Indian state Sikkim banned pesticides and...
People’s health is restored; tourism, wildlife flourishes
The tiny Indian state of Sikkim has launched a radical experiment to phase out pesticides on every farm in the state, a move without precedent in India.
Fifteen years on, the switch to all-organic has health benefits for Sikkimese, who are getting more nutritious food, and has rejuvenated the health of its soil and wildlife and dwindling bee populations.
The state’s move to allorganic also has been a boon to its tourist industry, with a growing market for eco-tours and farm vacations. The Lonely Planet travel guide named it the world’s top destination in 2014, and the number of foreign visitors has more than doubled since 2011. As a consequence, tourism is a growing force behind the state’s gross domestic product, rising from 5 to nearly 8 per cent by 2016-2017.
thousand is Sikkim’s estimated population
Fifteen years ago, the tiny Indian state of Sikkim launched a radical experiment: Its leaders decided to phase out pesticides on every farm in the state, a move without precedent in India — and probably the world.
The change was especially significant for India, a country whose progress in agriculture was defined by the introduction of fertilisers and pesticides that rapidly boosted food production across the country, staving off famine and reducing the country’s reliance on foreign aid.
But with the indiscriminate use of pesticides came a spike in cancer rates in industrial farming areas. Rivers became polluted, and soil infertile. Sikkim’s leaders say they were driven to go all-organic by those concerns and because pesticide residue — including from some chemicals banned in other countries — was tainting fish, vegetables and rice.
Paying dividends
The cloud-wreathed Himalayan state is starting to see the dividends. Overall health has increased in the state, leaders say, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has embraced Sikkim and organic farming throughout India, pouring about $119 million (Dh437 million) to support organic farmers nationwide. In the years since the shift to organic, Sikkim has outlawed pesticides and chemical fertilisers, aided farmers in certifying about 76,890 hectares of farmland as organic and on April 1 banned the import of many non-organic vegetables from other states. The transition has not been always easy: Some farmers have complained that their crop yields have decreased.
The small state’s organic hectares constitute just a sliver of India’s 2.2 million hectares of chemical-free farmland, which itself is a fraction of India’s nearly The tiny northeastern state of Sikkim has gradually rolled out organic farming across the state since 2003, an initiative led by its Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling. Winning a fifth term in 2014 allowed Chamling to oversee the organic project from start to finish. 160 million hectares of agricultural land. (The United States also has about 2 million hectares of organic farmland.)
Demand for organic food is high in India and growing fast. Concern about pesticides and desire for chemical-free food are fuelling market growth that is rising 25 per cent a year, more than the 16 per cent globally, according to a recent study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India. The market for organic products is about $600 million (Dh2.2 billion) now and could top $1 billion in the coming years, the study said.
“This is a big moment for India,” said Radha Mohan Singh, the country’s minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare.
In a tent in a mountain town one recent day, Sikkim’s chief minister, Pawan Kumar Chamling, exhorted 300 or so constituents in the audience to embrace the eco-friendly lifestyle.
“The approach Sikkim has started will be adopted by the whole world tomorrow,” he said, in a speech that stretched hours. “This is our vision!”
Chamling, 67, has been the principal driver of Sikkim’s move to go all-organic since his state legislature set up the programme in 2003. “When we decided to go into organic farming in Sikkim, we faced so many challenges,” he said. “Agriculturists or cultivators had no idea what organic farming is, so education was our first priority. Slowly, people began to understand and supported us.”
But the executive order in March to ban the import of inorganic produce from neighbouring states threw the state into turmoil, with prices of cabbage tripling in the markets, traders in revolt and the opposition party marching in protest.
Chamling dismissed these most recent events as “teething problems” and said he was confident the chaos would sort itself out. The state government is introducing seasonal price caps on organic vegetables for consumers to keep prices affordable.
There was no blueprint five for
PAKISTAN NEPAL BANGLADESH Bengaluru SRI LANKA change when Chamling began his efforts to preserve Sikkim’s fragile ecosystem.
India has just begun formulating its policies for organic farming after its “Green Revolution,” during which the country adopted modern farming methods of high-yield seeds, chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
Ban on plasticware
To encourage farmers to make the switch to organic, Sikkim tapered off its supply of chemical pesticides and fertilisers — making their use a criminal offence in 2014 — launched education programmes, and installed thousands of composting pits. By 2016, 75,000 hectares of cultivable land had been certified organic. The state has also banned the use of plasticware. Roadside snack stalls use plates fashioned from leaves.
In April, state officials opened two markets where farmers can sell their products directly to consumers and have added more than two dozen transport vehicles help them move their goods ■
market for organic products, according to a study in India
to markets more easily.
Officials say that the switch to all-organic has health benefits for Sikkimese, who are getting more nutritious food, and has rejuvenated the health of its soil as well as wildlife and dwindling bee populations. The country’s yield of large cardamom — dependent upon cross-pollination from bees — has increased more than 30 per cent since 2014.
The country’s move to allorganic also has been a boon to its tourist industry, with a growing market for eco-tours and farm vacations. The Lonely Planet travel guide named it the world’s top destination in 2014, and the number of foreign visitors has more than doubled since 2011, the state’s tourism department says. As a result, tourism is a growing force behind the state’s GDP, rising from 5 to nearly 8 per cent by 2016-2017.
“It’s had a huge impact,” said Khorlo Bhutia, Sikkim’s secretary of horticulture and cash crop development.
hectares of farmland in Sikkim has been certified as organic