Listen to the Farmers

Indian Farmers (credit: indymedia.no

Two articles I recently read highlight the need to listen to and provide support to farmers in India, especially women farmers.

The first article was a short piece in the New York Times on the use of a potent pesticide called Endosulfan, often referred to as “DDT’s cousin.”  According to the Times, the chemical has been banned by many countries due to the dangers it posed to agricultural workers, “good” insects, and overall threat to wildlife and a healthy environment, yet only officially banned last week.

However, a 10-year exemption has been made for India, home of the Green Revolution, to phase out its use, because agriculture ministry officials fear a rise in prices.  They state there are no cheap alternatives. Perhaps it is time to look beyond cheap prices and consider the well-being of living things.  As I’ve mentioned before, women worldwide are keepers of seeds and protectors of biodiversity. It is a source that needs to be heard and respected.  I’m eagerly awaiting a report-back from the Women’s Earth Alliance, who just held a training for and by female Indian farmers in northern India working to protect food security and food diversity.  And others, most notably Vandana Shiva, have written about the work of India’s women farmers and their role in promoting organic alternatives.

I don’t think continued use of Endosulfan is worth the risk of deformed children, as has been reported in Kerala due to the use of this pesticide on cashew plantations.  The ministry is wrong; there are viable organic alternatives to pesticide use, just maybe not big money-making ones for industrial agriculture and chemical companies.

The second article is an homage to small farmers, giving credit to Himalayan farmers as a source for coping with climate change.  In a study by Britain’s Royal Society, the authors suggest that local knowledge may help climate and biodiversity researchers improve ways of tracking the impacts of global warming.  And they were surprised by how much people notice biodiversity loss in their regions.  The fact that they found it surprising surprised me. In my opinion, it makes sense that local knowledge trumps computer models.

We should continue using all the resources available to us, but not disregard local ways of doing things, as well as information passed down through generations.  This applies to those working the land all over the world – men and women, old and young.

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Sowing Seeds and Our Future

Dr. Vanaja Ramprasad, founder of the GREEN Foundation

Women’s Earth Alliance (WEA) is an inspiring organization that is hosting a training this week in India on solutions pertaining to women, food security, and climate change. WEA’s mission is to create innovative solutions to issues of water, food, and land through collaborative initiatives that train, connect, and empower emerging women leaders worldwide.  Currently I am doing some research support for the India program and want to excerpt a cross-post with WEA’s India Program Director, Rucha Chitnis, on what’s happening with women, farming, and biodiversity in India:

Let’s start from the very beginning.  And some might say that it all began with the seeds. 

Seed, a symbol of fertility and perpetuity, of culture and sustenance in India, is also becoming a symbol of self-reliance and a key to preserving the biodiversity of indigenous crops on small farms across the country.

In Southern India, GREEN Foundation, a community-based organization that works with small and marginalized farmers, including tribals and Dalits, in semi-arid regions of Karnataka, has immersed itself in this challenge of promoting the conservation of indigenous seeds among farmers since 1996.

During my visit to the Foundation, I learn that women farmers are in the center of their seed conservation efforts due to their roles as the primary seedkeepers in India.  The Foundation began its work with five women farmers and a handful of indigenous seeds. “When we began talking to the farmers, we realized that traditional varieties of seeds had almost disappeared. Without seeds what we were attempting to do would be a non-starter,” notes Dr. Ramprasad, founder and a seed conservationist. 

The Foundation believes that women farmers also hold the key to preserving the biodiversity of the crops and their knowledge systems of seed saving, mixed farming and natural farming are vast, which need to be documented and promoted.  Dr. Vanaja shares an example of an elderly woman farmer, who identified nearly 80 varieties of greens in her field, as well as their uses for medicinal and nutrition needs. “Her knowledge was phenomenal,” she says. “When it comes to food security, women play a key role in identifying food that is available. In lean seasons, they trek to the nearby forests, and they are able to identify roots and tubers for their food requirements and medicinal plants.”

This intimate knowledge of women, believes Dr. Ramprasad is often undermined by the scientific community and biotechnology companies who promote agro-technologies, which might not be appropriate for rural communities, and especially for the economically disadvantaged farmers. Dr. Ramprasad shares that some of the greens on the farms, which poor farmers in India subsist on during lean periods, might be considered as weeds by some agro-companies, which are eliminated by herbicides.

The rest of Rucha’s blog post may be read in full here.

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