BIOFERTILISERS
BOON OR BANE OF
FARMERS
David
Hogg
Applied agricultural science in its quest to market more products to the farmer is now into the biofertiliser business. In the wake of this quest comes the cry for subsidies and thus the roadmap to genuine self-sustainability is further compromised. We must understand very clearly that it is not off-farm products that we need for farm productivity but rather on-farm methodologies. At most the farmer can source raw materials like rock phosphate, lime, oil cakes etc. but it is critical that the farmer do the value addition for productivity on the farm. All our research and development should be channeled to this end so that we get our agricultural scientists more on to the field and less in the laboratory. Let our aim at the advisory level be “to teach how to fish and not dole out fish”…for a price. Let the value addition be with the farm products in our secondary industry and not at the primary productivity level. Then truly we will be helping our farmers to practice their core competence, namely farming.
I
began to seriously question the usefulness of biofertilisers several years ago
when I accompanied an octogenarian soil scientist, Dr Vaidyanathan, to the UPASI
conference at Coonoor. Dr
Vaidyanathan, having spent his entire professional career as a hardnosed
chemical soil scientist, nevertheless spent his twilight years advising on the
conversion of coco-coir waste into a useful soil conditioner. His experience had taught him that
many, even most of the serious soil diseases like nematodes for example, cannot
be treated effectively through chemical means. The problem lay in the level of organic
matter and the soil immune system that is regulated through the health of the
micro-life in the soil. At the
UPASI conference Dr Vaidyanathan was revered for his still acknowledged
ground-breaking research in the 1950s on micronutrient deficiencies in
coffee. Dr Vaidyanathan
questioned the young soil scientists at the conference about their chosen area
of research. At least 80% of them
replied they were concentrating on biofertilisers. To my astonishment Dr
Vaidyanathan launched into a virulent, even violent criticism of this line of
research and declared in a thunderously authoritative tone that laboratory
cultivated microorganisms were next to useless when applied to the soil. He made the forceful argument that the
beneficial bacteria and fungi we seek for our soils are not like chemicals that
can be conjured up in factories then dispersed like NPK as the magical bullet
for all our farmer’s woes. We are
dealing with life principles here, he declared, and such an approach will fail
to benefit the farmer, in fact it will only fleece him! Now such strong views were not at all
welcomed by the posse of scientists who gathered around him but having had a
background in Biodynamic agriculture I fully endorsed his viewpoint – indeed
here at last was one point in our approach to agriculture on which we saw eye to
eye!
All
organisms from humans to the tiniest viruses evolve. It is an evolving universe of incessant
motion. Evolutionary adaptation at the microbial level gives us a clue to our
approach. By developing appropriate
technology for producing farm-based biofertilisers we will be doing the best
service to the farmer. For the
organisms produced will be best adapted for the conditions and needs of the
farm. But the primary aim must
always be to ensure basic good health and structure of our soil. In doing this we will allow our soils to
evolve their own auto-immune system just as a human being, properly nourished
will enjoy natural good health and not need all the vacuous palliatives
available to him in our ubiquitous allopathic pharmacies. Thus a sound practice of returning all
farm wastes to the soil through composting and mulching provides the base on
which all on-farm biofertilisers can be effectively used. A dead soil cannot sustain the necessary
soil life to support long-term, healthy plant
productivity.
The
Biodynamic agri-system has this holistic outlook. It first looks to a probiotic input of
fermented cow dung made on the farm, namely Foundation 500. This is applied to the soil in
homeopathic doses throughout the year along with scientifically prepared
compost. The soil thus evolves its
own health regulatory system as the living organism that it becomes. To assist this evolution Biodynamics has
a biofertiliser called CPP (Cow Pat Pit) which is produced on the farm using as
its base cow dung from the farm itself.
The appropriate local microorganisms are derived from this cow dung and
enhanced by natural silica and calcium inputs. This medium is then inoculated with
fermented herbal products that stimulate all the microorganisms needed as
“regulators” by the soil. It is not
gross physical inputs we are aiming at but judicious and timely intervention
with growth and health regulators.
Indeed it is more a regulation of forces and energies than the
manipulation of gross material substance.
This is the essence of the
approach in the Vedic Krishi system.