“Increase in number of organic farmers is just not enough. But the number of people using organic products should also increase,” said R. Jeganathan of Nalla keerai, an agri-entrepreneur.

He was speaking at the agricultural conference ‘Uzhave Thalai’ organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with Codissia. The event was conducted to encourage people, farmers in particular, to follow natural farming.

Dr. B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, who was the chief guest, lamented that the educated were apathetic and the uneducated ignorant of certain things. “Recently we witnessed a great youth movement which showed us what our young generation is capable of. I am hoping another such movement for natural farming begins soon because of this conference,” he said.

Siddha doctor Dr. G. Sivaraman spoke on the increasing number of farmer suicides and the current agricultural scenario. “Four to five years back we spent only Rs. 52,000 crore to import food products. Food products that we imported last year cost Rs. 1.42 lakh crore. This shows how far we have moved away from agriculture,” he said.

Several natural-farming enthusiasts and practitioners including Vivek Cariappa of Krac-a-dawna, Manmohan Singh of Akal Farms and actor Prakash Raj shared their experience with farming.