Organic cotton: Getting back to the basics
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COMMENTS 
Various Indian government institutions and organisations have been researching and even endorsing organic cultivation of cotton and other crops. But why is none of this research finding its way to the farmers in India's cotton fields? This is the last in a series on organic cotton
In 2001, the Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur, published a technical paper on organic cotton. Despite this, many farmers do not even know that the research fraternity endorses organic cotton as a low-cost alternative to cash-strapped rainfed farmers who wish to grow cotton in a more sustainable and economical way. Neither do they know about the government's endorsement of organic cotton.
However, on the positive side, organic farming has spread through books, individual advocacy, advocacy by NGOs, word of mouth, alternative media, farmers themselves and other informal ways. In Maharashtra, about 32 lakh hectares are under cotton (in 2002, 27 lakh ha), comprising 30% of the nation's acreage. Of this, 14 lakh ha are in Vidarbha. About 80-85% are hybrids and the rest are straight or desi varieties, according to Dr T P Rajendran, project co-ordinator (Cotton Improvement) and head, CICR, regional station, Coimbatore (formerly principal scientist, entomology, at CICR, Nagpur).
Dr Rajendran and a team of CICR scientists visited the new organic cotton practitioners in Yavatmal and Karanja Lad in Vidarbha in 1992 to assess their practices and thought processes. Since 1988, scientists of CICR have been identifying good farming practices to conserve soil moisture and improve the organic content of marginal cotton soils in rainfed areas. The results of these experiments led to studies comparing the three options -inorganic, organic and a mixture of both these options in the field.
CICR's research on organic cotton, though not widely known, was published in the 1998 ICAR News under the title 'Promising technology'. The experiments on organic cotton were accepted by the Planning Commission as well as many non-government organisations and farmers from other states. After this, a task force on organic farming was formed by the ministry of agriculture and the Planning Commission formed a separate working group on organic and biodynamic farming for the Tenth Five-Year Plan document. The Director, CICR, was the member-secretary of this 21-member working group, which comprised NGOs, activists and organic farmers.
According to Dr Rajendran, there were massive bollworm attacks on cotton in different states in 1990 and at four- to five-year cycles thereafter, making it necessary to evolve a strategy to combat the pest. Generally farmers are misguided by aggressive campaigns by pesticide and fertiliser dealers and distributors, and are very eager to use any new product. It is a do or die situation for most farmers as far as cotton is concerned, as it's a valuable cash crop. Farmers are also reluctant to move away from cotton as there is no replacement for cotton in this region.
"We need to understand that pests also need to live and we have to reconcile to their presence in farms. And for this one needs to understand their urge to survive as well as the plant's attitudes towards pests," said Dr Rajendran. "Much of our cultivars have pest tolerance, but this could be disrupted by toxins in the form of pesticides, which are not only toxic to pests but also other living beings, including plants. One consequence is the annihilation of many friendly natural enemies such as parasites, predators and pathogens of insect pests," he explained.
"The best of insecticides can bring about a reduction of only 30% of pest population in crop fields. When farmers grew desi cotton, they did not use pesticides or chemicals. However, the American long staple varieties were introduced to satisfy the textile mill requirements during British times."
"Heliothis, otherwise known as pod borer, was not a pest of cotton. It affected pigeonpea, chickpea and other pulses. Instead of understanding the nature of the plant, its pests or enemies, our package of practices (developed on a cause-and-effect principle) was designed to produce the highest yield. Research shows that hybrids can give a potential yield of 40 quintals per hectare, but the achievable yield is often 20 q and the realised yield a mere 5-7 quintals under rainfed conditions. The question is, are we giving farmers the correct practices to enable profitable cultivation?" he added.
Unlike many scientists, Rajendran feels that organic inputs offer substantial support for the crop and allowing pest damage to happen without toxic substances allows the plant to sustain itself. "We have a package of practices for organic agriculture which may need some fine-tuning on location-specificities, but there is good scope right now for organic farmers to generate a better income by cropping cotton and other suitable crops on their farms. The whole thing can be scaled up if the farming policy is made sustainable and supportive for farmers."
"There is such a huge set-up for chemical production in the country….The question is do you need this as a national requirement for targeting the country's agriculture?"
According to the report of the working group on organic and biodynamic farming for the Tenth Five-Year Plan, (GOI, Planning Commission, September 2001), "Government of India has been clearly aware of the importance of organic and biodynamic farming approaches and the Ninth Five-Year Plan document laid emphasis on 'Environment and sustainable agriculture', promotion of organically produced commodities, particularly in plantation crops, spices and condiments. The Plan document emphasised the use of biofertilisers, bio-control agents, organic manures with infrastructural support."
However, the report said that besides these efforts of ICAR and other NGOs in promoting organic and biodynamic farming, there has been no real government support either for subsidising organic inputs or promoting production schemes for organic fertilisers.
A task force set up in 2000 by the agriculture ministry to study various aspects of organic farming recommended a permanent national board to promote environment-friendly, chemical-free agriculture. The task force said all state governments should be advised to introduce organic farming on half of government's farmlands. Since a shift to organic farming might result in a loss of production in the initial years, the farmers would have to be compensated for it, the report said. However, the report recommended only a mix of organic and inorganic farming as ideal for local conditions.
