Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
ernment agencies are needed.” W hile, like most farmers involved in the
certification area, Jose preferred minimal government intervention, he
conceded that farmers needed financial and technical help from state
agencies during the transition to organic farming. And once they began
producing their organic items, they needed assistance in finding markets
and buyers interested in consuming organic food. Usha and the NGO
Thanal agree. Through marketing, Usha argued, “we can motivate more
farmers
—especially small and marginal farmers—to change to organic
farming.” These comments illustrate the fact that shifting to a sustainable
agro-
food system cannot be a task that falls only on farmers.30
In fact, consumers, buyers, governments, and activists are much-
needed partners in the world's organic farming movement—very con-
sistent with the idea of food sovereignty. IOFPCL's relationship with its
2011 coffee buyer and its partnership with Chocolat Stella, mediated by a
person with cultural roots in Kerala who now lives in Switzerland, affirm
the necessity for ongoing negotiation between buyers and consumers to
establish long-term commitments and flexibility for commodity procure-
ment and prices. Such guaranteed markets and assurances from buyers
can ease the economic burden for farmers who might see their yields
drop as they transition to organic farming, while they are also shoulder-
ing potential cost increases for inputs such as higher labor requirements.
Kerala's organic farming policy has great potential to create such linkages.
One reliable buyer of Kerala's organic products could be the state gov-
ernment itself, as a part of its Public Distribution System (PDS). The PDS is
a social safety net formed during the early years of Indian nation-building
to combat food insecurity. It rations and guarantees commodities such as
rice to low-income families. Incorporating organic procurement into an
expanded PDS would not only guarantee an income to organic farmers
but would also subsidize the cost of organic produce and grains for con-
sumers, some of whom complain about the higher price of organic goods.
Additionally, the state government's promise to procure organic foods
could mitigate risks that organic producers currently face, including the
potential fall in prices as the supply of organic products increases and
declines in yields during the conversion to organic production methods.
