14 - Conclusions

Summary

Organic versus Conventional

Now India is at the crossroads. It has the responsibility of maintaining a reasonable buffer stock for over a billion population; it has to find solutions to the problems that have arisen out of the green revolution technologies, and their impact, particularly on declining soil fertility and productivity. There is a strong lobby against going organic in its true spirit, fearing that the production would go down drastically and may turn the country into a ‘begging bowl’ to import food. However, to set right the soil conditions and to sustain the productivity on which 70 per cent of our population depends for their livelihood, it is imperative to go in for an alternative agriculture.

The country has left no stone unturned to see that food was produced at any cost for the hungry millions immediately after our Independence. It is but natural that unforeseen problems arise under such circumstances. Several schemes were launched to grow more food such as, Intensive Agriculture Development Project (IADP), Rural Development Project (RDP), National Extension Service (NES), Drought Prone Area Project (DPAP), Command Area Development Authority (CADA), Small & Marginal Farmer's Development Project (SFDP), T and V System (Training and Visit) and others. By the time the high yielding varieties arrived during late 1960s, infrastructure such as irrigation projects, fertiliser and pesticide production facilities, were ready to meet the minimum requirements.