Knowledge Gaps in
Organic Agriculture:
A preliminary study
on agricultural
universities and
organic farming
practices in India
Joseph Thomas
Ramasubramanian
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
Organic Farming in India
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
uncertified
certified
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
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
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
Have farmers' institutions and empowerment been emphasised upon, for sustainability of
the effort?
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?
How is the implementation against the objectives? Are the goalposts being moved or
being adhered to?
equity concerns
fragile eco-zones
women farmers
Does the policy address
smallholders
tribal and Dalit farmers
rain fed farmers
Are subsidies being recast clearly to promote organic
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Not Clear
Yes
Not Clear
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Not Clear
No
No
Not Clear
Yes
Not Clear
Yes
Yes
Yes
Not Clear
Is the main thrust on
Does the policy emphasise on
Do main subsidies continue in a chemical farming paradigm, vitiating any plans for organic
right at the beginning
Is a farming systems approach being taken - livestock integration, agro-forestry etc
Not
Not Clear
Yes
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 following
Vice-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 nongovernmental 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.in
Ramasubramanian, chief@samanvaya.com