TN budget 2012 reaction

There has been a good budget, looks like in TN this year. There has been a high allocation for agri!
While it is good to note that there has been a greater allocation for agriculture, thrust on sustainable farming (both ecologically and economically) would have helped.
see here!

That quote of mine about lack of anything organic is just one (big) lacuna in this budget..
there are others:
1/ The most strikingly absent feature is the Organic Mission fro the state. while many are states are announcing themselves to be going organic and releasing an organic mission for the state and announcing many proactive organic policies and programs to take the organic movement forward, it is sad that TN which has many pioneer organic farmers is missing the opportunity to lead from the front. This is especially important in today's scenario- on health as well as the fertilizer shortage/subsidy removal condition.

2/ The very talk of second Green revolution is very dangerous. It is well known fact that Green revolution focused only and 2 grains- rice and wheat and hence lost out in long term. Today most of the ills of farmers and farming (esp for the small and marginal ones) is due to the green revolution. The ecological impact too has been heavy because of GR. The much hyped 2nd GR in the east is already receiving flak in the eastern states of West Bengal, orissa, Assam etc and is being questioned and derided heavily.

3/ The agri Insurance is a very good and much needed scheme and increasing its coverage is great. But there are lots of issues on the ground level esp very operational and functional issues. These will have to be addressed to reap the benefit. So awareness programs as well as understanding the exact needs of the farmers needs to be planned. May be state level workshop with farmers, farmer leaders, civil society members, agri dept members and insurance experts need to converge. (SFA intends organising one such workshop)

4/ SRI- System of Rice Intensification is a good news. Hope it is taken up the organic way like in most other states in India. (actually SRI has grown beyond rice and shud be ideally called Syatem of roots Intensification)

5/ SPI- of pulses is also a welcome move.

6/ Marketing and storage facilities needs more attention and allocation. More plans should be around implementing them at block level.

7/ It is indeed welcome to see the mention about rehabilitation of tanks. If implemented, this would have been one of the greatest outcomes in this budget, considering the water crisis in the coming days.

8/ we should learn from the Cuba example. when in the 80s, US backed embargo was imposed, suddenly they were left without chemical fertilisers..and in crisis the country acted very boldly and prudently and went the sustainable, traditional and organic ways. Today it is the only 100% organic country in the world. needless to state that they are the most healthy society in the world - leading both in health and health care indices.

some delay in updates, meanwhile some links..

phew..really so many things happening and so much to update here..
some of u who met me recently reminded me of some stories that were to be blogged in detail here 'later' as promised by me..like punjab, orissa story and some other farms..
what does one do with so much happening..other than begging ur pardon and asking for some more time..
meanwhile some more travel happening..
had to suddenly drive to Tiruvarur yday for a protest on BRAI..
see here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/BRAI-Bill-faces-opposition-from-all-quarters/videoshow/10825237.cms

also for some self promotion see here on BRAI..

want to know more on BRAI? see here!

for now am in and around Sirkali, tiruthuraipoondi and the next 2 days are in interior villages of Villupuram..addressing and meeting many farmers..

so more stories coming soon..but for now apologies..

new GM booklet in Tamizh!

see here:http://safefoodalliance.blogspot.com/http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
This is a tamil version of the "Iam no Lab Rat" GM booklet in English!
Recently we had a 3 day workshop in the Gandhigram universtity, where the farming, origin of organic farming, policies and politics behind farming, the economics and skewed markets, the harsh realities, the livelihood aspects, sustainable farming, different schools of thoughts and the various idea(l)s to take it forward were discussed..many interested volunteers (young and old) had come and it was an intense 3 days where every one felt energised and were charged to contribute for this cause..
It was a a great time in a nice serene campus and Tharcharbu Iyakkam (translates as Self Reliance Movement)was born out there. we hope lots of activities will fill our calendars and this will go on to create the atmosphere of sustainable agriculture and right to safe food that we all dream and advocate.

Remember this name- Tharcharbu Iyakkam : it is gonna create waves and ofcourse bring about a great change in the way we see agriculture today and also bring in more people back to the land and agriculture.

Tharcharbu Iyakkam valarga!!

