Organic farming, certification and the Poor Indian Farmer

[sunson]

In my 1 week vacation at Thanjavur, I basked in the glory of so many birds and insects and night-sky stars, walked distances, talked to a lot of people besides catching the typical cold that I tend to catch everytime I go to the country side.

I met one Mr.Meenakshi Sundaram of the Tamil Nadu Organic Certification Department (TNOCD) in Thanjavur. In

Comments

[mssnlayam]

Very good post.

Poor people do not have access to cheap credit. They are forced to borrow from predatory money lenders. This is a grave problem. The government can easily lend money at a cheaper rate. It can also enact and *enforce* usury laws. Accompanying both must be a solution to remedy people's existing loans.

This hard problem is made more difficult because politicians are unscrupulous. How can we fix this problem? Rather, what can I do to fix this?

[sunson]

You're right on. Depending on govt is hopeless.

I'm thinking this:

1. Learn to become self-sufficient
2. Mentor one poor man and give him money on credit. Explain the terms clearly - create a situation where only his success will assure return of the money lent - that way, the mentorship is not compromised.
3. The poor man pays back the loaned money with (the nominal) interest - all of which was made out of what we taught him.
4. Once the profit and the good-nature of this micro-financing becomes evident, the poor man will naturally choose to do the same to another poor man.

But everytime I come up with any grand plan, I tell myself to first learn to become self-reliant and that means to know how to grow the food we need.

Right now, I'm dependent on a salary for food. I can't go on talking without becoming self-sufficient first :)

Self - guaranteed certification:

[anonymous]

The products sold in would not have to be certified according to international standards. it would be possible to introduce a “declaration model” where the compliance with the standard is guaranteed . The label could for example read “Organic production guaranteed by farmers group" ” or“ guaranteed by the association of organic-farmers”. It is believed that with a good marketing strategy such a trust based certification system could establish itself throughout India and might even have a competitive advantage over privately certified products due to the emphasis on social aspects and rural development that such a label would imply

Harish

WWOOF-India Coordinator

Re: Self - guaranteed certification:

[sunson]

Thanks for the comments, Harish. You have great points there. Local economies are the way to go and the power of the Word of the Mouth is indeed undeniable!