Speaker: Ms. Shylaja,
Translator: Mr. Ningappa Kakol
 Ms. Shylaja, formerly with a Certifying Agency, began by defining organic agriculture as a system that incorporates traditional wisdom and knowledge with science and technology and design components. It is not merely a substitution of chemical inputs with organic inputs – but a holistic system that mimics and works with nature to create healthy cycles and beneficial interactions within the systems. This leads to sustainability. This form of agriculture is beneficial to people and is a way of life. The speaker listed out some frequently asked questions and responded to them.
The questions were:
1. Why organic farming?
2. Will I get the same yields if I shifted to organic?
3. Does this system sustain food production?
4. What costs and risks are involved in organic farming?
5. Do I get any benefits from shifting? When do I shift? How do I shift?
Now is the right time to shift – as even the government has woken up to the reality of chemical based agriculture and has offered incentives to farmers. There is growing awareness among people on the advantages of consuming organically grown food and both international and local markets are growing.
In a nutshell, shifting to organic farming entails the following actions:
• Working on soil and water conservation on one’s land – to hold water and to save nutrients from being washed away
• Increasing soil fertility in a sustainable manner through the use of composts, micronutrients and preparations that increase the activity of
soil microorganisms and through farming methods like crop rotation, green manuring and cover crops.
• Choosing seeds and planting materials which are local and adapted to local climatic conditions and following appropriate seed treatment, collection and storage.
Organic farms can be characterised by their biodiversity and diversity of products – there cannot be monocultures. Yields from conventional farms and organic farms cannot be easily compared – because of the diverse products from organic farms – these products would otherwise have to be bought.
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