On his maiden visit to Goa, Gujarat governor Acharya Devvrat stressed the need for organic farming. Devvrat said that efforts must be made to ensure that farmers venture into organic farming using natural products and urged the state government to uplift farmers to make them self-sufficient.
He was participating in a daylong event at the Raj Bhavan, Dona Paula, organized by the directorate of agriculture. The event was organised to popularise the concept of natural farming in the state.
“I have 200 acres of land in Haryana where earlier I would use chemical fertiliser and urea instead of organic products. Scientists world over say that chemical farming is responsible for 24 percent of global warming and that organic carbon below 0.5 percent is detrimental to the land. As a result, North India is heading towards destruction due to chemical farming,” he said.
Devvrat has been a strong proponent and practitioner of natural farming. “More than 300 crore healthy bacteria are found in a single gram of the dung of Indian origin cows. Scientists have said that non-lactating cows are able to generate more healthy bacteria compared to milch cows,” he said.
Speaking at the event, chief minister Pramod Sawant said that there is a need for Goans to realise the vision of Atmabirbhar Bharat and Swayampurna Goem by returning to their roots. “The horticulture corporation can stop depending on other states for vegetables if the focus is laid on growing our own crop – including indigenous variants of greens which are slowly dying out,” he said.
Incidentally, last month Goa became the ninth state in India to join ‘save soil movement’ promoted by Sadhguru whose Isha Foundation is making all efforts to conserve soil for future generations. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant signed an MoU between the government and Isha Outreach to help farmers in exchange of ideas to preserve soil and nature. This would facilitate farmers to practice agriculture and horticulture using organic methods that seek to produce food in a sustainable, environmentally-friendly way by maintaining the same level of quality and productivity as conventional farming.
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