Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
version to organic farming needed to happen more quickly, within five
years, as the original document specified.
But then Nair pointed out the long-
term goals of the policy to me: “We
decided—because there were a lot of differences in opinion from the sci-
entists' side—we decided that, let us not bulldoze . . . let us bring them
also together, [because] if the policy is formulated, [we'll] require their
help also in implementation.” As he noted, the board compromised on
several points because its eventual goal was that the Agriculture Depart-
ment, the official body regulating agriculture in the state, would manage
the conversion to organic farming.
Implementation “is their domain,” as Varma, the chair of the Biodiver-
sity Board at the time, reminded me about the Agriculture Department
in interviews. The board had no regulatory authority and did not wish
to alienate necessary allies. Those like Nair, with direct ties to both the
board and agricultural extension, assisted with negotiations and revisions
to move forward with finalizing the policy.21
The Biodiversity Board then took its revised policy out for another set
of consultations with farmers and local communities around the state,
relying primarily upon channels and relationships it had already built
while creating the Biodiversity Registers, as well as on Thanal's network
of farmers and farmers' organizations. Discussions even occurred at the
opposite geographic end of the state, in rural areas in the Western Ghats.
As a result of these local-level stakeholder meetings, the policy came to
highlight best practices in organic agriculture occurring throughout the
state. For example, the policy now mentions that thousands of Kerala's
farmers have been certified organic for export for some time, and that
a locally based certification agency, which I will describe in chapter 5,
has been facilitating these efforts. Adding this material demonstrated the
broad support for organic farming already in existence across Kerala.
Fi na lly, in early 2008, the Biodiversity Board submited the policy for
review and approval by the state's Cabinet and top officials in the Agricul-
ture Department. In the fall, the Cabinet approved the policy. This made
headlines. One newspaper explained in detail: “The Chief Minister,
Mr. V. S. Achuthanandan, told newspersons after the Cabinet meeting on
