Preface
When I realized that agriculture itself can be destructive to nature, the basis for all living things, my view of agriculture totally changed. It was in 1982 when I stayed in Bigar, India – my first experience with agriculture in a tropical climate. Until that time, my concern had been how to get maximum production with organic methods. I was a farmer and had worked at my father’s farm where he had been practicing organic farming without using agro-chemicals for 20 years. Since then, my concern has been changed to what type of agriculture is suitable to nature and optimizes food production.
In 1985, I came to Bangladesh to work for Shapla Neer, a Japanese NGO working in rural community development. I observed the situation of farmers, including agricultural practice and village life during this time. In April 1988, I joined Proshika-Muk as an adviser in ecological agriculture. Proshika-Muk is one of the few Bangladesh NGOs which is concerned with the environmental aspects of rural development and has tried to introduce alternative agriculture in this country. Since then, I have been involved in the practice of ecological agriculture at Proshika demonstration farm and conducting training on these topics with agri-extension workers.
Through these three years of practical experience and six years observation of tropical agriculture, I have realized anew, a very interesting and important factor. That is, agricultural practices which follow the rules of nature, recover soil fertility and ecological balance anti-natural agricultural practices (chemical agriculture) degrade the soil and the ecological balance quickly resulting in decreases in production.
Compared with temperate zones, in tropical zones, both recovery and degradation occur very quickly. Farmers started using agro-chemicals about 50 years ago in Japan and other temperate zones. After 30 years of practice, adverse reactions and serious problems relat4ed to these agro-chemicals began to emerge. In Bangladesh, which is in the tropical zone, it only took 10-15 years for adverse reactions and problems to appear. Some Bangladeshi farmers report that in high land where no flood waters come, these problems have appeared as quickly as 5-7 years.
For this reason, it is within tropical zones where the practice of ecological agriculture is urgently needed. Otherwise, the delicately balanced tropical ecosystem will be totally destroyed by anti-natural agricultural practices.
I had two purposes in mind in writing this book. One is to write a simple manual which explains some basic ideas about nature in order to help people see what agriculture is when examined from the view point of nature. The other is to share my experiences in practicing ecological agriculture in the tropical setting of Bangladesh. In Lessons from Nature I try to cover both purposes while explaining things in a way readers can understand easily.
Only basic information necessary to understand agriculture properly is covered in this book. I did not go into the specific technologies very much because I believe that the most important thing is to understand the basic idea. If one can understand it, he/she can develop and apply his/her own knowledge and technologies in their specific proportion of chemical fertilizers and the right dose of chemical pesticides. Proper practice is much more complicated and diversified. There is no ready made answer. Flexibility and imagination based on the basic ideas are indispensable for the real development of agriculture.
There are two people who inspired me to work in ecological agriculture. One of them is my father who has been practicing organic farming in Japan since 1971. I was motivated towards ecological agriculture by his simple, but strong idea, that the task of agriculture is to produce food for people’s health not to produce chemically poisoned food for the farmer’s economic benefit. He showed me proof by his practice that any crop can grow well without using agro-chemicals so it is not a mattering of “avoiding” them in cultivation.
Mr. Masanobu Fukuoka, author of The One Straw Revolution, a natural farmer, is my agricultural master. He says that nature is perfect. It is a man who disturbs nature’s work and creates problems. Man can work as much and as hard as he wants to overcome problems and the problems become worse. Soil in the natural forest is never plowed and fertilized by farmers, but it is soft and rich in nutrients. Soil in agricultural land is plowed and fertilized by farmers for every crop, but it is hard with less nutrients. Why? It is because man does not understand nature.
“Let nature follow her own way”. Based on this idea, Fukuoka developed a natural farming method which is known as “do nothing farming”. No plowing, no fertilizer, no weeding and no pesticide. As a result, he has been getting higher rice production than the Japanese average. I have been impressed by his theory and practice which are based on his simple, radical and deep thought and faith in nature.
Nowadays, environmental problems (ecological degradation) are becoming very serious globally and regionally. These problems can be divided into two main types. One type is caused by industrialization and so-called modern technologies. Things like: breakdown of the ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, chemical and nuclear pollution etc. The other is caused by anti-natural agricultural practices such as Deforestration, soil erosion, flood, drought, desertification etc.
The common point between these two elements is that they have not occurred naturally. Man has created them. Therefore, to change our attitude towards nature from “nature for man” to “man for nature” is essential. In this context, ecological agriculture is one of the environmental problems as well as agricultural problems, technically and conceptually.
I believe that the most important thing for us is to recover a sense of learning form nature, feeling happy being in the nature, and develop the sense through the practice.
“Let us take our lessons from nature.”
Simpei Murakami May 1991 in Bangladesh
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