Field Guides to Food

Reducing chemical fertilizer

Bhaskar: How to go forward without chemical fertilizer?
Man B.: we need more cattle but there is still the problem of where to find open lands for animals to graze and there is almost complete ban on using "Community Forest" for grazing.
There is no support from the "Community Forest" and also from the National Park Services.
There is hardly any market that would pay more for the crops such as rice, wheat, and corn that are organically grown or with minimal use of chemical fertilizer. Also there is not much safety net from the government cooperatives to buy or promote crops that were grown with very little or no chemical fertilizer. The problem is that all hybrid or "developed" seeds require chemical fertilizer to mature and give greater yield per acre.

The issue of crop loss due to animals that are designated as protected or endangered species is quite problematic. The farmers hardly get reasonable compensation for the loss their crops, therefore, there is very little appetite to support National Park and Community Forest.

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