The agriculture miracle you don't know about

NEW DELHI: In a world where ensuring adequate food supplies for a growing population is an urgent challenge, the Netherlands is one country that’s punching well above its weight. Its total agricultural land area is many hundred times smaller than the leading food growers but it is among the top countries in terms of agricultural exports. How does it achieve this? And are there lessons from its agricultural practices that India could adopt?


1.NETHERLANDS IS WORLD NO. 2 IN AGRI EXPORTS...
In 2016, food and agricultural exports of the Netherlands’ was worth $80.3bn. The country was second only to the US, which had $99.8bn worth of
exports in the same year. India was no. 13 with a total value of $25.5 bn.

2. ...EVEN THOUGH IT HAS THE LEAST AGRI LAND AMONG TOP 5 PRODUCERS






LESS IS MORE: HOW THE DUTCH DO IT

With the motto, “Twice as much food using half as many resources", Dutch scientists and farmers have, since 2000, worked to reduce dependence on key resources required for cultivation. Dutch poultry and livestock producers have reduced their use of antibiotics by 60%.


THEY HARDLY USE WATER TO GROW CROPS

Water use for key crops has been brought down by as much as 90% while use of chemical pesticides in greenhouse cultivation has been done
away with altogether.


DRAWING FROM ANCIENT PRACTICES

Dutch firms are among the world leaders in the seed business, with close to $1.7 billion worth of exports in 2016. But they market no GMO products. Instead of GMO research, Dutch agri scientists rely on molecular breeding, which introduces no foreign genes, to develop high-yielding seeds. Their methods are directly in line with those used by farmers 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, the region in the Middle East where agriculture and early human civilisations flourished.




Source: FAO, World Bank, media reports