PROBLEMS AND CONSTRAINTS
It is quite natural
that a change in the system of agriculture in a country of more than a billion
people should be a well thought out process, which requires utmost care and
caution. There may be several impediments on the way. An understanding of these
problems and prospects will go a long way in decision making.
The most important
constraint felt in the progress of organic farming is the inability of the
government policy making level to take a firm decision to promote organic
agriculture. Unless such a clear and unambiguous direction is available in
terms of both financial and technical supports, from the Centre to the
Panchayath levels, mere regulation making will amount to nothing. The following
are found to be the major problem areas for the growth of organic farming in
the country:
Lack
of Awareness
It is a fact that many
farmers in the country have only vague ideas about organic farming and its
advantages as against the conventional farming methods. Use of bio-fertilizers
and bio pesticides requires awareness and willingness on the part of the
farming community. Knowledge about the availability and usefulness of
supplementary nutrients to enrich the soil is also vital to increase
productivity.
Farmers lack knowledge
of compost making using the modern techniques and also its application. The
maximum they do is making a pit and fill it with small quantities of wastes.
Often the pit is flooded with rainwater and result is the top of the compost
remains under composted the bottom becomes like a hard cake. Proper training to
the farmers will be necessary to make vermi-compost on the modern lines.
Attention on the application of composts/organic manure is also lacking. The
organic matter is spread during the months when the right moisture level is
absent on the soil. The whole manure turns into wastes in the process. The
required operation is of course labour intensive and costly, but it is
necessary to obtain the desired results.
Output
Marketing Problems
It is found that before
the beginning of the cultivation of organic crops, their marketability and that
too at a premium over the conventional produce has to be assured. Inability to
obtain a premium price, at least during the period required to achieve the
productivity levels of the conventional crop will be a setback. It was found
that the farmers of organic wheat in Rajasthan got lower prices than those of
the conventional wheat. The cost of marketing of both types of products was
also same and the buyers of wheat were not prepared to pay higher prices to the
organic variety.
Shortage of Bio-mass
Many experts and well
informed farmers are not sure whether all the nutrients with the required
quantities can be made available by the organic materials. Even if this problem
can be surmounted, they are of the view that the available organic matter is
not simply enough to meet the requirements.
The crop residues
useful to prepare vermi-compost are removed after harvest from the farms and
they are used as fodder and fuel. Even if some are left out on the farms
termites, etc destroy them. Experiments have shown that the crop residues
ploughed back into soil will increase productivity and a better alternative is
conversion into compost. The small and marginal cultivators have difficulties
in getting the organic manures compared to the chemical fertilizers, which can
be bought easily, of course if they have the financial ability. But they have
to either produce the organic manures by utilizing the bio-mass they have or
they have to be collected from the locality with a minimum effort and cost.
Increasing pressure of population and the disappearance of the common lands
including the wastes and government lands make the task difficult.
Inadequate Supporting
Infrastructure
In spite of the
adoption of the NPOP during 2000, the state governments are yet to formulate
policies and a credible mechanism to implement them. There are only four
agencies for accreditation and their expertise is limited to fruits and
vegetables, tea, coffee and spices. The certifying agencies are inadequate, the
recognized green markets are non-existent, the trade channels are yet to be
formed and the infrastructure facilities for verification leading to
certification of the farms are inadequate.
High
Input Costs
The small and marginal
farmers in India
have been practicing a sort of organic farming in the form of the traditional
farming system. They use local or own farm renewable resources and carry on the
agricultural practices in an ecologically friendly environment. However, now
the costs of the organic inputs are higher than those of industrially produced
chemical fertilizers and pesticides including other inputs used in the
conventional farming system. The groundnut cake, neem seed and cake,
vermi-compost, silt, cow dung, other manures, etc. applied as organic manure
are increasingly becoming costly making them unaffordable to the small
cultivators.
Marketing
Problems of Organic Inputs
Bio-fertilizers and
bio-pesticides are yet to become popular in the country. There is a lack of
marketing and distribution network for them because the retailers are not
interested to deal in these products, as the demand is low. The erratic
supplies and the low level of awareness of the cultivators also add to the
problem. Higher margins of profit for chemical fertilizers and pesticides for
retailing, heavy advertisement campaigns by the manufacturers and dealers are
other major problems affecting the markets for organic inputs in India.
Absence
of an Appropriate Agriculture Policy
Promotion of organic
agriculture both for export and domestic consumption, the requirements of food
security for millions of the poor, national self-sufficiency in food
production, product and input supplies, etc. are vital issues which will have
to be dealt with in an appropriate agriculture policy of India. These
are serious issues the solution for which hard and consistent efforts along
with a national consensus will be essential to go forward. Formulation of an
appropriate agriculture policy taking care of these complexities is essential
to promote organic agriculture in a big way.
