Why some Non-State Actors (NGOs) are keen to make India Food Insecure?

Agriculture Policy Discussion Note

Why some Non-state Actors (NGOs) are keen to make India Food Insecure?

(Other developing countries may also be facing the similar situation)

By:

Vijay Sardana

Do you know, the popular OTC medicine Asprine is 38 times more toxic than urea. Salt is 2.5 times more toxic than urea. Vitamin-D which promoted in fortified foods by FSSAI is more toxic than many pesticides, urea and many medicines.

NGOs, Courts and policymakers responsible for the delay in adoption agriculture technologies by farmers must provide our plan for food security of India.

India needs the addition of 20 million tons of food to meet the minimum nutrition requirement for a growing population.

NGOs should Food Security Plan of India:

I request NGOs to please submit the detailed food security plans to feed India’s poor and unfed population. If they do not submit their plans they should be asked to keep off from the vital food security matters.

Failure to approve or re-approve and delays in approving technological inputs for farmers must provide the road map how farmers can protect their crops, how to overcome the significant negative impact on the competitiveness of national agriculture, the environment, and most importantly, national capacity to produce safe and affordable food for masses.

Organic food since inception is bad for society because for masses because of the excessive cost and cannot meet the growing food requirements of India. The status symbol of few cannot be promoted as mass production products.

Recently, we also heard from a renowned medical expert from a globally recognised university in research that that Coconut oil is a ‘pure poison’. This itself is proof that experts can do blunders and go wrong. Practical users experience and traditional knowledge can also add a lot of meaningful insight.

There is a considerable challenge is only complicated by the increasing disconnect with the realities of agriculture today. The reality is that even with pesticides, between 26 and 40% of the world’s potential crop production is lost each year. Without crop protection, that number could rise to 80% according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Traditionally, mustard is grown without any technological inputs in an organic manner, then suffering from poor productivity. According to Indian Agriculture Research Council, a crop like mustard need technological inputs for better yield and suffer in absence of proper technological inputs.

This is just one example. This is a fact in all crops. Can NGOs provide an action plan on how to address these issues with agriculture technologies?

Wrong perceptions about agro-chemicals can kill global food security

In fact, 90,000 pages of evidence, 3,300 peer-reviewed studies, the opinions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and of the World Health Organisation (WHO), and a European Parliament resolution, not to mention regulatory authorities around the world, all support re-approval.

Failure to re-approve agro-chemicals and delays in approving other products farmers need to protect their crops will have a significant negative impact on the competitiveness of countries agriculture, the environment, and most importantly, national capacity to produce safe and affordable food.

Yet one opinion, that of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) – miscommunicated and misrepresented – managed to undermine that. Since then, the European Chemicals Agency declared that it did not classify glyphosate as a carcinogen.

Global media started debating one news items and started ignoring the 3300 facts published in 90,000 pages. This shows that ignorance is at all levels and so call keep of public conscious like media also ignore the fact and fall in the trap of wrong perceptions. Why this happens must be researched.

All agriculture decisions for tomorrow’s food security:

Decisions about the future of agriculture made in capitals around the world – affect what we eat, how much food costs and the impact food production have on the environment for this generation, and for generations to come.

Let’s not let future generations suffer because policymakers are putting off the difficult discussions today and coming under pressure of NGOs which have their own agenda and they go by what their donors dictate.

Every aspect of life has some risk. We do not stop driving, flying, medical procedures, sports, etc. just because they all have the risk.  We all work to minimise the risk component, if any and maximise the benefit factors.

The safety assessment starts from the molecule research itself

There are very elaborate procedure and methodology to assess the molecule for its safety whether it is for medicines, for food chemicals or for agro-chemicals. No authority ever permitted any unsafe product based on submitted data.

Do you know LD50 of Vitamin-D3 is 37 mg/kg whereas LD50 of most pesticides is above this value? In such a case, according to the widespread belief, we should ban the use of Vitamin D3 in food.

LD50 of Urea is 7700 mg/kg whereas LD50 Aspirin is 200 mg/kg and paracetamol are 338 mg/kg. Even our common salt (LD50 – 3000 mg/kg) is more toxic than urea. According to the widely held belief, we should also ban the use of Aspirin and paracetamol as well.

What Courts and Judges should do to save India’s food security?

Ask all NGOs filing PIL to present their food security plan for India, properly reviewed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Indian Council of Agriculture Research, before accepting their demand to ban agriculture technologies for India. The court should also seek Affidavit source of funding with last three years balance sheet.

Courts and judges should be careful that they may be used by many NGOs as tools to meet their hidden agenda, sometimes funded by foreign agencies to make India food insecurity so that their commercial interest is protected.

Intelligence Bureau has submitted the report to Government of India and Supreme Courts how many NGOs are planning to sabotage the development process of India.  That is why the government was forced to cancel many registrations of NGOs and forced them to file annual returns about their activities and source of funding.

The way forward:

All authorities and Courts must ask all those who oppose the technological interventions, to submit their complete Food Security Plan for the country (not just one or two crops or issues). No other criteria should be used to when food security is at Risk.

Sustainable Food security must be the only criteria to deal with any policy or court interventions related to agriculture in the country. This must be based on science and not perceptions.

NGOs must spend their time and energy in educating farmers on how to use technologies in a better way, in place of banning or discouraging technological interventions.
Policy makers and Political leaders must take a clear stand in courts when it comes to matter of food security of India.

Hungry and malnourished India can only make country economically and politically weak and any such attempt must be killed at the beginning itself. Any agenda or any agency promoting food insecurity must be considered anti-national and must be dealt with accordingly.

Pl. do share your views and suggestions on the same.