NEW DELHI, India — Moving away from current Government subsidies on synthetic fertiliser that lead to poor soils and less food, and investing in ecological farming will have triple benefits: save public money, ensure food security under less rain and a changing climate, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, says ‘Subsidising Food Crisis’ – a scientific report released by Greenpeace today.
Reyes Turado, one of the authors and Gopi Krishna, Sustainable Agriculture campaigner, Greenpeace India release the report 'Subsidising Food Crisis' in New Delhi.
The fertiliser report, a joint effort by
scientists from Greenpeace and Institute of Agriculture Visva
Bharathy University, West Bengal, offers a scientific analysis
linking the increasing fertiliser subsidies to yield stagnation in
agriculture. In 2008/09 the Government of India had set aside an
amount of 119,772 crore Rupees for synthetic fertiliser subsidies.
Releasing the report, Greenpeace India's Sustainable Agriculture
campaigner Gopikrishna said, "The irrational subsidy doled out by
the government provokes the excessive usage of synthetic
fertilisers leading to soil degradation, a major cause for yield
stagnation". He further opined that "The potential for a shift from
synthetic to organic nitrogen fertilisers is real: India can save a
substantial amount of taxpayers' money along the way".
The report points out that in Punjab, the state with highest use
of synthetic fertilisers in India, data on the relationship between
food grain production and fertiliser consumption from 1960 to 2003
show that in spite of consistent increment in N-P-K fertiliser
consumption, grain yield has not only stagnated but also showed a
declining trend with fertiliser application during the later
period, 1992 to 2003. The average crop response to fertiliser use
was around 25 kg of grain per kg of fertiliser during 1960s, the
said value has reduced drastically to 8 kg/kg only during late
1990s. High use of chemical fertilisers is mostly also associated
with high level of water consumption and micro-nutrient deficiency
in soil leading to decline in water table and further deterioration
of the soil.
'Subsidising Food Crisis' for the first time calculates the
greenhouse gas emissions from the synthetic nitrogen fertiliser,
both by its manufacture and use. Synthetic nitrogen fertilisers
contribute 6 percent of the India's total greenhouse gas emissions,
comparable to the road transport sector. A shift from synthetic
nitrogen fertilisers to efficient and ecological fertilisers will
reduce this contribution from 6 to 2 percent. "At a time when it is
extremely urgent that the whole world fights climate change, the
Government of India could save significant emissions by shifting
subsidies to ecological farming. The good news is that this is also
a proven way to make agriculture more resilient to upcoming climate
change conditions, like less water and more unpredictable rains',
said Reyes Tirado, one of the authors and senior research scientist
at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories in the University of Exeter
in the UK.
Based on the report released 5 days prior to the first full
budget by the new UPA government on July 6th Greenpeace India
demands that the Government needs to:
1. Look into an alternate subsidy system that promotes
ecological farming and use of organic soil amendments.
2. Shift the irrational subsidy policy for synthetic fertilisers
to sustainable ecological practices in agriculture.
3. Re-focus scientific research on ecological alternatives, to
identify agro-ecological practices that ensure future food security
under a changing climate.
Contact information
Gopikrishna
Greenpeace India Sustainable Agriculture campaigner
Phone: +919900897341
Stella Paul
Greenpeace India Communications officer
Phone: +919845068125
Notes to Editor
The report is authored by Dr B.C Roy and Dr G N Chattopadhyay of Visva Bharathy University and Dr Reyes Tirado, from Greenpeace Research laboratories at the University of Exeter. While Dr Roy, an agricultural economist, has years of experience in agricultural growth and poverty and water-food security, Dr Chattopadhyay is a Soil Science specialist with extensive experience in vermicomposting. Dr. Tirado, an agricultural ecologist, currently leads projects on how ecological farming and biodiversity can help mitigate and adapt food systems to upcoming climate change conditions.