Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 2. Market Rate vs. Negotiated Price for Organic Wayanad's 2011
Organic Coffee Order
Market rate for nonorganic
coffee (rs./kg)
Negotiated price for Organic
Wayanad's coffee (rs./kg)
November 2010
38
51
January 2011
52
55
Percent increase
36.84
7.84
buyers at conferences like Biofach was time consuming and stressful, but
he stated proudly that IOFPCL now had a reputation for being trustworthy
in European organic circles; this had been, after all, the second order of
coffee from this particular buyer. And indeed, Organic Wayanad and
IOFPCL have been shipping around the same quantity of coffee to the
same buyer on an annual basis ever since.56
“Doesn't this mean that Europeans and Americans are still the ones
seting standards and controlling trade?” I asked Chackochan candidly
one evening, after learning about the certified coffee order and the small
price differential between organic and nonorganic coffee.
Chackochan repudiated my statement. “Organic standards say 'no
chemicals,'
” he responded, “and we don't use chemicals.” He pointed
out that he had already been farming organically before receiving cer-
tification. Certification merely enabled him to access competitive mar-
kets while he engaged in the same production practices he had long been
doing.
“But,” I continued, “isn't it difficult to learn all the rules and read about
all the standards in the NPOP?”
Chackochan responded that to help farmers learn about national
standards, Organic Wayanad hosted frequent training sessions, with as-
sistance from the Malayalam speakers at Indocert. Indeed, a two-week
training session sponsored by the ICS that I had atended laboriously de-
fined the key organic institutions, how inspections worked, and how to
fill out necessary forms. Peringarapillil had also pointed out that most
farmers in Kerala already knew how to read and write, thanks to the state