Organic Trial

Despite earning the `100 per cent organic' tag, Sikkim's transition to organic farming is yet to become a true success.

- Sonam Taneja

IN JANUARY 2016, Sikkim became India’s first “100 per cent organic” state. Today, all farming in Sikkim is carried out without the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, providing access to safer food choices and making agriculture a more environment-friendly activity. But when Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment (cse) visited 16 farms spread over the four districts of the state— North Sikkim, South Sikkim, West Sikkim and East Sikkim—in November 2016, it found that the farmers’ experience of organic farming was far from satisfactory. The findings of this survey hold lessons for the rest of the country.

In Poklok-Denchung gram panchayat near Namchi, the headquarters of South Sikkim district, 85-year-old Nar Bahadur Rai is a disappointed farmer. With his son, Rai grows maize, ginger and cardamom on their two-hectare (ha) farm. Since 2011-12, when they stopped using synthetic chemicals, their ginger production has plunged to only a third of the amount they used to grow when chemical use was permitted in farming. A fungal disease called sheath blight has affected their ginger crop and Rai has received no assistance from the government. “Why are we not given any medicines for our crops? The government gave us only some manure for a short while. What is the point of the officers going for trainings if the farmers do not learn anything?” he asks.