In the wake of the chemicalisation and commercialisation of agriculture in India, there is a severe farmer and food crisis. Several farmer and civil society organisations, and some government initiatives, are trying new paradigms of sustainable, small-farmer agriculture that provide glimpses of food sovereignty and community self-sufficiency.
2. Several thousand years old
65-70% population occupied
Extremely diverse:
• Several thousand domesticated animals and
plants
• wild foods
• ways of life (settled/shifting cultivation,
nomadic/settled pastoralism, hunting-gathering,
agroforestry, fisheries …)
• knowledge systems, expertise, skills
• cultural beliefs & practices relating to agriculture
• cuisines and foods
India’s agricultural heritage
4. India’s domesticated biodiversity: species
• Domesticated species diversity
– One of 8 global centres of crop plant origin
– 166 crop species originate in India
5. Indias domesticated biodiversity: genetic
–Diversification within crops, e.g.
• Rice: 50,000 - 300,000 varieties
• Mango: >1000 varieties
• Sorghum: >5000 varieties
• Centre of diversity for rice, wheat, sugarcane,
legumes, sesame, eggplant, okra, citrus, banana,
mango, jamun, jute, ginger, millets….
6. Diversification within livestock:
•26 cattle breeds
•40 sheep breeds
•18 poultry breeds
• at least 35 dog breeds
India’s domesticated biodiversity: genetic
7. WHY / HOW THIS DIVERSITY?
Deliberate selection and adaptation by
farmers and pastoralists, for:
*resilience / buffer against disaster
*diverse needs (food, medicine,
cultural)
8. ‘Green / White revolution’ models (1960s-onwards)
•addiction to outside seeds, water, fertilisers, pesticides, credit
•soil loss and degradation
•dependence on market, govt, moneylenders
•monocultures, bias against diversity
•neglect of dryland agriculture & shifting cultivation
•From frying pan (state control) to fire (corporate control)
Impoverishment of marginal/small farmers: >300,000 suicides!
Destruction of India’s agriculture
10. Continued food insecurity, hunger…
• Upto 2/3rd population deprived of
adequate nutritious food
• World’s largest number of
malnourished and
undernourished
women/children
• 60 million people displaced by
‘development’ projects; many more
dispossessed of survival resources
12. •Reviving traditional diversity (millets)
•Promoting cultivated and wild foods
•Creating community grain banks
•Empowering dalit women farmers, securing land rights
Deccan Development Society: conservation,
equity, & livelihoods through sustainable agriculture
13. Thriving in drylands
Nadimidoddi Vinodamma
3 acres
45 crop varieties (millets/pulses/vegetables)
Food sufficiency for family (1st priority)
Rs. 200,000 sale in market (with expenditure of Rs. 18,000)
Fully organic, all local seeds
14. Creating localised, cyclical economy
•Consumer-producer links (Zaheerabad organic food restaurant / shop)
•Linking to Public Distribution System
Deccan Development Society (contd)
15. Towards 100% organic, Kedia village
(Jamui), Bihar
Vermicompost replacing fertilisers
Herbal potions replacing pesticides
Mixed cropping revived
16. An individual revolutionary…
Natwar Sarangi
Narishu vill, Cuttack dist, Odisha
GenX: Jubraj Swain
Growing >400 varieties of rice
Seed albums and banks
17. Sustaining wild foods
>8000 species (food, medicine, fodder)
Crucial nutritional supplement, buffer in drought
Documentation, festivals, regeneration
19. Changing urban mindsets on food
Rooftop / backyard farming (>10,000
families in Bengaluru)
Organic, traditional food markets /fairs
Producer-consumer cooperatives
Not-for-profit shops (e.g. reStore, Chennai)
20. Coalition Against GM
Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA)
Millet Network of Indian (MiNI)
MAKAAM (women farmers’ network)
Food Sovereignty Alliance
Beej Bachao Andolan (Save the Seeds Campaign)
Movements, alliances for resistance
& alternatives
21. The government responds …
• Food Security Act 2013
• Organic farming support in 16 states
• Some states targetting 100% organic
(but still marginal compared to dominant
policy)
22. Towards a sustainable and equitable
society … 5 pillars
•Ecological sustainability
–Conservation of nature, sustainable use of resources
•Social well-being & justice
–Equality between men/women, classes, castes, etc
•Direct democracy
–Decision-making by citizens, accountable govt
•Economic democracy
–Means of production in hands of producers, localised self-sufficiency,
economy of caring/sharing
•Cultural and knowledge diversity
–Knowledge as public resource, respecting cultural/ethnic diversity
23. Eco-swaraj:
Radical ecological democracy
(Radical = going to the roots)
• achieving human well-being, through:
– empowering all citizens & communities to participate in
decision-making
– ensuring socio-economic equity & justice
– respecting the limits of the earth
Community (at various levels) as basic unit of organisation, not
state or private corporation
24. Hey, don’t forget the spices …
Fundamental values & principles
• Diversity and pluralism (of ideas, knowledge, ecologies, economies,
polities, cultures…)
• Self-reliance for basics (swavalamban)
• Cooperation, collectivity, and ‘commons’
• Rights with responsibilities/duties
• Dignity of labour
• Respect for subsistence
• Qualitative pursuit of happiness
• Equity / equality (gender, caste, class, ethnic)
• Simplicity, enoughness (aparigraha)
• Decision-making access to all
• Respect for all life forms
• Ecological sustainability