Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
4
Forging a Statewide Organic
Farming Policy in Kerala
At the turn of the twenty-irst century, Kerala's agrarian crisis was
reaching its peak. The Green Revolution was taking its toll throughout
the state. Many farmers found themselves without substantial income
from their pepper and coffee gardens because of pesticide-
induced dis-
eases. Endosulfan-related birth defects were making national news, and
NGOs and government officials began investigating the occurrence of
farmer suicides. By the end of the decade, however, the state's agricultural
sector showed signs of improvement, and visitors like me started to come
from afar to learn about Kerala's organic farming policy.
I met some of the other visitors one Saturday morning, when I found
myself in rural Palakkad District, one of Kerala's rice-
growing regions,
stirring a mixture of five products from a cow—dung, urine, milk, yo-
gurt, and ghee (fig. 2)—in a large drum. I had just disembarked from an
overnight train, eager to greet the Kissan Swaraj Yathra, a group of farm-
ers and activists touring India to raise awareness of the agrarian distress
in the countryside.1 The group decided to stop in Palakkad to highlight
the activities of its Kerala-based partner, the nonprofit named Thanal, an
organization that had been conducting several organic farming experi-
ments and educational activities in Palakkad.
The chartreuse-colored and foamy slurry I was stirring emited a pu-
trid odor, yet everyone gathered closely around it. We were in the garden
of an organic farmer, learning about
panchagavayya
, a homemade organic
