Meanwhile, one farmer’s union is using social media to demand access to genetically engineered crops.
And then, for The Washington Post, Annie Gowen filed a dispatch from Soreng, a small town in the north-east Indian state of Sikkim, on efforts by the regional government there to convert all agriculture to organic by banning synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.
After years of overuse of pesticides and fertilizers, the state of Sikkim had seen increased cancer rates and polluted waters. Sikkim began its program to go all-organic in 2003 by reducing government subsidies on synthetic inputs by 10% each year coupled with education and investments in compost collection. A full ban on synthetic inputs went into effect in 2014, with Sikkim becoming India’s first “100 percent organic” state in January 2016.
The Himalayan state is starting to see the dividends. Overall health has increased in the state, leaders say, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has embraced Sikkim and organic farming throughout India, pouring about $119 million into supporting organic farmers nationwide.
Officials are able to point to some tangible benefits from the program. Bee populations are rebounding and tourism to the region has increased by 25% since 2016, with the state beginning to market itself as wellness destination.
Reports from individual farmers are far less rosy and the move at the end of March to ban imports of conventional didn’t go smoothly. Banning the import of inorganic produce from neighbouring states threw the state into turmoil, with prices of cabbage tripling in the markets, traders in revolt and the opposition party marching in protest.
Back in October, the Indian Express reported on farmer’s frustrations:“We aren’t obtaining a fair price for our produce. Nor are the bio-pesticides now being used helping to contain recurrent pest and disease attacks,” complains one farmer. He identifies whiteflies, cutworms and stinkbugs, along with powdery mildew fungal disease, as causing major damage to his tomato crop.
Echoing similar concerns is Roshan Chettri, another farmer from the same village who grows tomatoes and cauliflowers. “The state government is not doing enough to boost marketing of organic produce. As a result, the price we are getting is not much different from what non-organic fetches,” he says.
Source: geneticliteracyproject.org
