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Wednesday, 26 May 2010

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Benefits of natural farming

The economy of the country mainly depends on the agriculture sector. Rice being our staple food from ancient times Sri Lankans cultivated paddy mainly in rural areas. Today most small farmers have to face many problems such as high production cost and loss of fertile soil. Farmer Federation of Conservation for the Traditional Seeds and Agri-Resources Chief Organizer K.P. Hemantha Abeywardena interviewed by Ishara Mudugamuwa dealt with the benefits of natural farming.

Our forefathers were self sufficient in food. We had our own traditional methods of cultivation. With introduction of new technologies our farmers left behind the traditional methods and moved into modern agriculture. But now most farmers suffer from the consequences of that, Abeywardena said.

He also said today small farmers’ paddy fields are barren specially in the wet zone. They refuse to cultivate as they couldn’t get profit from their cultivation.

Traditional methods of farming are nature friendly. File photo

They have to spend more money on machinery, fertilizer and other chemical products. This modern technology is not suitable to our farmers.

Traditional agriculture in Sri Lanka was based on natural process. Inputs like seeds, water, land and genetic diversity of plant species were provided free by nature. Farmers had selected suitable crops. So they didn’t have the high production cost problem. There were specific paddy varieties for each type of soil. Farmers used to cultivate Maa Vee in flood prone areas, he said.

There are paddy varieties that grow fast with strong root system. So there were not enough space for weeds to grow in paddy lands. Those times the lands were more fertile and if there were weeds farmers could easily weed them out. Our forefathers used to add natural fertilizer such as bone manure to their lands.

According to Father of Natural Farming in India Subhash Palekar, 80 percent of Asians are involved in agriculture. With the introduction of new machinery and chemical products farmers have to face a lot of difficulties. With the use of tractors or other tools, chemical fertilizers, chemical insecticides and pesticides our paddy fields are destroyed. The soil is no longer suitable for paddy cultivation. Wrong cultivation practices, use of heavy tractors and other tools, destruction of the soil humus by chemical farming, unnatural irrigation practices are the causes that ruined traditional farming.

If farmers reuse these methods, they don’t have to suffer any more.

They can successfully face natural disasters like floods, droughts as well as pest attacks and disease outbreaks.

 

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