In order to yield more and raise sustainable profits, farmers should stop farming on land and farm rain, said PR Seshagiri Rao, farmer and Vice President of Natural Remedies Limited, Bengaluru.

Speaking at a session jointly organised by the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Confederation of Indian Industry Coimbatore, Young Indians and Salim Ali Naturalist Forum, he also opined that farmers are failing to predict rain. “We feel that the rain we receive is not adequate. There is adequate rain for the next hundred years. All we need to do is adapt to the changes in climate, which are inevitable,” he said.

He added that since the world is uncertain on rain and farming on land, farmers should learn to farm the rain by adopting strategies like intercrop breeding. “Intercrop breeding will help in reducing the use of manure since it makes good use of biomass; it makes use of the majority of nutrients from the soil and increases the diversity in farms,” he said.

He added that having a diverse crop collection in a farm would help in safeguarding the plants from insects as the rich diversity prevents them from forming pathogens.

Claiming that the new age farmers were more skilful, he appreciated their adoption of technology. However, he claimed that the farmers of today are not good in risk management.