Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
example, Dr. George Thomas, a professor and extension researcher who
atended the workshop, had many reservations. I met him in his oice
one day to learn more about this workshop, and he defended the position
of the bureaucrats and scientists: “I am seeing this organic farming in a
different perspective,” he said. “If more and more people come forward
to do organic farming
. . . that may decrease the whole yield. That is our
concern. For a developing nation like India, our population is going to
double.
. . . So that means in the next forty years, we have to double food
production.” His argument echoed that of advocates of conventional ag-
riculture elsewhere, that organic farming cannot produce enough to feed
the world's growing population.
Thomas then explained that experiments in laboratories and agricul-
tural extension were important for the advancement of science and a sci-
entific analysis of agriculture. “We conduct experiments, then only we
will believe. If you want to prove that an organic product is nutritionally
beter, you have to conduct an experiment. We are for scientiic methods,
scientific thinking, scientific temper. . . . ” He pulled out and showed me
several studies he had printed that questioned the merits and yield po-
tential of organic farming. His perspective, he assured me, was based in
sound science and the mission of agricultural extension.
For opponents like Thomas, organic farming presented a threat to their
livelihoods, science, and the status quo in which agricultural research
prioritized yields—yields that required the use of chemical inputs. This
program was precisely what the Government of India had aggressively
promoted during the Green Revolution. Additionally, many officials from
the Agriculture Department were displeased that the Biodiversity Board
was trespassing on their turf and proposing changes to the state's agricul-
tural priorities.
Led by Thomas, the Teachers' Association of K AU, a coalition of scien-
tists and professors within Kerala's agricultural extension offices, wrote
a rebutal to the organic farming policy that summarizes the opposition
to organic farming in the state. Entitled
Can Organic Agriculture Replace
Conventional Agriculture? Reflections on the Organic Agricultural Policy Pro-
posed by the Bio Diversity Board of Kerala
(2008), the report captures the
allure the Green Revolution has had within Kerala's agricultural bureau-
