Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
plores the relationship between Kerala's government, its organic farming
movement, and agrobiodiversity. The state's organic farming movement
is divided between those who advocate growing staple crops (like rice)
for Indian consumption and those who advocate growing cash crops (like
coffee) for the global market, to earn price premiums that can improve
their livelihoods. Debates over food security and yields, certification dif-
ficulties, free trade agreements, food miles, market prices, caste, culture,
and several other issues complicate this divide. This extensive list of con-
tentious subjects contributes to the unevenness of the development of
organic agriculture even within Kerala.
To illuminate these complex questions, I focus on the Syrian Chris-
tian communities of
Wayanad and their historical ties to export markets.
Using this case study, I question the food movement's overall fixation on
“local food” as the ultimate good in our globalized food system and illus-
trate why such thinking misunderstands how people are interconnected
through political, economic, and historic forces. It also overlooks how
different practices of agriculture contribute to the heterogeneity of agro-
biodiversity conservation. Given Kerala's historical interconnectedness
with the global spice trade since the time of Marco Polo, and farmers'
current familiarity with cash crop agriculture, there is no easy resolution
to the debates over what role organic farming exports should have in the
state's agricultural economy.
In the last chapter, chapter 7, I address some challenges to Kerala's or-
ganic farming movement and the future of its organic farming policy. I
also discuss the potential role for organic farming in the national and in-
ternational economies, and I suggest that the organic farming movement
more fully embrace the concept of “food sovereignty.”
By the time I reach chapter 7, I hope to have shown that organic agri-
culture in developing countries is demonstrably worthwhile, because in
Kerala, and in places like it, it has become a sustainable alternative to in-
dustrial agriculture. Kerala proves that it is possible not only to envision,
but to create a food system without toxins dripping from trees. W hile
Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus sought Kerala just for spices, the
world today has much to learn about organic farming's possibilities from
watching this torchbearer forge ahead.
