Sri Lanka has been an agricultural country since ancient times. This is the reason that Sri Lanka was called the “Granary of the east (Peradiga Dhanyagaraya)”. People in the country had enough food to live on and there was also a food surplus in the country. Ancient Ceylon became a granary during the period of cultivation without chemical fertilisers. Until 1965, cultivation in Sri Lanka was done using organic fertiliser.
But unfortunately, today the farmers are unable to cultivate without using chemical fertiliser. The roots for this issue are the importers of chemical fertiliser and toxic pesticides. They are the ones responsible for the current situation in Sri Lanka.
Proposal
Recently, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa submitted a proposal seeking the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers to introduce green agriculture to Sri Lanka and according to that, the import of chemical fertiliser, pesticides, and weedicides was banned and the relevant Gazette notification was also issued.
Later listening to the grievances of the farmers, the Government has decided to allow the private sector to import and sell chemical fertiliser. Accordingly, Farmers can obtain chemical fertiliser from the open market.
In today’s society, the foods that people consume as organic are not 100 percent organic. The reason for this is that farmers have been cultivating with chemical fertiliser for many years and the soil has absorbed the chemical fertiliser.
Now it is useless to use organic fertiliser only for the plants. First, the soil should be re-organic. That is why it is recommended to switch to organic fertiliser without chemical fertilisers.
The reason why we need to transform to green agriculture is the quality of the soil is huge because it is the beginning of the quality of the food.
The quality of food provides quality health. The health of our lives and the health of the planet are connected. If we choose healthy foods, it has benefits.
Healthier
Not only we feel better that we are healthier, but the earth is healthier as well.
However spraying the soil with toxic chemicals is calling for something else. All soils that are under chemical conventional agriculture are almost completely devoid of microorganisms. Spraying the soil with toxic chemicals kills the microbe and loses soil fertility.
The origin of chemical fertiliser goes back to a German scientist named Fritz Haber. It happened as a result of the war. Haber invented a process for making synthetic nitrogen fertiliser that increased food production and his other breakthrough was the invention of poisons known as pesticides.
He used these pesticides as the first chemical weapons during the war. He developed the poison used in the gas chambers of the holocaust. When the war ended, US chemical companies brought these poisons back to America and rebranded these toxic chemicals like pesticides. American farmers got a huge harvest by using these chemicals.
This is how industrial agriculture was born and it led to modern agriculture. However, it did not bring any betterment to both living beings and the soil.
Global
Most of the industries’ pesticides and herbicides transfer directly through breast milk to babies. Over 200 peer-reviewed studies, it shows the spraying of these toxic chemicals effects like ADD in children, pediatric cancers, and birth defects. For example, that glyphosate, which is also known as roundup has an effect on the gut microbiome that may lead to disturbances that can create disease, including cancer.
By using these chemical fertilisers, it leads to air pollution, water pollution, global warming, and many diseases like chronic kidney disease and the risk of cancer in adults and children.
A study which was done by the University of Wisconsin shows that typical concentrations of nitrate and a pesticide in the groundwater may compromise the nervous, endocrine, and immune system of young children.
It was revealed that gastric cancer and testicular cancer is caused by using fertiliser in cultivation. A big reason these chemicals make us sick is that just as toxic chemicals kill the microbes in the soil. They also kill the microbes in human bodies.
Since chemical agriculture ramped up worldwide in the 1970’s we have lost one-third of the earth’s top soil. But industrial agriculture isn’t just harming our soils. It is also affecting something much larger like a massive tsunami.
The top soil which remains in the world will be gone within 60 years. The only thing we have to do is to bring back the carbon down put it in the ground. We need political support to do this. This process cannot be successful by switching to renewable energy.
If we stopped all greenhouse gas emissions today that legacy loud of carbon will still be there. That legacy load of carbon dioxide is still going to be warming the atmosphere for decades, if not centuries.
Friendly
The only goal that makes sense is bringing back carbon to plant and grow trees in an entirely different way. We need to go through a system in which is an entirely environmentally friendly way.
A new trend and a new culture should be built in the country. We need to get rid of poisonous fertiliser and transform them into eco-friendly fertilisers in the country.
Non-poisonous, natural, good quality, and high generating fertiliser should be spread over the country. We need organic agriculture. The reason why we should move to green agriculture is this.
Rather than pointing the finger at one person or one party, it is our own responsibility to argue with our conscience and get used to green agriculture for future generations. For sure, we need to create sustainable agriculture in the country.