'Farming is a religion, not a business'

MUMBAI: Renowned natural farmer Bhaskar Save, who flagged off the Kisan swaraj yatra from Ahmedabad on October 2, was there to welcome it in Mumbai on Sunday.
Acclaimed as the 'living Gandhi of natural farming', the 88-year-old uses no fertilizers, pesticides, weeding or unnecessary tilling in his orchard in Valsad district of Gujarat. Yet, he makes a nearly 400 % profit.
His orchard, Kalpavruksha, which chiefly grows chickoo and coconut, is one of the best organic farms in the country and attracts farmers and visitors from all over the world.One such visitor was the legendary natural farming guru, Masanobu Fukuoka, who called Kalpavrusha "the best in the world".
But Save was not there to speak about himself. He spoke on what has been perturbing him; the two lakh farmers who have committed suicide in the last ten years, a tragedy that he feels is man-made.
Save says there is a fundamental flaw with the modern system of agriculture which relies on inorganic fertilizers. "We give nutrients to the soil instead of the plant. And the soil does not accept the nutrients in this form," Save said. According to him, the soil is a living medium, full of micro-organisms and earthworms, and what it needs is organic manure.
"Farming is a religion but we have made it into a business. In our greed to make super-profits, we end up destroying the fertility of the soil," said Save. "Restoring the natural health of the land is the way to solve the crisis," he said.
He believes that man has right to only 15% of nature's bounty in the form of fruits and seeds. The rest of the plant's biomass must go back to the soil in the form of manure. A former school teacher who experimented with chemical fertilizers before turning to organic farming,
Save says that farmers must take up mixed organic planting of diverse nutritious and useful species, with first priority being their own family needs.
"What is the use of trying to earn money first, only to see what you already have disappear for paying rising farm debts," he asks.
Save's farm shows that by inter-planting short life-span, medium life-span and long life-span crops and trees, it is possible to have planned continuity of food yield to sustain a farmer through the transition period till the long-life trees mature and yield.