Indian government must discourage all farming and switch to organic gardening to continuously enrich the soil upon which a combination of subsistence and high value cash crops are grown. Competing with government subsidized, environmentally destructive, disease producing corporate agriculture is like running a marathon on your hands and knees. You might finish the race but you will win no prize. We are talking about a sustainable foundaion for a national economy. It deserves more thought and planning than where to build the next chemical disaster.

To have rich and healthy soil as a foundation for prosperity it is essential to compost mineral rich plants and manures, green and vegetariabn animal wastes. The best source of mineral rich plants are seacoasts. The next best source is former cotton fields planted in alfalfla or a similarly deep root crop which mines the deep minerals in sub soil. A government which will subsidize small scale agriculture will make strict conditions. A gardener must produce twice the food his family requires, so a partial failure allows his family to eat. Crops sprayed with a mixture of kelp or seaweed and fish emulshion are drought resistant, insect resistant (few insects eat fish or kelp), disease resistant and yield more plant and fruit than anything corporate agriculture will ever have to offer.

Build raised gardens close to the house or shanty where it is natural to keep a close eye on them. Make them any length and four feet wide, waist high. Fill the bottom half with sand or stone, the top half or one third with topsoil and compost. Build with brick, block or stone which will not wash away with heavy rain. Use either a square foot method or third meter, in the case of a one meter wide bed. The idea is an easy reach from each side to the center of the bed. By growing food and high value cash crops in these raised beds, one has purchased one time flood insurance. Small pipes at the bottom of these beds allow the bed to drain by gravity. The soaked soil will drain. If the rain is severe or prolonged, spread inexpensive covers over a sturdy frame above the plants in the bed. In Winter or cold weather, clear plastic covers will heat the bed and prevent crop freeze overnight. The thermal mass of such elevated beds acts as a thermal flywheel, maintaing desired temperatures.