Greenpeace has submitted a recommendation to the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for consideration during the forthcoming budget.
The Centre needs to constitute a new and independent mission with separate budgetary allocation for organic fertiliser, S R Gopikrishna who is the "sustainable agriculture campaigner" of Greenpeace told reporters here.
The NGO also released a survey report titled 'Of Soils, Subsidies and Survival', which pointed out that the overwhelming majority of the farmers believed that the usage of chemical fertilisers degrade soil health and there was an urgent need to promote use of organic manure.
"Farmers were aware of the harmful impact of chemical fertilisers on soil. 96 per cent of the respondents opined that use of chemical fertiliser lead to soil degradation ... farmers continued to use chemical fertiliser as there was no other option," according to Greenpeace survey, which was released today by Anusha Rizvi, director of film Peepli Live.
Greenpeace conducted social audits on the soil health policies in selected districts of Assam, Orissa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. It surveyed 1,000 farmers to bring out their perceptions and observations on soil health.
According to report, 94 per cent of the surveyed farmers believed that organic fertiliser can maintain soil health.
"With the advent of chemical-intensive farming our farmers have become dependent on external resources. This, along with natural resource degradation, is leading them to a dire situation," Rizvi said.
Advocating use of organic fertiliser, Dr O P Rupela, scientist and co-author of the report said farmers can themselves grow these or produce these on their farm.
He said this in itself can improve agricultural productivity and generate livelihood opportunities in rural India,"