There was DAP, UAN, NPK, CAN, SOP, TSP, malthion, 2,4-D, alachlor, metachlor, carbofuran. There were also seeds in bright plastic packets, decorated with the stars and stripes and treated with poisons. From these poisonous roots, life-sustaining crops were expected to grow.
When Laxman Singh earned his masters degree in social welfare and came back to the village, he was disturbed to see that the pasture was degraded, bereft of trees and grasses and encroached upon by big farmers. The village ponds were drying up, crops were failing and people were leaving for the cities to find work. Even the birds had abandoned the village. It struck him that all these things were related.
Laporiya's troubles were rooted in the farmers' interference with nature, he reasoned. Farmers who used English fertilizers and pesticides worked against nature, whereas traditional farmers worked with it. Agro-chemicals are water-intensive. Without copious application of water, they 'burn' the crops and the soil. The desperate farmers use all the water available for their fields to neutralise the 'heat' of the English fertilizer. In times of scarcity, water is not available. The soil is degraded by agro-chemicals and is weak, as it has not received any nutrition. Weak soil produces feeble crops.
Pesticides and weedicides indiscriminately kill insects and plants and drive away the birds which enrich the soil with their guano and protect crops by feeding on the harmful bugs. The eco-system is disturbed and new insects and diseases proliferate.
Image: A puja to make launch of a save wildlife programme in the village.
Also see: How BJP turned the arithmetic in its favour
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