The Rotary Club of Madras East and Cavinkare Private Ltd on Wednesday conferred the Dr. M. S. Swaminathan Award for Environment Protection 2023 to former IAS officer T. Vijay Kumar, who is also Executive Vice-Chairman, RySS and Ex-Officio Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation Department, Andhra Pradesh.
Accepting the award on behalf of the farmers of Andhra Pradesh, he said 14% of farmers in that State had switched over to natural farming that was backed by science. Thanks to the support of the government, farmers were able to grow three crops a year even in semi-arid and rain-fed areas due to this.
He spoke about the importance of natural farming, especially in the backdrop of global warming. “Around 34% of global warming is due to the system of food production and the only solution to this is to mimic mother nature in the way we farm. We have to move away from chemical farming to natural farming. This was enunciated long ago by Professor M. S. Swaminathan,” he added.
