Adopt organic farming to revive agriculture: C T Ravi

Mangalore, October 8: There is a need to encourage ways of practising organic and traditional farming, so that the fertility of the soil can be enriched, said Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister C T Ravi.

He was speaking at the inaugural function of Agricultural Information/Awareness Campaign and Organic Producers - Marketers Conference organised under the joint auspices of district administration, Zilla Panchayat, DK district agriculture and other-related departments, on Monday, at Fisheries College auditorium here.

Mr Ravi said that the soil today was losing its fertility due to continuous use of chemicals and pesticides in agriculture. By providing chemical fertilisers are subsidised rates, the government and agriculture department have created a mind-set where the farmer thinks that only the use of chemical fertilisers and manure will help produce a good crop, he said.

“We have reached a grave situation where it has become necessary to conduct campaigns on agricultural information and awareness. We must come out of the mentality that organic farming will take us nowhere”, he said.

He lamented that farmers were not looked with respect in the society. Owing to the fact that when there is good crop there is no price and vice-versa, the state of farmers is still backward. A farmer's expenditure is more than his profit. That is why there is a need to adopt organic ways of farming, he said.

Citing an example of the state of USSR, he said that declining of agriculture industry would cause the downfall of the nation. “If we want to bring back the golden age which once prevailed in the country, we need to realise that only industries and technology will lead us nowhere,” said Mr Ravi.

In his presidential address, deputy speaker of the State Legislative Assembly N Yogish Bhat said that akin to Kerala, there was a need to provide incentives to farmers in Karnataka to encourage cultivation of paddy. Its cultivation must be included under the employment guarantee scheme, he said.

During the programme, prizes and cheques were awarded to the winners in a series of agricultural programmes broadcasted on Akashvani.

Among those present were MLC Monappa Bhandary, Chief Executive Officer of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat K N Vijay Prakash, President of DK Zilla Panchayat Agriculture and Industry Standing Committee Naveen Kumar Monala, Vice-president of Mangalore Taluk Panchayat Vijayalakshmi Shetty and President of Mangalore taluk Agricultural Society Krishnaraj Hegde.

As part of the agricultural campaign, various booths were set up and agricultural products were displayed by agriculture and other related departments such as animal husbandry, silk, Ayurveda, horticulture, fisheries etc.