Mitigating Global Warming While Providing Sustainable Livelihood Through Integrated Farming

MITIGATING GLOBAL WARMING WHILE PROVIDING SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD THROUGH INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEMS

Experiences of BAIF

Dr. Narayan G. Hegde, Trustee

BAIF Development Research Foundation, Pune, India

Agricultural Development

With the economic reforms in early 90s, Indiahas been making significant progress, particularly in Industrial and Information Technology sectors. This has resulted in generation of new employment opportunities, easy access to finance and foreign exchange, increase in GDP and per capital income. However, the agriculture sector, which is the backbone of the rural economy and which had made significant progress for over a quarter of a century since the successful launching of the Green Revolution in the 70s, has been fading gradually causing lower rate of growth, less than 2%, while the overall growth of GDP has been above 6-8%. As the prosperous agricultural regions of North and North-East India, known as the food baskets of the country have reached a level of stagnation in agricultural production, there has not been any serious effort to develop the other regions, particularly the arid and semi-arid regions under rain fed agriculture, which are mainly dominated by small holders and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.

Such neglect has not only failed to boost growth in agriculture but also to reduce the extent of poverty in rural India. A recent economic survey conducted by the Planning Commission has reported that over 42% of the rural population is presently living in poverty, whose earning is far less than USD2 per day per family. Presently, 60-65% of the Indian population is living in rural areas and over 90% of them are dependent on agro-based activities. In the absence of significant development of industrial and service sectors in rural areas, the rural population has to depend on agriculture or migrate to urban areas in search of wages.

Constraints for Improving Agricultural Production

The scope for agricultural development in non-irrigated areas has been heavily restricted because of several factors and prominent among them are the following:

SmallLandholdings: More than 75% rural families own less than 2 ha land, which are sub-divided and scattered in several locations. The productivity of these small holdings is low because of inability of poor land holders to carry out required tillage operations on time and invest in necessary agricultural inputs, while adopting advanced technologies which can boost crop production. It is also not feasible for small holders to introduce new crops and modern farming due to lack of cooperation from adjacent farmers.

Low Productivity: Most of the small farmers being deprived of irrigation facilities,are compelled to depend on rainfall, which is difficult for optimising crop yields. About 40% of the cropping area in the country is located in arid regions, where harvesting even a single crop in a year is uncertain. Therefore, farmers do not use required quantity inputs to maximise the crop production. As a result, crop yields in rain fed areas are significantly lower than in irrigated areas. Low productivity of land has been the major reason for poor generation of gainful self employment in non-irrigated areas, affectingthe livelihood of small farmers.

In the absence of profitable agricultural production, farmers have not been taking good care of their land resources, by way of soil and water conservation, optimum use of farmyard manure as well as other nutrients and efficient use of rain water. Due to lack of farm bunding and land shaping, heavy rains accelerate soil erosion leading to depletion of soil fertility, flooding of rivers and siltation of water reservoirs. It is reported that only 35% of the rain water is being effectively used in the country, while the rest is wasted causing inconvenience and economic loss to the society. Thus, the natural resources are being denuded continuously suppressing agricultural production further, due to neglect and inability of poor farmers.

Outdated Technologies: Most of the research institutions engaged in agricultural research have been focussing on enhancing yields of major food and cash crops in irrigated areas, as the outcome of such studies has high commercial value and better visibility. On the contrary, there have not been significant efforts made for finding solutions to solve problems of degraded lands and small farmers particularly in arid and semi-arid regions who are compelled to cultivate drought tolerant crops. Even in irrigated areas, farmers ignorant of the importance of water, often make excessive use of water to irrigate their crops, to the extent that they end up with low crop yields and even damage the land by turning it into sodic-saline wastelands. With efficient use of water by using modern methods of irrigation, they can not only enhance crop yields but also reduce crop production, while covering a larger area under irrigation. But such damages are not prevented due to poor agricultural extension network and improper method of charging for water use causing huge loss of precious natural resources, which suppress crop yields.

Animal husbandry is an important and integral part of agriculture, which has been under severe neglect and totally disconnected from the agricultural sector. The Animal Husbandry Department responsible for boosting animal production is biased towards veterinary services while genetic upgradation and preventive health care are almost neglected. Farmers are ignorant about scientific management of livestock which has resulted in low production, poor rural economy and suppression of livelihood of small farmers. India hosts over 17% of the world’s livestock but their performance is only to the extent of 25-30% of their counterpartsin developed countries. With the growing livestock population, without any serious effort for genetic improvement and increasing fodder production, there has been a severe shortage of feed and fodder resources which hasbeen affecting their productivity further. With application of modern technologies for breeding, feeding and health care, farmers could enhance production of milk and meat, while reducing herd size and supporting organic farming. It is only through improved technologies and efficient forward and backward linkages,that the growing demand for milk and meat can be met, while generating gainful self employment to small farmers.