Monsanto Quit India!!

hey, do join the "Monsanto, Quit India" events being held all over India, to mark the Quit India Day on August 9th 2011. In scores of locations across 15 states of India, the demand is to the governments, to scrap various agreements that they have with Monsanto, Mahyco, Bayer, Dow, Syngenta, DuPont and the likes given that the governments are actually facilitating the build-up of monopolistic markets for these corporations (in the name of public private partnerships) by using taxpayers' funds, to the detriment of the livelihoods of our farmers. The demand is also to blacklist Monsanto given the recent objectionable biosafety violations found in its GM maize plot in Bijapur, Karnataka. This is also to demand that state governments do not allow any GM crop trials and do not facilitate bio-piracy of invaluable germplasm that belongs to farmers of this country in the name of collaborative research etc. The Day is also being marked to showcase community-level, self-reliant solutions that Indian farmers have pioneered, including farmers' seed breeding and conservation skills and knowledge.

VISIT: here for a list of events around the country. This link also leads you to a poster that can be downloaded, a song for the occasion and a leaflet.

For those of you who cannot join the events directly, the request is that you at least display the poster in your work place, distribute print-outs of the leaflet, in addition to wearing white on that day in solidarity with a black ribbon and a green ribbon tied on the arm.

MONSANTO, QUIT INDIA!
'NO' TO CORPORATE CONTROL OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE!
Date: 9th August 2011

“No food shall be grown, that we do not own” – that is the reported objective of Monsanto, the multi-national seed and agro-chemical company notorious for suing and jailing farmers for the “crime” of reusing seeds they purchased from the company! If you are shocked by Monsanto’s aim of controlling the entire world’s food production system, what is more mind-boggling is how much progress it has already made towards its goal. Monsanto is today the world’s largest seed company, controlling 23% of the proprietary seed market. The annual turnover of this single company is Rs. 22,500 crores, more than the GDP of 48 countries and nearly equal to five years' of financial outlay in India for National Agricultural Development Programme! Notorious for its unscrupulous practices, it is now re-writing the laws and manipulating politicians and officials in the developing world to push its GM (genetic modification) technology, herbicides and proprietary hybrids. Recently, gross violations were exposed in its field trials of GM maize in Karnataka showing the impunity with which the company defies biosafety concerns.

The question of who controls our agriculture – our crores of farmers or a few big corporations – has deep ramifications for the whole society. We all have a big stake in whether unsafe genetically modified foods will be thrust on us, whether unsafe agri-chemicals would further damage our water, soil and health, whether 10 crore farmer families will lose their livelihoods, whether our rural and urban areas will be sustainable and whether we would have safe, diverse and nutritious food to eat.

If we as a nation want to protect our food sovereignty, if we want to retain control on what we grow and what we eat, this is the time for us to act decisively. This is a call to all like-minded organizations, alliances and individuals to come together and join the various events around the country.

This Day of Action aims to strengthen the broader struggle against corporate domination of agriculture by focusing on its most potent symbol. Let us send a strong signal from all over India that citizens will not tolerate corporate domination of our food and farming systems.

This call is being put out by Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA). Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) is an all-India network of about 400 organizations of farmers, agricultural workers, consumers, social activists and academics, working to promote ecologically sustainable agriculture and secure livelihoods for farmers, and stop corporate domination of our agriculture and food system. ASHA organized the nation-wide Kisan Swaraj Yatra from Sabarmati to Raj Ghat in Oct-Dec 2010 for “Food, Farmers, Freedom”.
for more see here

Ragi in the SRI way!

The regulars here know our association with PR and the numerous visits. Each time is fun and new learning out there. Infact W and me go there often as farm labour volunteers. (ok, we havent been as often as we would like, but still..)
This time it was ragi transplanting..we were excited bcos it was to be done the SRI way..(fellow restorer and good friend rajeev had documented about madagascar method aka SRI long back here) There is the official sri site too here!
Today SRI is no more associated to just rice..there is the wheat grown using this method.experts these days say it is - System of Root intensification..rightly so..the root intensification and hence the advantages are plenty..
But to try that for ragi( Finger millet) is a novelty!

so we were excited..but to handle a 10 day old sappling and transplant is amazing..but the care taken means its a slow process..single sappling at 8 inches or a span apart..This was done in a heavily mulched part of the land. a 10th of an acre took us all a good amount of time..Its always fun to do anything with Sriram, Karpagam, Siddarth and DV!

and then another great event happened the next day!
guess what that is?or was??




yeah..poo! its human poo composted and absolutely no smell! be assured..its such a great feeling that human waste is int wasted actually but composted and surrendered to land as fertiliser!
see this and more on ecosan toilets in the same web site.