Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
George to develop the equivalent of a Community Supported Agriculture
(CSA) program, where farmers would directly provide weekly boxes filled
with local, organic produce to interested consumer households. “We can
now decide which crops to grow,” Chackochan had declared, because of
the financial flexibility these increased marketing opportunities would
bring, and because many of these consumers were looking for a variety
of seasonal vegetables and fruits from their local farmers. He encouraged
members to help him develop these local consumer-
farmer connections.
Chackochan used such examples to prove that he and others in Or-
ganic Wayanad were not farming just for external markets, or according
to European and American standards. Instead, certified organic farming
is creating opportunities for like-
minded groups of farmers to discuss
how they can beter their own farming practices and livelihoods through
organic farming. These efforts are paying off at home as well as abroad by
expanding markets and benefiting farming communities that had been
hard hit by the agrarian crisis.61
Not surprisingly, Kerala's 2010 organic farming policy has been
the subject of much discussion among certified farmers in districts like
Wayanad who had already been farming organically. One afternoon, for
instance, I was eating lunch with trainees in Organic Wayanad's two-
week workshop for new organic farmers. We had been together for eight
days already, learning about panchagavayya, vermicompost, IOFPCL, the
benefits of organic farming for human health and the environment, and
how to ill out forms for Indocert. As we chated casually over our meal
of organic rice and vegetables and became beter acquainted with each
other, George launched into a discussion of the organic farming policy.
“Because it's there,” he told the trainees, “funding for organic farming
projects is likely to increase.” He encouraged them to take advantage of
the current favorable policy climate, especially since several farmers in
the neighboring Kanyambeta, Nenmeni, and Edavaka block panchayats
of Wayanad were initial beneficiaries under the Organic Farming Pro-
gramme. George used the existence of the policy to argue that the at-
tendees were not venturing into unknown territory with their newfound
