Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s address, at the first Zonal Convention on Natural Farming at SKUAST-Jammu, brought to light an important focus area.
We desperately need to attend the mega themes like environmental safety, public health, and agricultural sustainability; thus bringing prosperity to the farming community.
The way our environment is degrading, and our practices in various commercial activities are affecting our health, it is extremely important to design policies that ensure the safety of the environment, and also of the public health.
A state of affairs where we have our surroundings full of toxic substances, and our bodies consuming unsafe substances, is bound to create lethal problems for us in the future. It is time to intervene at the level of policy making, and implementation, so that the trend is stopped.
It has now been for many decades that we are assaulting our environment, and also adopting a life style that is harmful to our biological make up. It is not tenable anymore. Unless there is a radical departure from the dangerous practices in farming and production of food items, we cannot correct the wrongs.
Since sustainability is now a global buzzword, J&K government also needs to ensure that organic farming is given an impetus. It is heartening to know that J&K has registered a record increase in terms of area covered under organic certification in a sustainable manner.
If the organic farming is linked to the latest technology, that enhances the yield, it would revolutionise the framing sector.
Not only would we be producing healthy food, it would raise the income levels of our farmers. Besides, it would retain the soil quality, and also prevent the flow of toxic substances into our water bodies.
Taking into account the benefits of natural farming, it is the duty of the concerned institutions, like agricultural universities, to prioritise this segment, and make real interventions into the farming practices.
That would be a huge contribution from such institutions, and would go a long way in securing the future of life on this part of the globe.