Knowledge Gaps in Organic Agriculture:A preliminary study

on agricultural universities andorganic farming

practices in India

Joseph ThomasRamasubramanian

8th Jan 2013 | New Deli

A study of the State Agricultural Universities, their relationship with the Organic Farming movements across India and the changing

agriculture policy of state governments

States with Policies on Organic Farming

• Sikkim – entire state• Karnataka – mission • Madhya Pradesh – policy & certification• Kerala – policy & initiative• Uttrakhand – policy & initiative• Andhra Pradesh (NPM) – policy & initiative

Central Schemes that promote Organic Farming

• National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) – proposed under 12th Five Year Plan

• Mahila Kisan Sashaktikiran Pariyojana (MKSP) • Other schemes in parts

Organic Farming & India

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Drivers of Organic Farming

• Better Commercial Returns• By Default• Cultural Reasons• Environmentally Conscious• Civil Society Action

SAU“The challenge facing India's SAUs for the next century will be to complement the concern for the immediate needs of

increased production with a greater emphasis on productivity and long-term sustainability; to balance the

focus on disciplinary and commodity research with a greater emphasis on interdisciplinary research and a systems

perspective; and to move from being reactive organizations to proactive ones, from hierarchical organizations to participatory ones, from agricultural universities to

universities for rural development.” - Lawrence Busch, 1988

SAU

“India, since independence, followed a path of science led growth of its agriculture. Agricultural education was placed

in the forefront of this strategy. A comprehensive educational system has been evolved for building human

resource that could undertake location and situation specific research and transfer its results to improve

productivity, profitability and stability of agriculture. Not only the educational system was patterned on the Land

Grants Colleges of the USA, but faculty was also trained in the US universities through a joint Indo-US programme….”

– KIA, 2009

NMSA & SAU• there is not a single source cited that is from any Agricultural

University in India• the four functional dimensions that are elaborated, do not

explore the roles of different entities in delivering the functional dimensions

• Strategies - the State Agriculture Universities (SAU) are explicitly mentioned four times in all. – Twice: Improved Crop Seed, Livestock and Fish Culture (Strengthening

of Research Infrastructure, Capacity Building of Field Functionaries),– Once : Improved Farm Practices (Infrastructure – Strengthening of

simulation facilities) – Once: Livelihood Diversification (Capacity Building – Development of

Agri-Livestock Extension)

Challenges for Organic Farming• Food Security• Encouragement from State• No risk mitigation exercise• No area specific encouragement offering less protection to

organic farmers• Sovereignty of Seeds• Inputs• Pest Management• Irrigation and Labour• Marketing

What does the Organic Farming Policy contain? Sikkim Madhya

Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Uttarakhand

Is the main thrust on

a) livelihoods and improving net returns of farmers Yes Yes Yes Yes Not Clear

b) is it about export and niche markets? Yes No Yes No Yes

Does the policy emphasise on

a) 'internalisation' of farm inputs Yes Yes Yes Yes Not Clear

b) providing opportunities to the organic industry, where farmers will buy things from various input factories/entities/outfits?

Yes No No No Not Clear

Have farmers' institutions and empowerment been emphasised upon, for sustainability of the effort? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Is there convergence between various departments envisaged? Yes Yes Yes Yes Not Clear

Have forward linkages as well as backward linkages been thought of, and planned for? Yes Yes Yes Yes Not Clear

Is the policy ambitious in its approach or not? Yes Yes Yes Yes No How is the implementation against the objectives? Are the goalposts being moved or being adhered to? Yes Yes Not Clear Yes Not Clear

Does the policy address

equity concerns No No No Yes Nofragile eco-zones No No Yes Yes No women farmers No No Yes Yes Nosmallholders Yes Yes Yes Yes Yestribal and Dalit farmers No Yes Yes Yes Yesrain fed farmers Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Are subsidies being recast clearly to promote organic No Yes Yes No Not Clear

