Nagpur: Eminent educationists, agriculturists and college faculties discussed threadbare the devastating effects of chemicals farmers use in fields and suggested to promote organic farming to save precious lives for which awareness was needed, at a lecture-cum-interactive seminar held at Tirpude College of Social Work and NEEM Foundation at Civil Lines on Tuesday.
Expressing grief over the deaths of farmers in the region due to pesticides, Rajkumar Tirpude, president of Yugantar Education Society, said that there is an urgent need to highlight the ill-effects of pesticides and bring in a new regulation to control its use so that farmers susceptible to such poisoning could be protected. Farmers across the country are needed to be made aware as people who consume pesticide-infected food and farmers who use these chemicals are affected.
As per studies, percentage of pesticides in an individual living in India is 25% while that in America is around 5%. “Americans are trying to reduce this number too and are shifting to organic farming and pesticides,” Tirpude added.
DP Nagdeve, city joint director of Central Integrated Pest Management Centre, said, “Some of the benefits of using organic pesticides include maintenance of soil temperature, nitrogen balance and destruction of algae and unwanted plants.”
Laxmikant Padole, director, NEEM Foundation, said, “Neem can act as a beneficial alternative to pesticide owing to its characteristics. The alternative would help improve green cover, livelihood to rural population and organic manure, besides other benefits.”
AS Rajput, director, Regional Centre of Organic Farming, Nagpur, said, “There are 66 pesticides used in the country which are banned in the West. Special schemes and laws should therefore be formulated in the interest of farmers and an awareness campaign launched. One of the principal steps towards environment-friendly farming would be to educate farmers about various schemes of the government.”
An interactive round was also held in which the participants discussed organic farming and policies to increase production of bio-chemical pesticides.
Article Source: Times of India