Growing demand for organic food in India coupled with greater awareness and education has made a gradually increasing number of farmers prepare their land for organic farming. The article indicates that the benefits of organic farming are seen by organic food retailers who have greater turnover as well as by fully-converted farmers who have realized lower costs and higher profits.
HYDERABAD, India, Sep 9, 2010 (IPS) - He had decided to grow watermelons this summer on his one-acre (.405
hectare)
plot, and so Veera Narayana went about preparing the arid red earth by first
ploughing it and then lighting fires in the furrows.
He explains that ploughing the earth thoroughly exposes pests’ larvae to the
heat of the sun, while ash in the furrows will act as pesticide.
But Narayana says that at some point he would also be mixing neem seeds,
green chili, garlic paste, and kerosene as yet another anti-pest concoction.
There would be pastes made out of cow dung and jaggery (the better to trap
insects) as well, and then neem powder fermented in cow urine.
"Certainly easier to pop open a can of chemical pesticide, mix water in
proportion, spray, and be done," admits Narayana. But since the 42-year-old
farmer went organic, he has cheerfully gotten rid of shortcuts like using
store-bought pesticides and now spends hours mixing anti-pest brews with
ingredients that can be found at home or even in the fields.
That means Narayana’s land and produce will no longer have the kind of
toxins they were subjected to when he was still using chemicals to grow
crops. Narayana himself will also escape being exposed to toxins that are
commonly found in manufactured pesticides.
Indeed, with more Indian consumers turning to organic food as part of their
quest for a healthier lifestyle, many of the country’s farmers are shifting to
methods that are kinder not only to the environment but also to their own
bodies.
For sure, it may seem as a no-brainer for farmers like Narayana to go
organic. For one, organic pesticides do not kill earthworms and other plant-
friendly insects. For another, they keep the soil surface soft and absorbent, as
well as free from toxins that could eventually end up in water systems – and
the produce itself.
Chemical pesticides have also been blamed for respiratory and skin ailments
suffered by some farmers.
Then again, it is not easy to break old habits, even if they are harmful ones.
For Indian farmers, too, it has been a matter of waiting for an organic food
market to develop before they would even consider switching to methods that
in fact had been used by their forefathers.
Aparna Kumar, who owns and runs the Bangalore-based online organic
foodstore Adi Naturals, says farmers can now stop waiting.
Just five years ago, she and her sister-in-law would give away their organic
food products that went unsold. Today she says she still operates her
business from her home garage, but sales have boomed.
"In the whole of 2009, Adi Naturals’s turnover was 650 (U.S.) dollars," says
Kumar. "But in these last six months alone, it is nudging 8,700 dollars – a
13-
fold increase."
Yet while it is said to have grown as much as 200 percent in recent years,
India’s organic food market is still considered in its infant stages. Farmers
would thus not be stampeding anytime soon toward organic farming.
Of course there are those like Narayana who see the huge potential of the
organic food sector in this country and want to have a headstart. And while
Narayana is going at it alone, some farmers have chosen to sign up with
cooperatives, such as the Dharani Farming and Marketing Mutually Aided
Cooperative Society Ltd.
Dharani – one of Kumar’s suppliers – is among India’s largest farmer
collectives. Promoted by Timbaktu Collective, a major non-government
organisation here in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, it produces
organic millets, pulses, and oilseeds.
Dharani has 3,000 acres (1,214 hectares) of cropland used for organic
farming
in Anantapur, the second most drought-affected area in India.
The 860 small and marginal farmers who own and run the cooperative,
however, are determined to re-establish traditional, environmentally
sustainable, and economically viable farming practices in their rainshadow
region where water stress, years of monocropping, and overuse of chemical
farm additives have left fields sterile and farmers destitute.
According to Dharani president B. C. Bommali, the cooperative’s sales are
rising dramatically. Just last year, sales were at 28,000 dollars, he says. This
year still has several months left, but Dharani has already rung up business
worth 72,000 dollars, he adds.
Some 300 farmers are currently lined up to register with Dharani – and willing
to pay 1,000 rupees (about 21 dollars) as their portion of the share capital.
Being part of a cooperative means farmers cut expenses associated with
organic farming.
Organic produce, for instance, has shorter shelf life than chemically treated
commercial foodstuff. That translates to a potentially high wastage, which
could be reduced with a ready marketing network like what Dharani provides.
Dharani chief executive officer Brahmeshwar Rao also points out,
"Institutional
certification for organic products is costly for the small and marginal farmer,
but organic food users demand it."
Dharani, however, follows the less expensive certified peer-inspection
system. In the first three years, a farmer’s produce is treated as "organic-in-
conversion." From the fourth year, it is certified as organic.
Narayana does say organic farming is more labour intensive than the
chemical-using version. But so far even his wallet shows proof that it is all
worth the effort.
His field had yielded a truckload of watermelons, which he has since
harvested
and sold. Being organic, they fetched a premium price – about 1,000 dollars,
says Narayana. His capital: just 130 dollars, including labour costs.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52768