In some states like Andhra Pradesh, the government is providing some inputs like neem, but these efforts are undermined by its Vision 2020 report. Madhya Pradesh is planning to set aside one acre from each farmer for organic farming and is offering some assistance to farmers. The Maharashtra government has set up a commission for sustainable agriculture for the next 20 years. It also aims to convert about 1 lakh hectacres to organic farming this year. The central government held a four-day workshop on organic exports in New Delhi in November 2002, and has been encouraging the export of organic spices, tea and cotton. It has also formulated National Organic Produce Standards. The Ninth and Tenth Five-Year Plans stress the involvement of universities in going to farmers' fields, which is long overdue.
Some universities have moved on to organic farming and are developing practices on their own. At Hulkoti , near Gadag in Karnataka, the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) has converted its 88-acre farm into organic farming. Set up in 1985, the KVK is experimenting with several varieties of cotton to decide which will be most suitable for these parts. According to Dr Vaikunthe, agronomist at the KVK, most of the farmers grow Jayadhar, a desi variety, in Gadag, and plant protection was not needed as it was suitable for drought-prone conditions. In 2002, due to severe drought, many farmers had not planted cotton at all.
The research was focused on change of variety from Jayadhar. The two varieties being tested are DLSA 17 and RAHS 14 and the main thrust is to improve staple length because mills require longer staples. Jayadhar does not have marketability because it is short staple, he said.
Since last year, KVK has been testing organic cotton. In 2001, 24 varieties were tested and in 2002, over 40 were being tested, most of which are medium staple varieties. For the last two years no chemical fertilisers or sprays have been used. They grow sun hemp and use that as compost, apart from vermicompost and farmyard manure and biofertilisers like rhizobium.
"Last year we adopted 24 villages with assistance from CAPART and set up self-help groups and vermicompost units and now nearly 100 farmers are using vermicompost. This year we selected 100 farmers and are training them to make vermicompost," said Vaikunthe.
"Our aim is also to reduce the cost of cultivation, improve soil health and promote sustainable agriculture. KVK has prepared a booklet on organic farming in 1997 and we find the majority of farmers are not using as much chemicals as we used to recommend. Farmers are showing an interest in organic farming, specially due to drought conditions," he added. Organic farmers in Gadag feel that it was their pressure and movement for organic farming that has changed KVK's course of action.
While the government woke up late to organic farming, research on biological control of insect pests and weeds was initiated in the early-'60s under PL 480 grants. Later the ICAR launched an all-India Coordinated Project on Biological Control in 1977 with Anand in Gujarat as one of the centres. There are 16 centres in the country and cotton is one of the main crops in focus.
According to Dr D N Yadav, principal research scientist (entomology) at Anand, a number of natural predators and trap crops have been researched at the university. In addition the university provides trichocards and insects which are beneficial for cotton and eat its pests, notably the green bollworm. The research underlines what farmers are also discovering in their fields -- that once pesticides and chemicals are stopped, the natural predators come back.
However, Dr Yadav accepted that despite working on biocontrol agents over 32 years, extension work was poor and it is only since November 2001 that he has started inviting farmers on the first of every month to take part in extension services at the university campus. Every month an advertisement is released in the local newspapers inviting farmers to come and check out for themselves the natural ways of pest management developed at the university.
In the early-'80s, heliothis was not a problem. The problem is that the biodiversity of insects has reduced over the years and some 55 species of natural predators of cotton pests are endangered, according to Yadav. No natural control exists today and since the '80s pests have developed resistance due to continuous spraying of synthetic pyrethroids which led to the resurgence of the white fly, aphids and heliothis, he added.
Dr Yadav believes that cotton can be grown organically along with lots of other trap crops like maize, marigold, basil and other medicinal plants which grow naturally in the fields. Plants can be used for natural biocontrol of pests without disturbing the agronomy of cotton, he said. Parasites like rogas take care of the bollworm, lacewings are predators of the eggs of the helicoverpa moth, the nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) is a bioagent for heliothis.
However, the problem with commercial production of trichocards etc is the lack of quality control which leads farmers to think that bioagents cannot really control the pests. There is also a lack of knowledge about natural predators as many farmers think the lacewing is a pest and try to eliminate it.
At the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka, trials in organic cotton have been going on for six years and the main objective is to ascertain yield potential. However, scientists there firmly believe that cotton cannot grow without chemical plant protection measures. The Integrated Pest Management (IPM) model at Dharwad is working better. Dr S B Patil, entomologist, said, "We have developed an adaptable IPM model which includes seed treatment, pest-tolerant genotypes, pheromone traps for the management of the pink bollworm which is the major pest here or NPV in case of high pest load."
Sahana is a pest-tolerant variety developed by Dr B M Khadi, senior scientist, cotton, Dharwad, who has also pioneered coloured cotton, and it is resistant to the green bollworm. Farmers can replicate the seeds and it gives a yield of 5 q/acre under irrigated conditions or 2 q/acre at the very least.
Endosulfan is also recommended for the bollworm and its use is widespread in the country's cotton-growing areas. Dr Patil said the recommended dose was 2 ml per litre and usually 600-800 ml were needed per acre depending on the pest load. However, farmers tend to overspray as dealers often misguide them, he said.
While these developments may seem sporadic and uncoordinated, there seems to be an acceptance all over the country that pesticides may not have all the answers. What is more important is that this research finds the widest publicity. In the context of mounting debts of cotton farmers, leading to increasing suicides, what is the government waiting for?
InfoChange News & Features, June 2003