainfall. There are some varieties but not that profitable. Due to weak monsoon, the production of fruits and vegetables along with food grains should not reduce. And inflation should not increase due to low production in the country, but this is not happening.

Farmers who do not suffer losses from farming should also feel relieved that their income will not reduce due to weak monsoon; if they change the crop, they will definitely get income. It has been observed that farmers planting paddy do not change crops quickly. He remains dependent on paddy only. Due to excess irrigation in paddy, its cost increases. Right price is not available in the market. Then the farmers have to bear the loss. If the farmer selects the right crop according to the monsoon, then the farmer will never be in loss, just the government should give the right market price of his product.

In the Kharif season, mostly farmers of Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan cultivate paddy. Due to less rainfall, more irrigation will be required in paddy cultivation, which increases the cost of production due to expensive diesel. The price is less in the market. To avoid the damage caused by weak monsoon, the only right solution is to cultivate coarse grains, which require very little water. Mixed farming like cultivation of millet, urad tur, bajra tur, urad will be beneficial.

This type of farming can also save diesel and electricity. Besides, the need for chemical fertilizers also reduces. This year, farmers will be hit in three ways. The first hit is that the monsoon is weak. There will be less rain. Second phase fertilizer will also be available in less quantity. Thirdly, lack of energy. Due to Iran America Israel war, the import of fertilizers like urea as well as potash phosphorus in the country will also reduce due to which farmers will not get sufficient chemical fertilizers for Kharif crops.

Last year, the country made farmers aware by holding many symposiums and seminars on the production and use of coarse grains with great fanfare and there was a lot of discussion about the benefits of using these coarse grains, but there was no discussion on how much the production would increase after that. No, it was not told whether it reached the food plates in the country or just went into animal feed. Coarse grains were distributed under the free grain scheme, but what was given free to most of the families was sold in the market. Now stop the distribution of free grains to the country.