THE GREEN MILE

Sikkim is experimenting with organic farming and reaping rich dividends, says SAUMYA TYAGI

AS CONCERN for the ecosystem runs high all across the world, a small, mountainous state in India’s northeast — Sikkim, has taken a step ahead and declared to go completely organic by the year 2015. What this means is the total phasing out of chemical inputs from agriculture. Sikkim has long been an ecologically conscious state with initiatives such as a comprehensive ban on plastic, bio-medical and chemical waste in 1997, declaring 1995 as a Harit Kranti Varsha to create awareness about the environment among the farming community, programmes such as the Smriti Van Programme and the Green Mission Plan in 2006 and the setting up of a Climate Change Commission. And with its organic initiative it is all set to become the first completely certified organic state in India.


Conscious steps Terraced fields garland the hillsides of Sikkim, pointing to a greener future
A concerted government effort towards the initiative became evident in May 2003, when the state withdrew subsidy on chemical fertilisers, following it with removing the transport and handling subsidy. The state also adopted a seven-year plan to completely phase out chemical fertilisers and increased its spending for the organic mission to Rs 20 crore for the year 2010-11.

Despite only 15 percent of the total state area being available for farming, about 64 percent of the population in Sikkim still depends on agriculture. Cardamom, ginger and oranges are some of the leading cash crops in the region and make the agricultural economy mainly export based. Robin Sharma, an organic ginger and orange farmer for the past three years in Karthok, says that even though the prices of organic produce are marginally higher, the better quality makes it an easy sell. “During the first year of our shift to organic farming, production levels fell, but ever since it has been on a slow rise.”

A key challenge to organic farming is the lack of infrastructure, as shelf-life of such produce is much less
“Other than improved soil quality and a better product, a benefit of the organic initiative will be the export potential,” says ML Arrawatia, Secretary, State Council for Science and Technology, Sikkim. What makes the organic initiative more possible for Sikkim is also the fact that most of the agricultural area is mountainous and to an extent still untouched. The use of chemical fertilisers is already minimal. “I have not used chemical fertilisers for the past 12 years and am happy with the results, using organic manure. The chemicals were damaging my land and the production was also falling,” says Mani Kumar Rai, a certified organic farmer and the president of a farmers interest group in Samsing.


Compact yield Sikkim provides its farmers with vermicompost kits to help them produce their own organic crops
Of the total 70,000 hectares of cultivable land in Sikkim, 6,000 hectares has already been certified. Certification involves documentation of all farming activities, training the farmers on crop management and appropriate farming practices, and monitoring the whole process. It takes a standard three years for a piece of land to be organically certified, making it a long and tedious process. “The problem we are facing in Sikkim is that of logistics — because of bad roads and hilly terrain, collecting produce becomes difficult. Also, the price of organically produced foodstuff is 10 percent more. We try to get a genuine price for genuine produce,” says V Bapna, General Manager, Morarka Foundation, a rural research organisation working on organic certification across India. While the state is providing farmers with vermicompost kits to help them produce their own organic fertilisers, there is still a shortage of organic manure in the state because of which it is being imported from Hyderabad and Pune. “We are providing rural compost and farm compost, and while some of it is still being imported, over time we will become self sufficient,” says SK Gautam, Secretary, Agriculture and Horticulture Department, Sikkim.

AKEY CHALLENGE that organic farming faces in the state is the lack of infrastructure in the form of required number of warehouses and cold storages, given the lesser shelf-life of organic produce and proper channels of marketing such produce — from acquiring it from remote areas in the mountains to the marketplace. “Unless the produce is marketed through the right channels, organic certification comes at a cost,” says Renzino Lepcha, COO, Mevedir, a certifying body based in Sikkim. SK Gautam, Secretary, Agriculture and Horticulture Department of Sikkim, while agreeing to the limited infrastructure, says the government is making efforts in the direction. “We are planning to set up 5-6 more cold storages and packaging units for organic produce.”

The organic farming initiative is not new and has been taken up in various parts of the country over time. In Himachal Pradesh, over 10,000 farmers have switched to organic farming, out of which 183 have been certified. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, on June 16, launched Mission Organic, whereby the islands would be completely organic in the next five years. Organic farming is also being adopted in parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat. However, something more concrete, in the form of a concerted effort by a government is what has made Sikkim stand out and seek to achieve the goal of going organic.


From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 7, Issue 28, Dated July 17, 2010