Throughout our ancient history, agriculture was one of the most highly regarded occupations in Sri Lanka. Among the varying communities, the farmers were the highest respected. This shows the importance given to agriculture and food security in people’s daily lives compared to other professions. Even the ancient kings who constructed and maintained irrigation systems in the dry zone were venerated for their contribution to sustaining agriculture.
In the hill country of Sri Lanka, valley bottoms were irrigated during dry periods through canals that collected spring water into hill slopes. Hills performed the function of reservoirs and helped to manage watersheds. Therefore, the thick forest that covered hilltops was never destroyed and as a result, it helped to prevent soil erosion and regulate water flow.
The rice farming soils, as well as the agroecosystem, was a co-evolved system that maintained its production potential for literally thousands of years. Modern history demonstrates that the great soil capital of this nation was practically lost with the advent of colonial plantation agriculture.
Then in the middle of the last century, Sri Lanka adapted (what was called) the “Green Revolution” in favour of high-yield farming. As a part of the Green Revolution, scientists developed new varieties of seeds which changed the way agriculture was carried by the Sri Lankan farmers for centuries. To produce a good yield from these varieties of seeds and prevent pest attacks, chemical fertilizers for the soil and pesticides were also introduced.
The farmers were pressurized not only to buy these seeds but also to invest in fertilizers and pesticides. They were given loans for the initial investment into the crop. The interest rates and the other expenditure further put the farmers into a cycle of debts.
It nearly took four decades for our farming community to become aware of the dangers. They realised that complete dependence of high input seeds and fertilizers had robbed them of crop independence. With the advent of the “Green Revolution,” they lost their interest and ability to independently manage their farms and over the years, they were beginning to lose their indigenous farming knowledge and practices.
Indian experience
In the past decade, India has done a fair number of research programmes preparing retrospections of their adapted Green Revolution, its achievement and limits in terms of agricultural productivity improvement and its effect on the environment.
Indian experience revealed that although the output has increased tremendously, it has given rise to numerous ecological problems, such as waterlogging, soil erosion, lowering of underground water table, soil, water and air pollution, the decline in soil fertility and the emergence of several diseases and health hazards.
New revolution
Therefore, the main point faced by us today is how the country can move towards a new green revolution which demands people to produce and consume responsibly. It doesn’t mean going back thousand years, but having a combination of what nature can offer together with scientific knowledge which will guarantee a healthier, sustainable, human-friendly farming which will be and more acceptable.
In order to do it, we need to restore the time-tested soil and agricultural practices of Sri Lanka. But how? This writer agrees with Dr. Ranil Senanayake, environmental scientist, when he says that there are only two methods. One is the re-training of farmers on the management of their lands without a heavy energy and toxin input. The other is to build back the fertility of farming soils so that the natural productivity is re-established.
According to Dr. Senanayake, we have no national plans for transitioning towards optimal production with little or no external inputs, and the ignorance of that practice has led to the guardians of our agriculture policy, planning and implementation to just rely on the distribution of more of the addictive fertilizer.
He further adds: “When soil loses its tree cover and the inputs of organic matter to feed the living organisms within the soil, the fertility goes down, and the overall plant health of the soil loses its cohesive strength. The loss of cohesive strength accelerates erosive processes which are brought about through the loss of soil binding agents.”
He also recommends solutions to this problem. One is the addition of composts and deep-rooted plants, another is by immunising with cultured soil bacteria, and the third solution is by incorporating ‘green manure’ that is grown as a preparatory crop before tilling.
In addition, there are many commercial companies and farmers in Sri Lanka and abroad with a long experience of soil building and organic production.
Dr. Senanayake states that there are many examples of farms in Sri Lanka that have moved away from the chemical farming regimes to organic farming regimes with no loss of crop.
Foundation
Any action must begin a national consciousness and awareness programme. First of all, the real connection between food and health should be reinforced among the people. This could be done by a national school-wide education programme and an adult education programme via media.
It may be a good idea if we can create a National Foundation for a long-term eco-initiative to protect natural resources of land, soil, water and vegetation. It needs to be a public-private enterprise.
The Foundation can help farmers develop their crop and become economically self-reliant by organising regular innovative agricultural workshops. They must be trained to choose indigenous seeds and crops which are best suited to the local soil and climate. They must be further trained to develop, dry, preserve, store and pack seeds for use by other farmers as well.
In the initial stages, the programme can facilitate interaction with farmers and public to apprise them of the causes for the decline in crop productivity, escalation in production costs resulting in higher consumer prices.
The seminars, lectures and demonstrations can create awareness in farmers about the dangers in chemical farming. The Foundation can go further in search of remedial solutions for some of the major environmental degradation factors in the experiments with the farmers and also scientists. Appropriate training programmes on chemical-free and zero budget agriculture have yielded positive results in India and a number of Far East countries. There is no doubt that Sri Lanka can accomplish the same success if implemented in a well-planned and organised manner.
In 2016, the Government started an ambitious three-year agricultural plan to build a toxin-free nation. The plan reimagined the country’s agricultural future based on the principles of agroecology: an approach which prioritizes sustainable and people-centred practices over corporate profit.
However, the Government’s commitment has not been translated into a national policy. It resulted in a significant division between those who support smallholder-led agroecology and those committed to agribusiness policies, including the use of chemicals. As a result, the project has not effectively materialised.
Multi-institutional support
However, to make a natural farming initiative sustainable, an integrated approach to improving soil fertility and productivity is required. The Government should take a policy decision in this regard to take the initiative and provide the necessary policy support. The Government’s support will be greatly welcomed by the farming community but the bottleneck will be the need for transferring the technology of processing.
To make the farmers manage their own units and get into marketing themselves is the true challenge. We need to facilitate interfacing of the production process with the processing and marketing of agricultural produce.
The next will be to support the creation of models within each agroecosystem. Ideally, this work should be done by a committee consisting of Agriculture Ministry, Department, NGOs and farmer groups. In parallel, there should be the encouragement of companies who can provide biological inputs for sustainable agriculture and for companies who can market or export organic products.
There also should be a liaison between the EDB, Sri Lankan Standards Institute, organic certifiers and other institutions authorised to issue a certification of toxin-free products.
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