Nature & Animals….. - HereNow4U.net

Animal Crusaders • Commemorative Issue • October 2010Eco-LogicalThe threatenedcountryside:the agrochemicalextremismDuring one of my village trips, Iwas among a group of villagers,talking with them. I was unhappyto find the children mostlyunhealthy and asked the elderswhy it was so. ‘Why will not thatbe’, bang came the reply from anelderly man. ‘All the paddy fields’,he said, used to grow copiousamount of tasty small fish, whichwas the protein support for mostof the villagers, particularly thesmall children. ‘Because of the useof pesticides, there is no fishgrowing in our paddy fields anymore. This was one of the bestnarratives I have come across inmy life which carries with itself aphenomenal amount of scientificinformation and direction to act.Ask any aged villager, she will tellyou that many bird species arelost, tree species are not beingfound or frogs are absent. Frogsused to consume 20% of theinsects in the paddy fields. Thepoint, however, is that villagersknow it and they apply thesame pesticides as well.Understandably, they have beencaught in a trap where they areperforce to use more and morechemical fertilisers and pesticidesto break even. Although biofertilisersare available, farmersare not showing keenness togradually switch over to a lowerchemical fertiliser-pesticideregime. Unless the matter isaddressed on a war footing, ourcountryside will be irreversiblylost to lifeless landscapes.~ Dr. Dhrubajyoti GhoshFor a successful technology,reality must take precedenceover public relations,for Nature cannot be fooledRichard Feynman64