Lack of forward and backward Linkages: Most of the scientific institutions engaged in agricultural research have been promoting new technologies, without required support services. In the absence of marketing support, excessive production can also lead to glut in local market and farmers are likely to incur heavy losses, instead of earning higher profits. Apart from inputs and technology, support is also needed for timely procurement of agricultural inputs and organising processing and marketing. Presently, farmers are dependent on cooperatives and various development departments of the Government for procuring inputs and marketing their produce. However, as most of the cooperatives are not efficient, the infrastructure is extremely weak to organise farmers and to facilitate support services. Therefore, poor farmers are often exploited by middlemen. The mechanism for strengthening the linkage between consumers and producers, avoiding exploitation by middlemen is presently absent.

Illiteracy and Lack of Capacity: Most of the small farmers are not only poor but also semi-literate or illiterate. They have also been suffering from lack of connectivity with the external world, choice of crops, technologies and particularly the market. They are also prone to cheating and exploitation. Ill-health is another serious problem which causes mortality, morbidity and keeps them away from earning wages and attending to their agricultural operations, resulting in low production. After experiencing failure after failure on many fronts, most of the poor have lost confidence in themselves as well as in outsiders. Therefore, it is necessary to motivate them and build their confidence and capabilities while initiating sustainable development activities.

New Challenges of Global Warming

While the small farmers are already suffering from low agricultural productivity and lack of gainful employment throughout the year due to various problems mentioned earlier, they are now faced with new challenges of global warming which have serious impact on food security as well as on livelihood. Although global warming is a phenomenon being experienced all over the world, the problems are more serious in India as this will pose a serious threat to our food security. As the country may soon experience a rise in atmospheric temperature in the near future, there will be a series of chain reactions. With this rise in atmospheric temperature, the sea level is also likely to rise and result in forced evacuation of people living in more than 20,000 villages along the 7600 km long sea coast in the country. An additional 25% rural population will be exposed to increasing cyclones and floods causing damage to agriculture, properties, livestock and human lives. Global warming will also accelerate melting and receding of Himalayan glaciers,which in turn will reduce flow of water in the rivers emerging from the Himalayas. Reduction in river water flow is likely to affect agricultural production in North India, reducingthe food production by over 40% in the country.

Global warming will accelerate evaporation of moisture from soil and plants and water requirement of crops will be higher. The farmers will have to irrigate their crops more frequently, resulting in additional work load and additional power requirement for pumping the water. With the changing climate, over 70% of the plants may have difficulty in adapting to the new climate, which may suppress crop growth and yields. Change in climate may also influence flowering and fruit set of various crops. The present promising varieties of many crops may fail to produce high yields because of physiological changes caused by changing weather conditions. Thus, agricultural research will demand higher investment and time to develop new varieties of crops suitable for the changing climate.

Climate change will further impose new challenges and uncertainties. While frequent floods and droughts may result in frequent failure of crops, farmers will have to incur additional expenses on re-sowing of new crops after failureof crops sown earlier. This will not only enhance cost of production but also demand additional inputs in the form of improved seeds, fertilisers, agro-chemicals,etc. causing shortageof inputs and panic situations. This may further affect resource poor small farmers who will not be able to mobilise finances to procure these inputs. Therefore, climate change is likely to affect Indian agriculture and particularly a majority of small farmers through food insecurity and unemployment. Drop in agricultural production will result in shortage of foodgrains and other essential commodities, inflation and further exploitation of common people, as we have started experiencing during this year.

Mitigating Global Warming

As we have already started experiencing the ill-effects of global warming in the form of unpredictable erratic rainfall, steep rise and fall in the atmospheric temperatures, acute shortage of drinking water, it is necessary to take immediate steps to initiate suitable actions which have the potential to reduce the ill-effects of global warming and climate change. Increase in emission of greenhouse gases, particularly carbondioxide, has been a major cause of global warming. Therefore, the major focus is on reducing the emission of carbondioxide, by curbing consumption on fossil fuel. This will have to be done through introduction of energy efficiency in industries, thermal power plants, automobiles, transportation, aviation and conservation of energy through promotion of green buildings.

