Tamil Nadu governor appeals to farmers to embrace organic farming

TRICHY: Tamil Nadu governor R N Ravi on Saturday appealed to farmers to embrace organic methods -- rather than utilising chemical fertilisers and pesticides -- to ensure sustainable farming practices.

While addressing the Pongal celebrations at Musiri Institute of Technology and College of Agriculture Technology (MIT-CAT) at Musiri in Trichy distyrict, the governor emphasised the necessity of reverting to natural farming and abandoning chemical fertilisers.

“Natural farming is not something new to our people. For thousands of years, our forefathers did it. We have to move away in a decisive manner from chemical-based cultivation to natural farming. If we can feed our people happily and the rest of the world through natural farming, the whole world will listen and follow it. We have to encourage it,” said the governor.

Discussing traditional natural farming practices, the governor said, “Our forefathers did not use chemical fertilisers, but they did natural farming. We lost it. The British started taxing land. Farming became a burden. Farmers started moving away. The British forced us to do cash crops. They wanted to produce it here and sell it elsewhere to make money. In the whole process, our farming was destroyed,” he said.

He praised organic farming crusader G Nammalvar for demonstrating sustainable farming methods.

Regarding modern farming, the governor noted that chemical fertilisers and pesticides initially yielded substantial production. “Soon, the soil became infertile. All kinds of diseases started cropping up. At one point in time, some states were at the front in agriculture production because of chemical farming. Those states have gone down badly. It is not sustainable,” he said.

He cited Punjab's transformation from an agricultural leader to currently importing rice from other states. “Chemical fertilizers spoiled land. Punjab agriculture production was two and half times more than national average. Today it is below the national average. Farmers are in distress. They are selling land,” he said.

Addressing technology usage like drones in natural farming, the governor said that the natural farming is technology friendly. “Many of are using technology and you are proving it. The only thing is that it has to be sustainable technology. It does not mean technology is not used,” he said.