We are at it – trying to persist, coexist, live, learn, lead, love. Being useful, relevant. Silently, quietly. Simply, humbly. May not measure up to what you have set, Ananth. Ananthapadmanabhan Guruswamy, 59 [10 Aug 1966 – 18 Apr 2026]. We continue. You continue within us, with us.
Estimated: El Nino 2026-27 may rival or surpass 1877-78 El Nino – extreme heatwaves, prolonged drought, crop failures and famine across large parts of the world; death of 4% population. 2026 appears to be similarly devastating as per the current trends/analyses. India, Australia, southern and central Africa, and the Amazon basin may face drought, extreme heat, and heightened wildfire risk. Any El Nino-driven heat will be amplified, making extremes more severe than in the past. At the same time, parts of the United States may see heavy rainfall and flooding, while broader North America experiences warmer-than-normal conditions. Can we prepare ourselves, our farmers to cope with this situation?
Are we failing ourselves, the living beings in this Universe? The human beings. The consumers, the producers, the value-adders, the service providers, the citizens, the elders, adults, children, women, men? The poor, vulnerable and marginalized? The farmers, farmworkers, artisans?
Can we be local – producing, consuming locally? Can we have self-sufficient, self-reliant geographies? In almost all dimensions of living. How long do we survive on not-so-local inputs, with majority losses, wastages? Nitrogen energy feed is 80% imported. 60% phosphorus raw material, 100% potassium. Rs.2 lakh crore as subsidy per year and is increasing every year. The crop/soil response falls every year. These numbers are known to all who matter. But we do not act. Even when we have working or better alternative approaches. Maybe we care less; maybe we are becoming victims of our ‘past’.
Can we become chemical free, natural? How long does it take? A farmer may take 5-10 years to adapt NF fully – all practices, all land. A village may take 5-10 years to reach all farmers. Can we learn to be patient but be at it? Campaign, demonstrate, enlist, enrol, bring in, bit-by-bit, handhold, troubleshoot, deepen layer-by-layer, expand out item-by-item. Private to commons to landscapes. Self-consumption, 100% chemical free consumption, local consumption, local aggregation, value-chains. Local enterprises, stalls, linkages. Behaviour change takes time; Consumers take time to say no to chemical produce. We have a continuum – zero to 100 across. Maybe indexed at 5 and 50 is a long way away. 100 may not happen anytime soon. All this with SMF first, women first. Men, medium-large farmers, and large farms take more time to converge. Can we have the patience, stamina, and willwill to drive this? Can we sell our produce at remunerative prices? Why cannot we have MSPs remunerative? Can we fix our prices?
Can knowledge institutions be separate from the program implementers, program scalers? Can we have independent and low human intervention monitoring? Can we have data integrity, diligence across? Can we have more truth organizations, mechanisms? Can we have patient diligent ‘truthful’ research, evidence, knowledge, education, learning academies, institutes? More and more. At farm, farmer, consumer, enterprise end; and at policy, education, communication end. Local, regional, national, global. Robust, credible, integrity data, digital platforms included. Hand holders, troubleshooters. Mentors, Technical supporters. Learning facilitators. Role model champions. Leaders. Donors, philanthropists. Can we build, bring in more of them? With will, stamina, agency?
Yes, we can. If we coexist, flowing. Separating scale from ‘triggers’. In N? hamsagyaanayoga for 7L.