Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
foodstuffs does not have the essential and inherent qualities of a true or-
ganic farmer, because his farming practices revolve entirely around price
and market signals.
As an organization, Thanal agrees with Dayal. The organization's staff
would frequently assert that they did not favor third-
party organic certi-
fication for the purposes of export. By extension, they also believed that
the government should not prioritize it, either. As Usha would say time
and time again, the role of the Agriculture Department should instead be
to augment the domestic consumption of organic staples, like traditional
varieties of rice, to enhance domestic food security and improve the live-
lihoods of farmers. Since Thanal has been one of the main advisers to
the Biodiversity Board on organic farming, this vision of agriculture was
explicitly writen into Kerala's 2010 policy, and was equated with “tradi-
tional” agricultural practices in the state.
Yet farmers certified organic for export in districts like Wayanad dis-
missed the opinions of Thanal and Dayal with a shrug. “Certification is
important,” said one to me, “[Our] crops are mainly pepper, coffee, car-
damom. They don't have a big market here.” He echoed Chackochan's
opinion that certification helped — not hindered — farmers.
The contrast between Dayal's and Chackochan's perspectives rep-
resents a cleavage in Kerala's organic farming movement. It is currently
divided between those who advocate growing staple crops (like rice) for
Indian consumption and those who support the cultivation of cash crops
(like cofee) for the global market, to achieve beter price premiums that
can improve their livelihoods. Each side encourages different practices
and methods of organic farming, and each also defines organic farming
differently.
W hile the majority of Kerala's organic farming proponents rail against
the Green Revolution and hail the important benefits of organic agricul-
ture for the environment and farmers, they disagree about what role or-
ganic farming should have in the national and international economies.
Should Kerala's farmers be growing food for people in India or for those in
Europe and the United States? Can organic exports be environmentally
sustainable? Is a reliance on localized food production the ideal goal for
Kerala's agrarian economy?
