Summary of the 3-day Convention Proceedings...

SUMMARY OF THE 3-DAY, 5^TH NATIONAL ORGANIC FARMING CONVENTION

More than 2200 people participated in this largest congregation of organic farmers anywhere ever in the world, during the 3-day, 5^th National Organic Farming Convention that took place in Chandigarh on Feb. 28^th, March 1^st and 2^nd. This Convention was mostly crowd-funded, with the participants themselves contributing nearly one-fourth of the financial requirement, with others like the Haryana Government, Punjab Government and Chandigarh administration in addition to NABARD stepping forward to support this.

The Convention had several specialized session on both technical and policy fronts. A brief summary of these sessions -

SOIL: This is the International Year of Soils and this Convention also paid great attention to this aspect of farming and natural resource management. Scientific and experiential experience of farmers were shared over 4 sessions related to soil health and participants felt that adoption of various techniques and recipes presented here would save the exchequer huge amounts of public funds. Good practices that are being promoted by state governments in particular were highlighted, and the same demanded to be adopted elsewhere.

PLANT PROTECTION: The convention’s proceedings reiterated time and again the need to phase out pesticides soonest, particularly in Punjab and Haryana which have suffered heavily due to agri-chemicals. Various ways of natural pest management were shared and discussed by participants. The emphasis was on imparting knowledge about insects including identification of “vegetarian” and “non-vegetarian” insects. The success story of undivided Andhra Pradesh in promoting NPM on a large scale was heard to be discussed in various sessions of the convention.

SEEDS: The convention spent a substantial part of its proceedings as well as set up a fantastic biodiversity festival, to emphasise the importance of agro-diversity in organic farming. Seed breeders and seed savers shared experiences of breeding and characterization of traditional germplasm. Policy sessions emphasized that seed conservation is indeed a political statement since it pertains to our national sovereignty as well as farmer-level sovereignty and livelihoods. It was felt that biopiracy needs to be stopped as well as any laws and policies that violate farmers’ apriori rights to seeds. Good practices of farmer seed varieties being distributed by agriculture departments were emphasized. Participants also discussed a pragmatic proposal to adopt a traditional variety each so that between all of us in the organic farming movement, thousands of varieties can be conserved.

GMOs: GMOs was a matter of great concern to the participants, and in the parallel session that dwelled on this issue, a large crowd of participants presented their arguments around why they reject GMOs in our food, farming and environment. Experts shared scientific evidence on the subject and the current ongoing debate on open air field trials were discussed, and opposed. There was a consensus that the recommendations of various credible committees that recommended against open air field trials should be adopted, including the majority report of the Supreme Court TEC. Ms Maneka Gandhi, Union WCD Minister pointed out the lies of the Bt cotton industry in saying that with this technology, pesticide use will come down, while one of the deadliest class of pesticides called neo-nicotinoid pesticides are needed for Bt cotton, and that has become the basis of continuing with this deadly chemical.

LIVESTOCK: A lot of information was shared by participants who were rearing and conserving traditional livestock breeders. It was acknowledged that almost 75% of livestock management is done by women in this country. Deep concern was expressed about loss of traditional varieties and people acknowledged the various benefits of these breeds. The developing markets for various cow-based products all over the world and India were emphasized.

There were many policy sessions that debated issues around certification and marketing, adivasi agriculture, women and organic farming, smallholders and organic farming as well as environmental health matters.

ADIVASI AGRICULTURE: It was acknowledged that in the case of adivasis the debate is not just about organic vs chemicals, but about ownership of natural resources and the large scale dispossession and alienation underway. It was noted that wherever there is a large scale entry of modern agriculture, it also meant dispossession of adivasis, with control over resources moving into the hands of outsiders whether it is local traders or corporations.

WOMEN & ORGANIC FARMING: The positive experiences from different states of women farmers’ cooperatives shifting to organic farming on a large scale and also exploring marketing avenues were shared in this session. While the social benefits related health and new found recognition and role for women due to organic farming exist, the question of finding methods by which drudgery burden on women can be reduced was also highlighted.

SMALLHOLDERS & ORGANIC FARMING: It was noted that smallholder livelihoods can improve only with ecological agriculture which is less risky and meets basic livelihood needs, while ecological agriculture can spread mainly with smallholders. The issue of credit was discussed, and innovative approaches for this were discussed. Building trust amongst consumers so that smallholder organic farmers can find good marketing avenues was emphasized. The experience of Belgaum Organic Food Club was shared, where direct marketing avenues were created by a group of smallholders who collectivized themselves and linked up directly with consumers. The techniques by which a family can survive even with just 25 cents of land were shared.

ORGANIC FARMING POLICIES & IMPLEMENTATION: Farmer speakers in this session emphasized upon government neglect of organic farming, and how chemical agriculture receives various kinds of support. Marketing support for organic farming as well as value addition, including easy certification mechanisms were discussed. The need for special incentives to organic agriculture, and support during transition were emphasized.  The fact that south Indian states are moving ahead much more rapidly in scaling up organic farming was brought up. The need for quantitative and qualitative monitoring of the policies decalred was also emphasized. Jathedar Tota Singh, Agriculture Minister of Punjab, shared that he also grows organic food and pointed out that the need for organic farming at this point of time was being felt on all fronts.

ORGANIC FOOD MARKETING: The discussion on organic food marketing was one of the most active and well attended one. The organic food marketing discussion centered on the issues of both certification and also on the issue of fair prices for organic farmers. One of the outcomes towards which people agreed on was to have a grid of organic food marketing agencies across the country.

BIODIVERSITY: Industry’s forceful acquisition of land is affecting biodiversity in addition to alienation of land. Commercial cultivation is also depleting water resources while deforestation is also a major factor.

WATER: Chemical run-off into water resources is a major problem and the need for organic was emphasized in this context. Non-regulation of industry and prioritization of their needs is affecting water availability in various parts of the country, it was noted.

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH: Impact of pesticides and fertilizers, particularly on Punjab was discussed extensively here. The myth of the indispensability of chemicals for food security was discussed, while 40% of food gets wasted in the supply chain.

The Convention also had 22 farmer’s stalls from different states with display and selling of their produce at the Kisaan haat and over 50 farmer groups that participated and shared seeds in the seed festival as part of the Biodiversity festival. There were organic food from over 10 states that were served during the organic food festival, cultural programmes saw the farmers from other parts of the country being exposed to some Punjabi music and also share their agriculture music and dance, the Green Film Festival had some green films being shown, there was a launch of many important publications and digital publication of video and materials in several languages during the convention.

The Chief Minister of Haryana during the inaugural session of the Convention had set a target of 10% land under cultivation to be converted into organic in a phased manner and also proposed to set-up an advisory panel and make budgetary allocation towards the guidance and implementation of the same.