Bigger and better: organic aubergines go to market in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh
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Key
figures, Bangladesh
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Total population
:
127 million (1999)
GNP per capita:
US$ 370 (1999)
Agricultural workers as share of total labour force:
56 % (2000)
73 % (1980)
Agriculture as share of GDP:
21 % (1999)
50 % (1980)
Sources:
UN Food and Agriculture Organization, World Bank. |
|
A
burgeoning movement is proving that organic farming is not only economically viable,
but a route to better health and control over seeds and genetic resources
There was a time when
Mohammad Reazuddin’s paddies were being attacked by pests and his yields declining,
despite generous use of pesticides and fertilizers. No longer. These products are
a thing of the past and his harvests have improved. This 60-year-old father of seven,
who lives in Tangail district northwest of Dhaka, has renewed confidence in the future.
Reazuddin is one of some 25,000 farmers around Bangladesh who have joined the Nayakrishi
Andolan movement. Created to help farmers after the devastating floods of September
1998, the movement not only advocates an alternative method of farming–without pesticides
or chemicals–but also a more community-based approach that draws on both traditional
knowledge and scientific innovations.
“We insist that agriculture is not a factory or an industry,” says Farhad Mazhar,
a coordinator of UBINIG (Policy Research for Development Alternatives), the NGO that
spearheaded the movement. “Agriculture is a way of life, a cultural practice. Our
movement is about cultivating a happier relationship with nature.”
For UBINIG, the extensive damage to crops caused by the 1988 flood prompted a deeper
exploration of the agricultural crisis. In the early 1990s, the group carried out
extensive research into the impact of modern agriculture, introduced thirty years
earlier in Asia by the Green Revolution through a package of chemical fertilizers,
pesticides, high-yielding seed varieties and irrigation water. Their study pointed
to declining soil fertility, a steady increase in the use of fertilizers and a range
of health and nutrition problems. A decline in the quantity and diversity of local
fish populations was also reported, while high-yielding rice varieties were failing
to produce the biomass needed to feed livestock.
The
art of making good compost and rotating crops
It
is this whole ecological chain that Nayakrishi Andolon is gradually trying to repair.
Joining the movement means adhering to a set of principles that range from spurning
pesticides, introducing mixed cropping and crop rotation for soil fertility to preserving
seeds and genetic resources in farmers’ hands. Winning adepts, however, has not always
been easy. “At the beginning, when workers from the Ubinig told us to grow crops
without chemicals, we thought they were crazy,” recalls Rekha Begum, from Kandapara
village. “They told us we could make the soil fertile by using compost and taught
us how to prepare it in just over a month. Even though the yield was a little below
what others obtained by using chemicals, when we calculated the cost of the inputs,
we discovered we had more profit,” she says.
From the start, the movement drew the poorest of the country’s farmers, those with
less than one quarter of a hectare of land who were desperate for an alternative
working method. Today, they make up 75 percent of its followers. They are the ones
who have been forced to sell land because they could no longer afford the rising
price of fertilizers and pesticides. Rather than showing them model farms, Ubinig
works directly with farmers in their fields along with running training programmes
and meetings in project areas.
Scientists
and peasants: a fruitful alliance
Farmers
have learnt to improve soil quality by reintroducing natural nutrients such as composts
made with water hyacinth. Sugarcane yields have increased thanks to the cultivation
of nitrogen-fixing crops like lentils and beans. Besides rice, they have started
to grow varieties of pulses, oil seeds and cereals that were once part of the daily
diet. Indigenous paddy varieties have reappeared along with uncultivated crops such
as creepers, which account for up to 40 percent of food supply in some areas. More
fish varieties have resurfaced and production has improved, giving families greater
food security. According to a study by the UN Development Programme (Undp), livestock
population has increased by 100 to 200 percent and cash income by 50 to 200 percent
since Nayakrishi practices were introduced. Mixed cropping was found to be three
times more productive than monocultures.
Control over seeds is a lifeline for farming communities. Nayakrishi farmers are
willing to use “high-yield” varieties if they can collect and preserve the seeds.
Crop seeds are stored in community centres located in every village. Farmers obtain
them free of cost at the time of sowing and must return twice the amount unless their
harvest is poor. These community-run centres, an insurance against damage to seedlings
in case of bad weather, have created strong bonds between farmers. Women, with their
knowledge of seed preservation and germination, play a guiding role in running the
centres. And biodiversity is flourishing: a central Seed Wealth Centre counts an
astonishing collection: 1,036 varieties of 356 species of cereals, vegetables, fruits,
trees, creepers and shrubs.
Against all odds, and with little national support, farmers with slightly more land
are starting to acknowledge the economic viability of organic farming. The practices
are being adopted by smaller NGOs around the country while a network is being set
up in Nepal, India and Pakistan. “A significant achievement lies in the links that
have been forged with agricultural scientists. The Nayakrishi practice has been able
to provoke critical reflection in mainstream agricultural thought,” states the Undp.
Furthermore, as the word on Nayakrishi spreads, organic products are gaining a reputation
for being more nutritious and have started to earn higher prices in local markets.
Every year visitors flock to a fair to get first-hand information about the movement.
According to Undp, “the most important impact, apart from the ecological gains, has
been to engender confidence among the farming communities.” Ubinig ’s coordinator
Farhad Mazhar is calling for more government involvement to boost the movement, arguing
that it can benefit local families while also having major repercussions abroad.
“Bangladesh is economically poor but ecologically very rich,” he asserts, before
claiming with unbridled conviction: “If we can conserve and develop this ecological
wealth, we could feed Europe.” |