Although the per capita energy consumption in India is far below the consumption in developing countries,India stands third among the highest releasers of carbondioxide in the atmosphere because of large population. Indiahas also been contributing substantial quantity of methane, another greenhouse gas which is released from livestock and their dung. Methane posesa more serious threat compared to carbondioxide as it can absorb 23 times more heat. Therefore, emission of methane can be a serious concern as India owns the largest livestock population in the world.

Development of wastelands through afforestation, efficient use of water to recharge the ground water table as well as to increase green cover on barren lands and promotion of sustainable agriculture are other important steps, where India can play a very significant role. Indeed, the strategy for India should be to promote such eco-friendly activities which will help in mitigating climate change while supporting sustainable livelihood for the poor. This programme should motivate common people to take active role by showing immediate benefits for them. BAIF’s experiences in the past have revealed that while involving the poor in any development programme, it is necessary to ensure that the participants have opportunitiesto earntheir livelihood, while contributing to the cause of development.

BAIF’s Approach to Sustainable Livelihood

Focussing on development of the poor, BAIF Development Research Foundation, a Civil Society Organisation, committed to promote sustainable livelihood,has promoted various income generation activities using locally available natural resources such as land, water, livestock and vegetation for generating gainful self employment in rural India. Among them, promotion of cattle development for dairy husbandry, conservation of soil and water resources for sustainable agriculture and promotion of tree-based farming for rehabilitation of degraded and wastelands, have made significant contribution to sustainable development while mitigating global warming. BAIF’s strategy has been to ensure that the programmes are beneficial to the participating families to earn their livelihood while conserving eco-system, biodiversity and environment. Empowerment of women has been an integral part of the development programmes as they contribute to almost 70% of the labour for agriculture and play a significant role in improving the quality of life.

Livestock Development

Livestock is being considered as a threat to eco-system and environment in many developed countries. However, for over 75% of the small farmers in India, livestock is an important source of income for livelihood. For these farmers, immediate food security from livestock is the primary concern, inspite of their ill-effects on the environment. BAIF considered it as an opportunity to empower small farmers to take up dairy husbandry to improve the milk production, while reducing the ill-effects on environment.

Over the years, cattle have made a significant contribution to rural economy in the form of nutritious milk, bullock power and manure. In the absence of adequate technical services for genetic improvement, timely health care and feeding of balanced ration, the productivity of cattle and buffalo has decreased significantly over the years. Thus, the small farmers have developed a tendency to increase their herd size to generate additional income, which has been increasing the pressure on the supply of fodder and feed resources. Realising their plight and opportunity to generate gainful self employment through dairy husbandry, BAIF focussed on genetic improvement of cattle way back in 1967. As milk was in short supply while demand was very high, the programme was well accepted by farmers. BAIF also realised that livestock development is a good opportunity for direct interaction with small and poor farmers for improving their livelihood. Furthermore, cattle were very well accepted by all sections of the society and even the illiterates were aware of managing cattle and buffaloes byfeeding crop residues, without any advanced training. Realising the importance of dairy husbandryin rural economy, BAIF decided to take up genetic upgradation of low productive, non-descript cattle through crossbreeding while conserving elite Indian native breeds. Earlier the State Animal Husbandry Departments were implementing this programme, but the conception rate was very low due to usage of liquid semen. So BAIF decided to use frozen semen technology which not only ensured good quality semen but also enabled supplying semen of superior quality bulls. BAIF further introduced breeding services at the doorsteps of farmers, which saved their time and ensured timely insemination, while facilitating good interaction with thosewho are actually involved in looking after the animals and to provide answers to their problems, from time to time. Through such interactions, illiterate farmers weremotivated, gained confidence and improved their skills, which empowered them to manage their programme efficiently. While the native non-descript cows yielded 200-500 litres of milk per lactation of 300 days, crossbreds born to these cows were able to come into milk production at the age of 3 years and yield on an average 2500-3000 litres per lactation, contributing a net profit of Rs.8,000 - Rs.10,000 per cow per annum. As a result, a family maintaining 3 crossbred cows was able to come out of poverty. Each crossbred valued at over Rs.25,000-Rs.30,000, was the most valuable asset ever possessed by these small families. They could sell surplus cows from time to time to meet their capital needs. As these valuable cows were prone to injury and infection against various diseases, farmers were motivated to stall-feed and feed them well. Stall-feeding also created awareness about the conservation of resources and influenced them to reduce their herd size. Thus, there has been drastic reduction in free grazing which indirectly benefitted the eco-system. With stall-feeding, dung collection from cows went up by 4 times indirectly supporting sustainable agriculture and organic farming. It also enabled many farmers to establish biogas plants to meet their domestic fuel needs. Impact of BAIF’s cattle development programme is presented in Case Study No. 1.