India’s natural & organic farming strategy for rice and wheat

Context

• According to the agriculture department of the Government of India, India’s wheat export surpassed 2 million (2021-22) and rice export in 2021-22 is likely to surpass the record million.

What the editorial is about?

• The need for natural and organic farming with high yields at an affordable price to the common man in India.

Agriculture in post-independent India

• India is predominantly agrarian — 80 per cent of the population is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture.
• Rice and wheat are the staples for 90 per cent of the country’s people.

Till the early 1960s

• Till the early 1960s, the predominant mode of cultivation was what is now called “organic farming”, with no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides availab