Do main subsidies continue in a chemical farming paradigm, vitiating any plans for organic right at the beginning No No Not Clear Yes Not Clear

Is a farming systems approach being taken - livestock integration, agro-forestry etc Not Clear Yes Yes Yes Not Clear

SAU & Organic Farming

• 2 out of 53 agriculture universities have courses / departments explicitly dedicated to organic farming in the country

• The curriculum of most agriculture universities indicate Indian Agriculture as having started from 18th century and have in that synonymously connect agriculture departments (and universities) existence to that of agriculture itself thereby denying other knowledge sources…this continues with acknowledging current intermediaries as well

SAUs and Organic Farming

University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad in Karnataka has an organic farming cell that has been involved in research and recently announced the followingVice-Chancellor of the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad, R.R. Hanchinal said the “…research conducted by scientists from the university had proved that organic farming ensured more productivity than chemical farming in rain-fed areas.” UAS has developed technology for organic cultivation of 12 major crops and is working closely with the state agriculture department

SAUs and Organic Farming

The Sikkim government realizing that the volume of extension work required for full conversion enrolled the help of many different civil society organisations. The Sikkim Organic Policy document states the following “The private sector, commercial and NGOs in Sikkim should be encouraged tojoin forces and form a united organic sector body. Setting up a permanent body, where people from these sectors are represented, may be considered for the consultations between the government and the private sector.”

SAUs & Organic Farming

Andhra Pradesh(AP) relied heaving on Self Help Group(SHGs)demanded a) Sustainable agriculture based livelihood b) Reduced cost of cultivation c) Chemical free food citing health considerations. This

demand led to Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA)

The SHG platform was also to be used for scaling up. It should be noted that all 3 demands of the SHGs were met by the CMSA programme

SAUs & Organic Farming

In Karnataka the government coordinated with various Non-Governmental Organisations(NGOs) for different levels of extension work. NGOs were involved in awareness generation, training and forming farmer groups. A study was done on the “Role of non-governmental organizations in promoting sustainable agriculture in Karnataka”. The author states that “NGOs are very prominent in effective implementation of government programmes towards sustainability in agriculture”. He further states that“ The government should take more interest and improve organic farming with the help of NGOs”.

SAUs & Organic Farming

Kerala organic farming policy is very strong on involvement of SAUs. It expects the full participation of the University in the General Council and Executive Committee levels aside from creating inputs like seeds, fertilizer and plant protection materials. Strategy 4.5 of the policy document states “Kerala Agricultural University and other research institutions should develop suitable crop combinations and locally suitable technology, through participatory research with farmers.” The SAU at Trissur developed “THE ADHOC PACKAGE OF PRACTICES RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ORGANIC FARMING” in 2009. However the document on agricultural practice is little known.

Study Results

There is a real gap in knowledge faced by organic farmers that the state agricultural systems are not able to fill. Consequently this is filled by other intermediaries.

Study Results

As more states create policies on sustainable agriculture in response to either perceived commercial benefits or climate change or mere common sense, the knowledge gap will only become more pronounced and state level policy does not seem to be (in general) able to address how the knowledge gap will be filled nor envision a role for SAUs in this context.

Study Results

Unless Histories, Culture Studies, Anthropology, Indigenous Ecological Studies, Tribal Sociological Studies, etc., become part of the agriculture understanding in the Indian context, we may not see much relevance in the agriculture university system apart from its ‘yield fixated’ mindset. Such an engagement with other disciplines, may lead to revisiting the philosophical roots in a significant manner

Study Results

A country with such large number of small and marginal farmers cannot continue to look at small farms as a liability because the agriculture universities teach only about productivity techniques that obviously favour large farms.

Study Results

A movement towards nutrition-security centric approach will have the universities acknowledging the traditional knowledge of agriculture within the small farmers meaningfully

Let’s continue the dialogue…

Joseph Thomas, jts12000@yahoo.co.inRamasubramanian, chief@samanvaya.com

Thank you