Topic: Impact of War on Agriculture
Country: India
Delegate Name: Olivia Najor
School: Royal Oak High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All India position papers GLIMUN 2008 committees
Sustainable agriculture is seen in terms of adaptability and flexibility over a specific amount of time in response to the demand of food. With rising prices of food in India, sustainable agriculture has become a prominent issue to the Indian people and government. Certain agricultural methods, that may require a more conscious approach, will ultimately create conditions for sustainable development.
Because of the high level of war surrounding the republic of India, water, soil and air are being polluted at a tremendous level. Conserving the environment will allow the sustainability of resources. Fields are standing useless because of unexploded bombs. They cannot be touched until they are removed, causing a shortage of land to farm on. Fields in which farmers use to produce the crops necessary to live cannot be disturbed by human activities. Some fields will be affected for years after a conflict has ended, because farmers will be driven away from the land if there are landmines scattered throughout them. If a war is taking place during the peak time of a crop, farmers will lose a high percentage of their profit, ultimately affecting the entire country of India. The international community needs to fight against the act of destroying of farmland as a war technique.
Although India is concerned with the stability of our country’s agriculture, we put forth the effort to make sure other countries are secure in their post-war activities. For example, India has recently signed pacts with Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua for the abolition of Visa requirements to people who hold official and diplomatic passports. Because India has such high agricultural security, other countries have started to rely on India to help them guide them through their agricultural instabilities.
Not only do crops need to be produced in an efficient and organic manner, but the soil and natural resources need to be protected throughout this process. War is prevalent amongst surrounding countries of the republic of India and has been seen throughout India itself, but that fact remains that growth and stability of agriculture needs to be sustained and the only way to do that is to have a local workforce available to take care of traditional sowing and harvesting, and to operate modern equipment to accomplish the tasks at hand. War is destructive to the fields and needs to be aimed somewhere other than farming land in order for India to sustain its security in agriculture.
