The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

ooks and magazines, and was interviewed on radio and television, butalmost no one followed his example. At that time Japanese society wasmoving with determination in exactly the opposite direction.After the Second World War, the Americans introduced modernchemical agriculture to Japan. This enabled the Japanese farmer toproduce approximately the same yields as the traditional method, but thefarmer's time and labor were reduced by more than half. This seemed adream come true, and within one generation almost everyone hadswitched to chemical agriculture.For centuries Japanese farmers had maintained organic matter in thesoil by rotating crops, by adding compost and manure, and by growingcover crops. Once these practices were neglected and fast-actingchemical fertilizer was used instead, the humus was depleted in a singlegeneration. The structure of the soil deteriorated; crops became weak anddependent on chemical nutrients. To make up for reduced human andanimal labor, the new system mined the fertility reserves of the soil.During the past forty years Mr. Fukuoka has witnessed withindignation the degeneration both of the land and of Japanese society.The Japanese followed singlemindedly the American model of economicand industrial development. The population shifted as farmers migratedfrom the countryside into the growing industrial centers. The ruralvillage where Mr. Fukuoka was born and where the Fukuoka family hasprobably lived for 1,400 years or more now stands at the edge of theadvancing suburbs of Matsuyama City. A national highway with its litterof sake bottles and trash passes through Mr. Fukuoka's rice fields.Although he does not identify his philosophy with any particularreligious sect or organization,xxx