farmers' wisdom

This week, a group of Navdanya volunteers/interns sat down with Negi, one of the staff at Bija Vidyapeeth, for an impromptu interview about the organization, organic agriculture, and indian food and farming. At the end of the hour, the dinner bell rang, and we all left to our meal contemplating the new precious gems of information we had received.

Navdanya receives regular requests for training in organic agriculture and seed saving, and goes out to do trainings regularly and free of charge. In addition, farmer trainings are hosted here at Bija Vidyapeeth regularly (as when I first arrived). Negi emphasized the idea that organic agriculture is often spoken about by farmers here, but all they may know is the term, and not necessarily its implications. He says farmers are not interested in lectures, and so a big part of Navdanya's training is going to work alongside farmers and share techniques and highlight benefits through successful organic agriculture.

There are three kinds of members of Navdanya:
1. directly linked - those who get seed (for free, but they are asked to return 150% to the seed bank)
2. farmers who benefit from procurement - Navdanya buys sesame, mustard cumin, fenugreek, etc for programs and for stalls, slow food cafe, etc.
3. those involved in activism and advocacy - campaigns, seed marches, etc

One of the major services that Navdanya provides to farmers is assistance in certifying their farms. Navdanya covers the costs of certification and acts as the mediator, gathering records, dealing with the paperwork, etc. There are three people in charge of this task in the organization.

Navdanya does not accept funding from any government sources, citing the government processes as too corrupt (asking for bribes or extra cash under the table); however they have a funding partner in Germany, and receive income from the mango orchard and from the guests staying at Bija Vidyapeeth. Of the crops grown at Bija Vidyapeeth, 80% are saved for seed and biodiversity conservation, while 20% are actually used to feed the workers.

I was very interested to learn about the 2 year lag time between chemical farming and organic farming - this is the stipulated timeframe a farm must wait before it can be certified organic. This figure varies greatly between countries, and I wonder why a strict number is placed upon farmers, rather than testing to understand specific cases of soil damage and toxicity. In this regard, Negi reiterated that the ultimate proof of organic quality is taste - not a label one is given. As well, he suggested that subsidies need to be given to organic farmers in order to reduce the cost of organic foods, which are prohibitive at the moment.

Negi's explanation of Navdanya's activities was wonderfully human, and he ended our chat by appealing to the farmer's interests when discussing the benefits of organic farming:
1. farmers can save money on inputs (chemical fertilizers, purchased seed, etc)
2. farmers save money on doctor's visits because they will be healthier
3. farmers save land for future generations (important because youth without land or knowledge are more likely to get mixed up in criminal or other unsavoury activities)

Finally, he says that there is not a good market for organics in India and currently only 2% of the population supports it. For most people, rice is rice, lentil is lentil...what difference does a label or packaging make? Navdanya strives to counter this attitude among farmers, paying 10% more than regular prices to organic growers, and going directly to farmers' land to procure items, which saves the farmer on transport costs as well.

Seeds are saved all over the country by farmers in the Navdanya network (with Navdanya's financial assistance), and the trend is that seeds tend to be older (heritage varieties) the further away one gets from a city. Bija Vidyapeeth grows native and local seeds, and the purpose of multiple seedbanks is to encourage diversity and native plant varieties. In a country as large and ecologically diverse as this, multiple sites of seed saving are critical.

Negi's philosophy is that balance is just as important for land and for soil as it is for the body. If you compare land to life, you will be able to understand principles of organic agriculture - too much of anything is not good. In this way of thinking, Navdanya teaches farmers to empathize with the land, to read it and to approach it with compassion and nonviolence. I can't help but associate body and soil analogies with images of mother earth

He says with a smile that if one farmer takes up organic practices and gets good results, then all farmers in the area will take up similar habits automatically. Measures of success? The government of Uttarkhand has declared itself to be an organic state. The father of the green revolution in India was recently heard saying that organic farming is the only remedy for climate change. If such a 180 degree turn of opinion is not an indicator of success, I'm not sure what is!