Is organic farming the best way forward in SVG?

By Kimani Wiseman

Successful farming requires a lot of hard work and commitment. Farmers feed us with nutritional food that helps to mitigate against non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

Some of the food they produce is exported which brings in foreign exchange into the country and contributes to the gross domestic product (GDP). When a farmer plants his or her land with crops, these crops would require nutrients to maturity and for the farmer to make money. Some farmers use organic farming while others use inorganic farming.

However, which method of farming is the best?

Organic farming is a form of farming that focuses on producing food in the most natural way possible. This practice moves away from farming methods that rely heavily on chemicals and artificial technologies, turning towards a more balanced sustainable approach.

Kitchen waste that we throw in our garbage every day that ends up at the landfill — producing methane and contributing to global warming — can be turned into fertiliser for our crops. Some of the kitchen waste that can be used are eggshells, onion skins, banana peels, citrus peels, nutshells, root crop peels, plantain peels, garlic skins, scrap from fruits and vegetables, etc. These can be used as compost to add nutrients to the soil.

Composting is the process of adding manure, vegetable peels and other natural decaying materials that would fertilise the soil. Composting would alleviate the use of synthetic fertilisers, which are easily leached into rivers and streams, causing eutrophication.

Eutrophication causes an outbreak of algae in rivers and streams; the algae deplete the oxygen that can cause marine plants and animals to die. Algae would also grow on coral reefs, causing the reefs to be smothered and blocking out the sunlight the corals need to survive.

Composting saves the farmer money as synthetic fertilisers are very expensive. The prices for fertilisers are sometimes “sky high”, resulting in less income for farmers. Composting reduces soil erosion by binding soil particles together and slowing the surface flow of water. Composting conserves water, which can be useful during the dry season or a drought when water is scarce. Climate change is already causing an increase in droughts. This would be very good for farmers to protect their crops from “wilting” and losing money during the dry season. A scarcity of food would cause the prices to be extremely high.

Organic farming would alleviate the use of pesticides and chemicals, which would protect the bees and butterflies, which pollinate crops that provide us with food. Butterflies and bees are attracted to bright flowers and need to feed on nectar. When they do this, their bodies collect pollen and carry it to other plants. This helps fruits, vegetables and flowers to produce new seeds. Pesticides can be lethal to bees and butterflies, which would, in turn, be detrimental to farmers and the production of quality food. I remember a couple years ago bees and butterflies used to be seen in backyards and along the road pollinating flowers and crops. These days you seldom see a bee or butterfly.

One of the main reasons why some people may choose inorganic farming is because they work extremely fast. For example, synthetic fertilisers release nutrients quickly.  If we are serious about composting, more training would have to be done with farmers and people who are involved in backyard gardening. It must be noted that meat should not be used in compost because it would attract rats, flies, and cockroaches.

Here is a video on how to do composting in your backyard:

Should we be worried about the environmental impacts of inorganic farming?

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