'Fertiliser consumption up 25-fold since mid-sixties'

Fertiliser consumption in India has witnessed a surge of nearly 25 times since mid-sixties as compared to three-fold increase in food grain production over the same period, an official said today.
To feed the population of nearly 125 crore without using chemical fertilisers and pesticides, introduced during Green Revolution, and practicing organic farming is a huge challenge but also needs to be addressed immediately, the state's agriculture commissioner, Vikas Sitaramji Bhale said at Stakeholders' Consultation Meeting organised by CUTS International under Green Action Week-2017.
He said Rajasthan enjoys traditional advantage to switch to organic farming as the present use of chemical fertilisers, specially in western Rajasthan, is still 10kg/Ha as compared to 40kg/ha in India.

Bhale highlighted the initiatives taken by the government in the form of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), in which 1,150 clusters of 50 Ha each were selected to be converted into organic.
Sheetal Prasad Sharma, Director, State Institute of Agriculture Management (SIAM) highlighted negative effects of Green Revolution saying that the country lacks in concrete research and development.
He said seeds varieties available in market respond only to fertilisers thus making it difficult in switching to organic farming in India.

George Cheriyan, Director CUTS (Consumer Unity & Trust Society) International, said that compared to land certified under organic farming in Rajasthan, which is 9.1 per cent of total certified land in India, only 0.4 per cent of net sown area of Rajasthan is under organic farming.

He said CUTS in last couple of months has succeeded in developing 100 kitchen gardens in Jaipur city to lead a change in the society.
Green Action Week is an annual civil society campaign being organised in 29 countries with involvement of 53 civil society organisations.