Monocropping in Culture

By Risen V. Mathew

The main focus on perspective building led me to think about monocropping being a way of creating a monopoly by single variants. If we have to dig through the history of harm by monocropping we can go back to the 1840s when the Irish famine happened. We can see something similar in the case of bananas in the agricultural industry. The injustice which is happening is that the dissemination of indigenous and native species is happening at an alarming rate. The growth and diversity of species produce the chance of having a healthy ecosystem. The nature of nature has been ever evolving

Defining the ‘Problem’

70% of farmers in India own half a hectare of land on average. The debt cycle is an invitation to rich land-owning farmers to expand land and follow monocropping. Smaller farmers can’t reply only on monocropping as economically it is not feasible. “Bigger is better” is the sign of capitalism and monocropping is in those footsteps. The only driving factor is the profits for the sustainable need for capital in the agricultural sector.

The diversity of crops and plants to a larger extent happens because of a combination of social-economic and market factors. It is a ticking bomb silently waiting to create chaos and should be addressed soon by the people themselves. People are getting used to what the market is giving on the averages calculated by institutions. Farmers also end up buying the same seeds provided, the act of experiment and creativity is lost.

Lower farming classes which rely on subsidies from the government can’t sustain monocropping. As climate change affects the lower sections of the society in farming taking money is the only livelihood option till the next season. Many debt traps create the situation of recorded suicides and it is not a piece of closed news.

Due to the small quantity of produce on one’s land, doing seasonal labour is the only option for economic sustainability. The backbone of the economy is filled with unregistered labour who are migrant labourers driving to the capitalist cause.

Reasons for monocropping

Specialisation over a certain crop is the motivator for the practice of mono-cropping. The simple meaning is that efficient planting and harvesting through technological advancements.

Single variants created the opportunity for the market to introduce specific machinery restricting the farmer. High yielding variants, market predictability & subsidies are further pointers for the support of mono-cropping.

Covering the benefits of the monocropping system didn’t reflect as much as the “problem”.

CASE STUDY: BANANA

The banana which is seen today wasn’t the banana which filled the tables of modern society. The American project of monocropping “Gros Michel” was produced in mass quantities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The picture-perfect depiction of the modern banana was the clear definition of Gros Michel. The steady decline began in 1910, the fungus was discovered by scientists in the soils of many banana plantations. The disease named Panama Disease spread rapidly through the plantation regions. The extinction of Gros Michel happened in the 1960s.

Cavendish banana is next in line to fall under the fusarium wilt disease. This fungus has disrupted productivity regarding the daily demand of the market. If we have to dive deep into the colonial history of how mono-cropping has led to the market of certain regions constrained to the world demand. Almost 99% of cavendish banana is under attack by the TR4 variant of Panama disease.

The question remains ‘should the growth of species in agriculture be constrained to the market demands?’ It isn’t the answer that we should

Reflections

The moulding of the agriculture “sector” has been happening by human intervention for thousands of years. The world has evolved in ways unimaginable to fathom, yet ‘not appreciating diversity is sadly one of them. Nature has been moulding and evolving inter-genetical for millions of years providing for all kinds of animals. The harmony of the system is disrupted under market influence.

This proposal indeed wants to create learning more coherently; with available knowledge. Collecting the history and nativity of flora and fauna is much more important than studying humans in some sense. This isn’t an invitation to disregard anything that is present in the knowledge pool but invites us to consider more than imaginable knowledge.

With the growing eye from the international stage, the evolution of the system of monocropping has created the space for rethinking. The more we think about climate justice it only turns to the side of outcomes which aren’t unsolvable. The cycle of climate change has led humanity to the question of survival.

The green revolution brought in the question of feeding the growing population of the earth. It didn’t take into consideration the effect on climate. The idea of benefits to the farmers in the time of crisis just created more crises leading to the condition which we witness.

References

Jacques, P.J., and J. R. Jacques. “Monocropping Cultures into ruins: The loss of food varieties and cultural diversity. Sustainability 4, 2970–2997.” (2012).

https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=199780

https://enst250.wordpress.com/monoculture-and-the-death-of-the-banana/