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ada pelajaran berharga dari india(diambil dari new scientist), mungkin sudah saatnya membiasakan diri makan singkong :-) yang kurang water-intensive.\par
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bye\par
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The Green Revolution turns sour\par
\par
Devinder Sharma foresaw this year's water shortages in\par
India. Now, he says, the country is on the brink of a serious\par
food crisis\par
\par
\par
ONCE again, India is besieged by drought. More than 50 million people\par
in the west and centre of the country are short of water, and thousands\par
of cattle have died.The drought has not led to famine, thanks to a\par
comfortable grain reserve of 26 million tonnes--11 million tonnes more\par
than would be required in a normal year. But this may be the last time\par
India can ride over a crisis of these proportions. Future droughts may\par
well lead to famine, for the frontline agricultural states of Punjab and\par
Haryana in the northwest--known as the country's food basket--are on\par
the edge of a grave environmental crisis. \par
\par
Punjab and Haryana were at the forefront of the Green Revolution in the\par
late 1960s and early 1970s, in which farm machinery, pesticides and\par
fertilisers, irrigation and the replacement of traditional crops with\par
high-yielding varieties dramatically increased productivity. The two states\par
together now provide 80 per cent of the country's food surplus. \par
\par
But the land is increasingly unable to support this burden of intensive\par
agriculture. Crop yields--and water resources--are declining alarmingly,\par
and some parts are close to becoming barren. Many farmers are heavily\par
in debt from their investments in new equipment and reliance on\par
chemicals, and rural unemployment is increasing. These are ominous\par
signs of a deteriorating farm economy. \par
\par
One of the major causes of this crisis was the introduction to Punjab and\par
Haryana of rice, not a traditional crop in these arid states. Irrigation\par
made growing rice possible, and it was introduced as a cash crop and\par
cultivated alongside wheat. Now, however, it has begun to suck the land\par
dry. Excessive pumping during the rice- growing season has led to a\par
drop in the groundwater table of an average of half a metre a year. In\par
some areas, levels have fallen well below the reach of the deep tube\par
wells used by farmers, or the water has become saline. \par
\par
Other intensive farming practices, particularly with wheat and rice, have\par
virtually mined nutrients from the soil. When fertilisers are added to a\par
crop, a plant absorbs not only the extra nitrogen, phosphorus and\par
potassium from the fertiliser, but also proportionately increased levels of\par
micronutrients from the soil, including zinc, iron and copper. Over\par
time--about 10 years in this case--the soil becomes deficient in these\par
micronutrients. Lack of them also inhibits a plant's capacity to absorb\par
nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. \par
\par
Overkill \par
\par
So, to make up for the shortfall and to prevent crop yields from dropping,\par
farmers have had to apply ever-increasing quantities of conventional\par
fertilisers. Thus, it is becoming increasingly difficult for farmers in Punjab\par
and Haryana to make a profit, and much of the soil in the region is\par
seriously lacking in micronutrients. \par
\par
The heavy use of fertilisers has had another effect: excess nitrates have\par
leached into groundwater. In and around the wheat belt of Ludhiana, in\par
the heart of Punjab, contamination of groundwater with nitrates has\par
increased dramatically. \par
\par
The cultivable lands have become sick through over-application of\par
chemicals, and yet the government is still encouraging farmers to apply\par
more of them. This is a hopelessly short-term solution. \par
\par
The government is pushing for all-out industrial growth, and this is true in\par
the agricultural sector as much as any other. The emphasis is on new\par
agribusiness enterprises such as sugar production. But these are just as\par
intensive as Green Revolution agriculture. I have long been saying that\par
building more sugar mills in Punjab is a bad idea, considering that the\par
state is faced with severe groundwater problems. Nor is its soil suitable\par
for growing sugar cane. Yet there are now 20 sugar mills in the state,\par
compared with six a few years ago, and the state is seeking approval for\par
another 50. \par
\par
Such enterprises are more political than agricultural, and they are\par
gravely detrimental. The economic benefits are lapped up by a few, while\par
the long-term fallout will affect millions of poor farmers. \par
\par
Indeed, it seems that the farmers themselves are bearing the costs of\par
the Green Revolution. Debt in rural Punjab runs at 50 billion Indian\par
rupees--some \'a3745 million. More than 250 farmers there have committed\par
suicide in the past two years. \par
\par
At some point soon, Punjab's agricultural house of cards will collapse,\par
and when it does India's grain harvest will fall drastically. Food security\par
in India is precariously balanced. With an increasing population and\par
declining long-term food prospects, I fear that this country is in danger of\par
returning to the pre-Green Revolution days of "ship-to-mouth" existence,\par
when huge stocks of food were imported to feed the hungry millions. \par
\par
To prevent this, the government should stop relying so heavily on just\par
two states for the bulk of its grain supplies. Together, Punjab and\par
Haryana have produced 150 million tonnes of wheat and 100 million\par
tonnes of rice every year since the early 1970s. But these yields are\par
possible only with a dependency on chemicals. To break this cycle, the\par
government should encourage farmers in these two states to grow\par
alternative, less intensively farmed crops such as sorghum and millet,\par
and develop wheat and rice production elsewhere in India. To stick with\par
the status quo will invite environmental and social disaster. \par
\par
Devinder Sharma is a food and trade policy analyst with the Ecological\par
Foundation in New Delhi\par
\par
From New Scientist magazine, 08 July 2000.\cf0\protect\f1\fs16 \par
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