Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
upon for food and fuel. Shiva argues that thanks to the Green Revolution,
previous forms of resource use have been devalued.36 Science had func-
tioned to exclude common Indian people, such as small farmers, from the
process of making decisions about the management of natural resources.
In casual conversations with me, Kerala's farmers would dismiss the work
of agricultural extension scientists in the state as being shortsighted and
frequently flawed, certainly not beneficial to the agrarian community.
Ultimately, even though Green Revolution technologies and ideals
were deeply ensconced in Kerala's government institutions, the Bio
-
diversity Board prevailed in changing the links between “the farmer, and
the scientist, and the administrator.” The struggle between the Agricul-
ture Department and the board shows that organic farming stimulated
a meaningful transformation in farming standards and relationships
within Kerala
—a process that had commenced with the LDF's decentral-
ization reforms of the 1990s and was galvanized to focus on environmen-
tal issues by the state's agrarian crisis.37 The outcome of this struggle, a
more inclusive agricultural system that incorporates greater input from
farmers concerning the state's agricultural priorities, illustrates that rad-
ical politics continue to have an impact on Kerala's government institu-
tions and their mandates. The organic farming policy is therefore far from
just a pronouncement but is rather an exemplar of an alternative form
of development—one that involves the input of communities and farm-
ers and promotes local-level planning.38 Kerala's organic farming policy
also represents a noteworthy experiment that may provide answers to the
country's agrarian problems.
Kerala's contemporary organic farming movement has taken this
shape due to the state's particular history, which facilitated a botom-up,
people-oriented approach. Farmers and NGOs, with support from the Bio-
diversity Board, assisted in making organic farming a state priority. This
circumstance suggests that organic agriculture is likely to develop differ-
ently in other places, contingent on local conditions, cultural specificities,
global political economy, and history. For comparison's sake, consider
organic farming in California: here, the movement has been dominated
by large-scale, corporate farms because the high price of land, financial
