Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
One organic farmer and INFA M member divulged to me that the em-
phasis on sustainable agriculture was so strong in the organization at its
inception that leaders told the members they
must
convert to organic
farming because chemical farming had contaminated the land, water, and
soil. According to this farmer, Catholic priests also insisted that farm-
ers in Wayanad
—already tied into international markets through cash
crop agriculture—could earn more money from European and American
markets if
certified
organic. These leaders believed that certified organic
production, as opposed to organic production without any certification,
could provide a competitive edge for Indian farmers in foreign markets.
A lthough INFA M shared many of the goals and values expressed in the
state's 2010 organic farming policy, it did not emphasize growing staple
crops for domestic production as strongly as the Biodiversity Board.
Certified organic farming, full of established national and international
rules, was a completely new venture for INFA M. Organic certification
a system of standards, legally agreed-upon claims and labels, and inspec-
tions conducted by a third party—guarantees that crops are grown with-
out harmful chemicals. In India, organic standards are set by the Agricul-
ture and Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) of the
Ministry of Commerce, under India's National Programme for Organic
Production (NPOP). In 2006, both the United States and the European
Union approved these Indian standards as sufficient to meet their import
requirements for organic food. Certified organic and Fair Trade farmers
in Kerala have received up to five hundred times the price for their prod-
ucts compared to conventionally grown foodstuffs.
Father Joseph Varghese Peringarapillil, a leader in INFA M, explained
to me how the organization came to be involved in certified organic ag-
riculture. He himself had grown up in a farming family in Kerala and
was therefore familiar with the trials of an agrarian livelihood. “The
social . . . conditions, and the conditions of farmers, impressed me,” Per-
ingarapillil began. “And [the] social teaching of the Church inspired me;
the last few Popes inspired me. So I took to agriculture, went to Milan
University, [and] took to the agriculture faculty.” W hile he was a student
in Italy, the Church held the Second Vatican Council, a convocation of
