The concept of rooftop farming is not new, existing from perhaps as far back as 500 BC
—the hanging gardens of Babylon. In the present context there have been many experimental rooftop farms too, a very successful one being the Brooklyn Grange in midst of the bustling New York City. India too is not far behind, with organic farms on rooftops been experimentally successful in many Indian homes panning Jaipur to Bangalore. What is however missing is a well-focused programme that provides near-doorstep outlets for organic farming technologies, inputs and training for ‘farm-at-leisure to food’.
The discourse in the following section attempts to address the felt need of our citizens—to enable access to food free of a cocktail of chemical residues. An easy option to grow chemical free produce for self consumption ensured through state-sponsored training programme/yojana will instil a sustained interest in organic farming at home. This farm-at-leisure programme will make every individual self-sustaining by providing them the opportunity to acquire a new set of skills. Experiments show that intensive rooftop or kitchen garden can provide good results at minimal cost. A step by step guide of how everyone may be mobilized to get into action, eat healthy and stay fit at the same time, with organic rooftop farming helping to shape up, has been put together.
To turn tiller
Step 1: To begin with, the scientific fraternity of India needs to put together an organic farming kit from ‘conception to culmination’. The start-up kit may include a bag of treated chemical free soil and a planting pot, organic seeds, organic manure and basic implements. An illustrated book/poster should be provided to show which crops/vegetables may be easily grown sans weedicide/pesticide and chemical fertilisers. The kit should also include information about required restructuring in case the ‘new’ farmer intends to qualify from one pot status to full terrace farm. The cost of the start-up kit may be subsidised by the state to provide an impetus to rooftop organic farming.
Step 2: India has a very fine meshwork of farming outlets manned by Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (KRIBHCO), Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IIFCO), etc., which may be used in rural areas, while in the urban areas the government’s milk and vegetable dissemination outlets may be utilised.
Step 3: Once the kit is disseminated the ‘new’ farmer may be provided training during the establishment of the start-up kit. The involvement of the ‘new’ farmer is essential as he/she will maintain the organic farming momentum thereafter. This constitutes the support and training phase.
Step 4: To understand the strengths and weaknesses of the programme, record keeping must be imbued during the training period. Each kit will need at least one crop cycle support to induct the ‘new’ farmers into the vocation. A computerised data system will prove the efficacy of the system and ascertain the number of users.
Step 5: Long term support in terms of pest control and manure to enrich the rooftop soil must be ensured. This can be stepped up to the building of rooftop farms congruent with the building norms.
Step 6: With diffusion of innovation this experiment would extend into farmlands ensuring a healthier produce for the country. The Swajaivik Farming Scheme has an enormous potential and can change the way we live, making ‘grow to eat’ the catch phrase of tomorrow.
Endnote
It is without a doubt that everyone in this country laments that their food is contaminated. Given an opportunity every individual would try to atleast augment part of his/her diet into organic produce grown before their eyes. Thus the scheme would be very successful as most Indians are either vegetarian or near-vegetarian (considering that most of us don’t eat meat or fish on a daily basis). It goes without saying that a pilot project may be launched in any mega-city for initial year (or atleast two vegetable cycles) to test the scheme before an all-India launch.
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Steve Ovett, the famous British middle-distance athlete, won the 800-metres gold medal at the Moscow Olympics of 1980. Just a few days later, he was about to win a 5,000-metres race at London’s Crystal Palace. Known for his burst of acceleration on the home stretch, he had supreme confidence in his ability to out-sprint rivals. With the final 100 metres remaining,
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Ovett waved to the crowd and raised a hand in triumph. But he had celebrated a bit too early. At the finishing line, Ireland’s John Treacy edged past Ovett. For those few moments, Ovett had lost his sense of reality and ignored the possibility of a negative event.
This analogy works well for the India story and our policy failures , including during the ongoing covid pandemic. While we have never been as well prepared or had significant successes in terms of growth stability as Ovett did in his illustrious running career, we tend to celebrate too early. Indeed, we have done so many times before.
It is as if we’re convinced that India is destined for greater heights, come what may, and so we never run through the finish line. Do we and our policymakers suffer from a collective optimism bias, which, as the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman once wrote, “may well be the most significant of the cognitive biases”? The optimism bias arises from mistaken beliefs which form expectations that are better than the reality. It makes us underestimate chances of a negative outcome and ignore warnings repeatedly.
The Indian economy had a dream run for five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, with an average annual growth rate of around 9%. Many believed that India was on its way to clocking consistent double-digit growth and comparisons with China were rife. It was conveniently overlooked that this output expansion had come mainly came from a few sectors: automobiles, telecom and business services.
Indians were made to believe that we could sprint without high-quality education, healthcare, infrastructure or banking sectors, which form the backbone of any stable economy. The plan was to build them as we went along, but then in the euphoria of short-term success, it got lost.
India’s exports of goods grew from $20 billion in 1990-91 to over $310 billion in 2019-20. Looking at these absolute figures it would seem as if India has arrived on the world stage. However, India’s share of global trade has moved up only marginally. Even now, the country accounts for less than 2% of the world’s goods exports.
More importantly, hidden behind this performance was the role played by one sector that should have never made it to India’s list of exports—refined petroleum. The share of refined petroleum exports in India’s goods exports increased from 1.4% in 1996-97 to over 18% in 2011-12.
An import-intensive sector with low labour intensity, exports of refined petroleum zoomed because of the then policy regime of a retail price ceiling on petroleum products in the domestic market. While we have done well in the export of services, our share is still less than 4% of world exports.
India seemed to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. But, a temporary demand push had played a role in the revival—the incomes of many households, both rural and urban, had shot up. Fiscal stimulus to the rural economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission scales had led to the salaries of around 20% of organized-sector employees jumping up. We celebrated, but once again, neither did we resolve the crisis brewing elsewhere in India’s banking sector, nor did we improve our capacity for healthcare or quality education.
Employment saw little economy-wide growth in our boom years. Manufacturing jobs, if anything, shrank. But we continued to celebrate. Youth flocked to low-productivity service-sector jobs, such as those in hotels and restaurants, security and other services. The dependence on such jobs on one hand and high-skilled services on the other was bound to make Indian society more unequal.
And then, there is agriculture, an elephant in the room. If and when farm-sector reforms get implemented, celebrations would once again be premature. The vast majority of India’s farmers have small plots of land, and though these farms are at least as productive as larger ones, net absolute incomes from small plots can only be meagre.
A further rise in farm productivity and consequent increase in supply, if not matched by a demand rise, especially with access to export markets, would result in downward pressure on market prices for farm produce and a further decline in the net incomes of small farmers.
We should learn from what John Treacy did right. He didn’t give up, and pushed for the finish line like it was his only chance at winning. Treacy had years of long-distance practice. The same goes for our economy. A long grind is required to build up its base before we can win and celebrate. And Ovett did not blame anyone for his loss. We play the blame game. Everyone else, right from China and the US to ‘greedy corporates’, seems to be responsible for our failures.
We have lowered absolute poverty levels and had technology-based successes like Aadhaar and digital access to public services. But there are no short cuts to good quality and adequate healthcare and education services. We must remain optimistic but stay firmly away from the optimism bias.
In the end, it is not about how we start, but how we finish. The disastrous second wave of covid and our inability to manage it is a ghastly reminder of this fact.