'India destroyed soil health in last 45 years,' says Sadhguru
New Delhi, June 6: Founder of Isha Foundation Jagadish Vasudev, popularly known as Sadhguru, who started a worldwide 'Save Soil Movement' said on Monday that India has destroyed its soil health in the last 45 years.
"As a third world country, as an Asian nation, India has over 12,000 years of agricultural history. For 12,000 years, we managed our soils well, which means we must know what we are doing. It is only in the last 45 years that we have destroyed this. I am talking about tree-based agriculture which eventually will lead to organic agriculture," Sadhguru said.
He also advocated for farmer incentives to ease the transition from chemical farming to organic farming. He argued that a complete and immediate transition from chemical to organic farming is not feasible and emphasised the importance of a gradual shift from chemical to organic.
"Organic is something that the urban people like to talk about because it is a word that has caught people's imagination. But if you want to turn all lands into chemical-free agriculture right now, I think our food production could come down to 25 percent of what it is right now, which will be a death," he added.
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Emphasising on enhancing the organic content of the soil, Sadhguru added, "As the soil becomes rich, the usage of pesticides, chemicals, and fertilizers will start sliding down. That is how it should happen. Not the other way round, because we do not like chemicals, we say remove them. If you do that, you cannot provide food to 8 billion people. Without fertilizers, you cannot do it right now. We are not in that condition. Soil is not in that condition anywhere. If you raise your organic content to 12 to 15 percent, then maybe it is possible to think of raising food output without chemical fertilizer."
Concerned about soil health and farmer issues, the spiritual guru stated that nearly half a million farmers have died by suicide globally in the last 25 years.
"If this doesn't awaken your humanity, then I do not know what else needs to happen," he added.
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-PTC News
