Bio-resource centers as a tool to tackle the fertilizers crisis – The state of regenerative agriculture in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand
India has seen a rapid growth in the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides over the last decade as the country’s population increased. In Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, two states in central India, farmers use more than twice as much fertiliser per acre as farmers in other parts of India. This overuse has led to a number of negative consequences for both soil quality and human health.
In recent years, there has been a number of Indian farmers adopting regenerative agricultural practices as a way to counter part of the negative effect of decades of agricultural chemical input uses. One of these practices is the use of biofertilizers and bio pesticides produced locally with available natural resources in the area. As part of the Green Transformation Pathways (GTP) project, the concept of bio-resource centres (BRCs) has been introduced in rural areas where access to information about regenerative agricultural practices and bio inputs is limited or nonexistent.