Swami Shitikantananda of Ramakrishna Math called upon farmers to save mother earth and pass it on safely to the coming generations.
“Soil is not a resource but a legacy that we have inherited from our ancestors, and to be handed over safely to the future generations. Farmers need to reduce the use of pesticides as involves violence against beneficial insects like bees and butterflies. Promote non-chemical agriculture,” said the Swamiji addressing a group of scientists after inaugurating a seminar on ‘Harnessing the Potential of Panchabhutas (tatvas) for Sustainable Climate Resilient Rainfed Agriculture’ held at the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) on Wednesday.
Dr. V.K. Singh, Director, ICAR-CRIDA, emphasised the importance of panchabhutas - kshiti, pawan, sameer, jal and gagan - in sustainable rain-fed agriculture. He further mentioned that crop production is essentially harnessing of sun’s energy, by plants using carbon dioxide from air, and water.
