Isha Agro Movement, launched in 2007, has pioneered a turn towards natural organic farming and recently Valluvan, a model farmer of the IAM and Save Soil initiative, showed his Pollachi farm to Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland, who was said to be impressed with the high quality of soil health maintained in the farm through natural methods. Sadhguru said it’s vital to demonstrate the economic and ecological success of this model.
“Inspiring to see ‘Save Soil’ in action at an Agroforestry Farm in Pollachi #India,” tweeted Secretary General of the Commonwealth Nations Patricia Scotland shortly after her visit to the Tamil Nadu farm, which is one of the model farms for the Save Soil initiative.
The Commonwealth Secretary General said she appreciated the nature-based solutions undertaken by Valluvan, a natural farmer, using multi-cropping methods and tree-based agriculture to grow food. Using these nature-based solutions, Valluvan has been able to increase the organic content in soil from 0.5 per cent to 3.36 per cent within ten years time and has become one of the model farmers of the Save Soil movement.
Secretary General Scotland said that Save Soil, a global movement launched by Sadhguru, to address the soil crisis in the world, mirrors what the Commonwealth has been aspiring to achieve through the Living Land Charter, which is adopted by the 56 commonwealth nations to safeguard global land resources.
In response Sadhguru tweeted: “Dear Patricia, most important to demonstrate ecological & economic success of this model. Once we restore soil health, by default, we can fix every other ecological challenge besides ensuring long-term food & water security globally.”
Scotland stressed the need to pool and share the knowledge coming out of the various parts of commonwealth countries in developing a DNA of change.
She said, “This solution is a great solution for the environment and temperatures that are similar to this. There will be other solutions which we will have to develop for other areas. But the principles we are distilling here are really applicable to so many environments…And I hope it will tempt some people to have the courage and the vision to emulate the great farmer here.”
Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland at the Pollachi Farm.
The Commonwealth Secretary General said she saw a great synergy between Save Soil and Living Lands Charter, observing that the multidisciplinary approach undertaken by the movement is similar to what Living Lands Charter has done.
“This idea that our top spoil is incredibly important and if we are going to degenerate that top soil then we are not going to be able to do that which we need to do. So the learning and the experience of what Save Soil wants to do seems to mirror closely what the UN agencies and we, the Commonwealth, are aspiring to do,” echoed Ms. Scotland in strong support of the movement.
During her farm visit, Secretary General Scotland said she learnt how the weed was being considered as the “doctor of the soil” in the agroforestry farm.
“I heard something very fascinating about weed. The fact that in over seven years, the weed has turned into the doctor of the soil. New weed grows up, which really indicates the deficiency of the soil. And when they die down, new weeds come. But eventually, there are virtually no weeds in this farm, and that’s because the weeds must have done their job, which is to provide the necessary nutrients to the soil. Now that’s something I had not heard before, and I heard today. And it made sense,” she said.
“The Commonwealth is committed to Living Land for a generation. So to have an opportunity now to join hands with Save Soil to deliver safe, better soil for our world is the most wonderful moment and this partnership that we are going to enter into will really be the difference we need to make,” Scotland had said.
