From Plate to Plough: The right to choose | The Indian Express

From Plate to Plough: The right to choose | The Indian Express

Written by Ashok Gulati |Updated: September 16, 2019 9:37:24 am

The writer is chair professor for agriculture at ICRIER. Views are personal

From Plate to Plough: The right to choose

Government could give fertiliser subsidy directly to farmers and let them decide if they want to practise zero budget natural farming or use chemical-fertilisers.

Has the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) studied the possible impact of ZBNF on yields of major crops like wheat and rice in comparison to chemical fertiliser-based farming? (Illustration by CR Sasikumar)

The Narendra Modi government completed 100 days of its second term (Modi 2.0) last week. On this occasion, most cabinet ministers spoke of the achievements of their ministries. The headlines in newspapers were, however, about the abrogation of Article 370, or the biggest slump in auto sales in the last two decades, or the slowing down of GDP growth. I tried to search for bold moves in agriculture as it affects the largest number of people. But I couldn’t find any. Some already-announced schemes were tweaked and a few new ideas were offered but without solid scientific and financial backing.