The process of capturing carbon in the atmosphere and storing it in soil is what carbon sequestration is and the way to do this by increasing the green cover on our planet
Agriculture is a very complex science. Today we understand this much better than we did since man started tilling land some 10,000 years ago. One of the biggest challenges faced by agriculture today and by extension our food security is loss of arable land. Over the last 40 years, globally we have lost two-thirds of all our arable land, while the population during the same period grew by nearly 80 per cent. A recent report also said that centuries of bad agricultural practice has degraded a third of India’s land area.
When we talk about soil degradation from an agriculture standpoint what we are essentially saying is that the natural elements in the land have either diminished considerably or completely vanished. The most vital of these elements is carbon, without which life as we know simply wouldn’t exist.
Today we find ourselves in a paradoxical situation where at one end we are trying to decarbonise our environment and economy and at the other carbonise our land. The process of capturing carbon in the atmosphere and storing it in soil is what carbon sequestration is and the way to do this by increasing the green cover on our planet.
But what is less commonly known is that carbon sequestration is far more effective and quicker with grasses than trees. The much-touted afforestation route is not even nearly as effective as grass (in sequestering carbon) if we are serious about securing our food and saving the planet from climate disasters.
A recent study by the University of California, Davis, found that grasslands are more resilient carbon sinks than forests in 21st century California, though it must be added that in this instance, the possibility of devastating forest fires also tilted the scales in favour of grass.
Integrated organic dairy farming is the one of the most effective ways to save our soil. An integrated organic dairy is a self-contained ecosystem that is in a perennial virtuous cycle.
Here, organically grown grass is the main food for cows, which in turn produces healthier and tastier milk for human consumption while the dung goes back to the soil as a natural nutrient, leading to better grass for the cows and more effective carbon sequestration -- a perfectly closed loop.
For example, the farms we oversee in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are living proofs of how grass can rewrite India’s agriculture story. These integrated dairy farms founded on organically grown grass as the primary feed for the cows have also opened doors for more opportunities for our farmers who are able to supplement their incomes from milk with honey (beekeeping), eggs (poultry), coconuts and other fruits and vegetables. This mechanism strengthens the economic viability for organic dairy farmers who are facing an uphill task at making ends meet.
Farmers who invested three years in turning their soil around and making them chemical-free, have on an average seen a four-fold increase in their annual earnings. A much intended consequence is that the average soil content in our farms is around 3.8 per cent, while the national average is just around 0.3 per cent, dropping from 1 per cent seven decades ago.
Afforestation as a carbon sequestration mechanism has served us well, but the growing threat of climate change should be addressed by solutions that are more holistic. From experience we now know that organic farming containing a more sustainable dairy ecosystem not only offers a more efficient solution to fight climate change, but also improves soil health and perhaps more importantly our farmers’ financial health.
(The author is co-founder and CEO, Akshayakalpa Organic.)