Cow Dung: Manure Fertilizer vs Chemical Fertilizer

Growing Nutritious And Cheap Food Grains

No other fertilizer in the world is as cheap and harmless as dung fertilizer. The Indian farmer is able to grow the best and cheapest food grains in the world with the help of dung manure. This alone is capable of providing stability to the Indian economy.

However, due to western influence the government of India has resorted to
unfrittered slaughter of animals:

- resulting in disruption of availability of cattle dung,

- forcing farmers to use costly and harmful chemical fertilizers,

- thereby pushing up the prices of food grains and ultimately,

- affecting the entire economy by throwing it in the dungeon of inflationary pressures.

By cutting down the availability of bullocks and forcing the use of tractors, another dimension has been added to the entire murky affair.

As a result, the once independent Indian farmer has now become dependent on others for availability of chemical fertilizers and tractors. He has become dependent on fertilizer plants, railways and money lenders or banks.

The farmer has been pressurized into using chemical fertilizers by resorting to false propaganda about the advantages of chemical fertilizers. Besides, he is left with no other option because natural dung manure is not available to him.

The use of chemical fertilizers might have marginally increased agricultural production. However, the cost of production has increased manifold and in addition the taste as well as the nutritional value from food grains have been lost.

Rice is one of the main crops in our agricultural system. A major part of our land is under cultivation of rice and quantum-wise also, the maximum production is of rice and hence these figures relate to rice only. The table (1.1) indicates rising cost and production of rice per hectare in a few states with use of chemical fertilizers in India.

Table 1.1:
Increase in rice production costs per hectare with use of chemical fertilizers as compared to yield.

State	Year	Total production cost of rice Rs. per hectare	Production per hectare (2.5 acres) in quintals	Production expenses / quintal in Rs
Andhra Pradesh	1971-72	1476.33	25.22	51.53
	1980-81	3873.76	33.77	104.94
Assam	1971-72	841.57	16.23	49.9
	1980-81	1695.52	21.34	76.24
Bihar	1972-73	1188.65	17.03	50.03
	1979-80	2082.7	16.88	109.82
Karnataka	1973-74	2092.85	33.17	51.13
	1975-76	2600.82	32.36	69.36
Orissa	1971-72	837.96	16.84	40.13
	1979-80	1663.91	15.61	83.25
Tamil Nadu	1971-72	1616.18	26.16	53.47
	1979-80	3596.56	33.88	92.24
Uttar Pradesh	1975-76	1753.82	21.35	73.06
	1980-81	2563.88	22.63	94.01
West Bengal	1971-72	1255.89	18.39	54.15
	1978-79	1573.88	22.33	96.36

Indian Agriculture in Brief Published by Agriculture Ministry of Central Government. 19th Edition pp 274-279.

Jowar and bajra are the staple diets for the poor and the stalk of these plants, which is the main food for cattle, have registered a growth in production expenses by 47% whereas its production has increased by only 5.5%.

Table 1.2
Comparison of rising costs for jowar and bajra with static yields.

State	Year	Production cost per hectare (in Rs.)	Production per hectare (in quintals)	Production expense per quintal (in Rs.)
JOWAR
Karnataka	1971-72	394.62	6.18	45.06
	1975-76	638.6	6.44	80.62
Maharashtra	1971-72	471.27	5.73	57.03
	1978-79	716.32	7.12	71.7
Andhra Pradesh	1973-74	477.27	4.29	82.71
	1975-76	628.06	4.01	117.64
BAJRA
Gujarat	1971-72	649.58	8.72	49.67
	1978-79	1582.51	16.4	74.79
Haryana	1972-73	814.31	5.31	111.41
	1975-76	844.36	7.51	64.54
Rajasthan	1970-71	309.74	8.41	36.82
	1975-76	329.46	2.39	108.38

.

 If agriculture was based on the services of bullocks alone, and instead of chemical fertilizers only had dung or natural manure been used, the farmer would have been spared of the investment in tractors and the interest cost of such investments or the rent of hiring tractors.

He would have been spared of the heavy cost of chemical fertilizers and interest, the cost of pesticides, the investment cost in motor pumpsand its interest cost and the cost incurred for diesel or electricity for running such motor pumps.

Thus he would have been spared a lot of heavy and at the same time unnecessary expenses which now get added to his cost of production.

By burdening the farmer with unnecessary expenses, the cost of production for farmers has increased beyond their capacity.

The food grains have become very costly, which has given rise to various agitations, riots, strikes by farmers demanding rise in prices of agricultural produce, and resultant chaos all over the country.

Surprisingly, even after allowing the price increase to farmers because of violence and agitation, the farmers have not been benefited.

The farmer has become a pawn in the hands of powerful exploiters who are exploiting the entire population through their evil designs. The price increase secured by farmers has been shared between oil and diesel producing countries and manufacturers of chemical fertilizers, tractors, pesticides and government agencies, leaving the farmer where he was!

And hence, if anybody is responsible for agitation, riots, strikes, etc. aimed at securing increase in agricultural produces, it is the government functioning under the malicious guidance of western institutions. The government has endangered the interest of the masses by stopping the flow of cattle dung, and thus they have committed an inexcusable crime.

Why should the people of India not put them on trial for this crime?