Regular interactions with experienced organic farmers encouraged me to start organic farming in my village Moutorh, Purulia, West Bengal because organic products are often appraised for their benefits to health and the environment. With the increase in global health consciousness, organic food is healthier, with higher antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, polyphenol and many more. They are tastier and more nutritious as they take a long time to flourish. With reference to environmental protection, organic farming benefits the climate as it stores carbon in the soil and minimize energy uses.

This farming is eco-friendly as it improves physical and nutrient qualities, with more abundant soil fauna. With the introduction of modern chemical fertilisers, synthetic pesticides, germicides, herbicides and Genetically Engineered (GE) seeds, along with the introduction of new and modern techniques for farming, food grain production in the country got a boost but use of chemicals became completely uncontrolled and started polluting the complete supply chain. Greed and minimal access to relevant information to the farmers resulted in many areas of land reaching a stage where they no longer produce anything. Also, use of synthetic agricultural chemicals is one of the biggest problems for pollinators like bees. On the other hand, the farming procedures that involve chemical ingredients for cultivation are prone to cause health issues in the future.

These include neurological disease, headaches, migraines and others. Despite knowing the benefits of organic agriculture and the adverse impact of chemicals on human beings and the environment, many farmers in my village strongly criticized and condemned my effort at organic farming as a backward and romanticized version of agriculture that would lead to low production and financial loss. Of course, I cannot blame them because I faced major barriers such as – there is no steady and sustainable market for organic produce though one organic farmer who is practicing far away from my village assured he would sell my paddy while purchasing organic seeds. He was confident that lower production/my losses would be compensated but in reality, the condition stipulated by him for selling was not at all sustainable. Another major issue was availability of certified organic seeds.

I was advised to use the seeds from the same organic farmer but one seed was a mixture of two varieties. Another was red rice that was not at all popular in the area. Of course, it was my fault because I did not have adequate knowledge to identify the seeds. It is for this reason that farmers are often forced and advised to use conventional seeds. Availability of labour for the entire period of farming starting from sowing the seeds to harvesting the crop was the major problem because of a scarcity of individuals with the necessary expertise. Despite earnest requests, they did not agree to implement sustainable techniques effectively. They felt these techniques are bogus and time-consuming.

Being a small farmer, I could not afford to invest in education and training programmes to enhance the availability of qualified workers for the future. Thus labour requirements represent a major obstacle to the adoption of organic farming. Also, as it does with normal crops, the Government has not come out with MSP for the organic crop considering its production cost. Unfortunately, no machine is available in this area to process this type of paddy. Thus all my organic produce had to be sold to the local dealer at a very low price with huge loss. Consumer’s trust is the key to organic produce as there is no straightforward method to verify it. Anyone can sell anything, under the label of ‘organic’ without any certificate, leading to a trust-deficit.

On the other hand, organic farms have to go through tough certification processes. Despite the obvious health benefits, organic foods have a shorter shelf life as compared to conventional food because organic food materials are not treated with waxes or preservatives, unlike conventional methods, to store them for a long time.A final challenge of organic farming is that production yields are lower compared to conventionally grown food. Production cost in organic farming is quite high as it requires more manpower. Thereby, many of the environmental benefits of organic agriculture diminish once lower yields are accounted for.

In the Indian perspective, customers usually opt for cheaper options and this factor hugely impacts the organic produce market. Without any subsidy, there will always be a huge risk involved in organic procedures. Based on my experience in practicing organic farming, it may be stated that production is the ultimate purpose of agriculture. In view of this, assessment of the benefits and costs per unit of production output must be carried out with reference to

i) yield and yield stability,

ii) biodiversity, soil quality, climate change mitigation, water quality and quantity,

iii) farmer and farm worker livelihoods and health, and

iv) consumer health and access.

Apart from this, public awareness and knowledge are also important for people to understand the benefits of organic food in the long run. Organic farmers should have sufficient knowledge and skills about localized soil systems, meteorology, type of cropping system, ecology, and other factors that influence crop growth. There is an emergent need to provide an unbiased assessment of organic farming as a means of sustainable agriculture, rather than approaching the question from the usual “What does organic farming do well/badly?” angle.

(The writer is former Senior Scientist, Central Pollution Control Board.)