Lemar-Aftaab - Oct-Dec. 1997 - Science - Organic or Modern Agriculture On the Ways of Agricultural Reconstruction of Afghanistan

Organic or Modern Agriculture

On the Ways of Agricultural
Reconstruction of Afghanistan

By Sayed Toora

Organic farming that is based on recycling of plant and animal waste products as a manure was the most common way of farming in the past. In the last fifty years, with the advances in soil sciences such as soil microbiology and application of different technologies for the manufacture ring of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides, their use in agriculture, drastically increased the yield produce of various crops.

This modem way, of farming which was initially adopted the developed nations and now being exported other countries, under the name of green revolution is proving to be very costly. Green revolution was a dictation of the major corporate companies to the third world countries to ease the sale of their seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. This made many countries like India and Pakistan bankrupt and polluted with toxic chemicals.

These chemicals have been linked to various diseases, ranging from allergies to cancer, The international agency research on cancer believes that eighty percent of in human has environmental connection. These chemicals do not restrain to political boundaries of the countries. It is reported that a radioactive labelled pesticide in Britain, reached Texas, USA, in just seven days. Genetically manipulated animals, plants and Microorganisms are posing another threat to humans. Modern farming erodes the soil, deplete its nutrients, resulting in nutrient deficient produce.

As the awareness regarding the toxicity of agriculturally related chemicals is on the rise, the demand for organically grown produce is increasing. In Afghanistan, organic farming is still popular on a large scale. This country has been least exposed to modem farm chemicals and has a vast virgin fertile land that can be used for organic farming.

The mineral rich waters from the Afghan mountains used for irrigation has significant contribution to soil fertility, quality of produce and sustainable organic agriculture. The use of chemicals on farms in this country would result in devastating health hazards, as open water bodies that are the major sources of drinking water would be directly affected.

Afghanistan has a great potential to be one of the major producers of organic produce in the region. Afghans have to be wise not to follow the footsteps of other countries which are polluted and are struggling to go back to organic farming.

This article is an abstact from the orginally in Dari which was originally published in Mardom Nama-e Bakhter , August 1997 (Issue 2 & 3). Permission for republication was granted byMardom Nama-e Bakhter editor Daud Saba.