Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Each local agriculture office is also assisting farmers in selling their
surplus rice to nearby markets—some of it at a price premium and some
of which is being claimed by interested consumers before harvest even
occurs. At meetings of padakshera samithis and gatherings of farmers in
their panchayats, local people now regularly discuss these issues of the
supply chain, production, and consumption. At one of the meetings I at-
tended in Wayanad, farmers debated ways in which they could promote
direct and local procurement and marketing under the Organic Farming
Programme, without any middlemen. The local agriculture officer also
brainstormed techniques and means by which farmers could obtain (and
then preserve) quality organic seeds that season, without having to buy
them from the market. The Organic Farming Programme has therefore
been critical in promoting the active engagement of farmers in organic
agro-food chains and governance, as they make decentralized decisions
about how to utilize Agriculture Department funds and scale up organic
production.
As the Organic Farming Programme grows in scope, it encounters
farmers and communities in Kerala who have already been farming
organically for years—many of whom are certified organic for export.
Hundreds of farmers in Wayanad District, for example, have chosen to
focus their agricultural efforts not solely on rice for domestic consump-
tion, as the Biodiversity Board has envisioned with its policy, but organic
cash crops for export. Kerala's certified organic farming movement has
its origins here, and the debate about whether organic agriculture serves
locals or wealthy foreigners re-emerges, bringing globalization back into
the picture.
Geographically, Wayanad seems very unlike Palakkad, where the Bio-
diversity Board's initial efforts were based. It is located farther north, in
Kerala's highlands in the Western Ghats and on the boundary of India's
Deccan Plateau. Only one major highway crosses the district, a steep climb
that has nine hairpin turns from the south and often just one lane for traf-
fic. At the top of the ascent, the air temperature is significantly cooler.
Wayanad's agrarian sector revolves mostly around cash crops, much
of them for export. Its climate, remote seting in the highlands of Kerala,