Lack
of Financial Support
The developing
countries like India
have to design a plethora of national and regional standards in a tune with
those of the developed countries. The adoption and maintenance of such a
regulatory framework and its implementation will be costly.
The
cost of certification, a major component of which is the periodical inspections
carried out by the certifying agencies, which have freedom to fix the timings,
type and number of such inspections appears to be burdensome for the small and
marginal farmers. Of course, the fees charged by the international agencies
working in India
before the NPOP were prohibitive and that was a reason for the weak response to
organic agriculture even among the large farms in the country. No financial
support as being provided in advanced countries like Germany is available in India. Supports
for the marketing of the organic products are also not forthcoming neither from
the State nor from the Union governments. Even the financial assistance
extended to the conventional farming methods are absent for the promotion of
organic farming.
Low
Yields
In many cases the
farmers experience some loss in yields on discarding synthetic inputs on
conversion of their farming method from conventional to organic. Restoration of
full biological activity in terms of growth of beneficial insect populations,
nitrogen fixation from legumes, pest suppression and fertility problems will
take some time and the reduction in the yield rates is the result in the
interregnum. It may also be possible that it will take years to make organic
production possible on the farm.
Small and marginal
farmers cannot take the risk of low yields for the initial 2-3 years on the
conversion to organic farming. There are no schemes to compensate them during
the gestation period. The price premiums on the organic products will not be
much of help, as they will disappear once significant quantities of organic
farm products are made available.
Inability
to Meet the Export Demand
The demand for organic
products is high in the advanced countries of the west like USA, European
Union and Japan.
It is reported that the US
consumers are ready to pay a premium price of 60 to 100 per cent for the
organic products. The upper classes in India are also following this trend
as elsewhere. The market survey done by the International Trade Centre (ITC)
during 2000 indicates that the demand for organic products is growing rapidly
in many of the world markets while the supply is unable to match it.
India is known in the world
organic market as a tea supplier and there is a good potential to export
coffee, vegetables, sugar, herbs, spices and vanilla. In spite of the several
initiatives to produce and export organic produces from the country, the
aggregate production for export came to only about 14000 tonnes. This also
includes the production of organic spices in about 1000 ha under certification.
Some export houses like Good Value Marketing Ltd and Burmah Trading Corporation
are also engaged in exporting of organic fruits, vegetables and coffee from India. The
country could export almost 85 per cent of the production indicating that
demand is not a constraint in the international markets for organic products.
Vested
Interests
Hybrid seeds are
designed to respond to fertilizers and chemicals. The seed, fertilizer and
pesticide industry as also the importers of these inputs to the country have a
stake in the conventional farming. Their opposition to organic farming stems
from these interests.
Lack
of Quality Standards for Bio-manures
The need for fixing
standards and quality parameters for bio-fertilizers and bio-manures has arisen
with the increasing popularity of organic farming in the country. There are a
very large number of brands of organic manures, claiming the high levels of
natural nutrients and essential elements. But most farmers are not aware of the
pitfalls of using the commercially available bio-manure products. While the
concept of organic farming itself lays great stress on the manures produced on
the farm and the farmers' household, many of the branded products available in
the market may not be really organic. Elements of chemicals slipping into the
manures through faulty production methods could make the product not
certifiable as organic. The process of composting which is a major activity to
be carefully done is achieved usually by one of the two methods,
vermi-composting or microbe composting. While the former is ideal for
segregated waste material without foreign matter, microbe composting is
suitable for large scale management of solid wastes, especially in cities and
metros. Even though the farmers are using manure produced by different methods,
proper parameters for bio-manure are yet to be finalized. Most farmers are
still unaware of the difference between bio-manure and bio-fertilizer, it is
point out. While bio-manure contains organic matter, which improves the soil
quality, bio-fertilizers are nutritional additives separated from the organic material,
which could be added to the soil, much like taking vitamin pills.
Bio-fertilizers do nothing to enhance soil quality while the loss of soil
quality has been the major problem faced by farmers these days.
Improper
Accounting Method
An understanding of the
real costs of erosion of soil and human health, the loss of welfare of both
humans and other living things and the computation of these costs are necessary
to evaluate the benefits of organic farming. These costs will have to be
integrated to a plan for the implementation of organic agriculture. A recent
study shows the inappropriateness of the cost and return accounting methods
adopted to find out the economics of the organic farming. An economic
evaluation of the bad effects of inorganic agriculture and their
internalization through environmental taxes is proposed for a market based
approach to promote organic farming in India.
Political
and Social Factors
Agriculture in India is
subject to political interventions with the objectives of dispensing favours
for electoral benefits. Subsidies and other supports from both the Central and
state governments, government controlled prices of inputs like chemical
fertilizers, the public sector units' dominant role in the production of
fertilizers, government support/floor prices for many agricultural products,
supply of inputs like power and water either free of cost or at a subsidized
rate, etc. are the tools often used to achieve political objectives. Any
movement for the promotion of organic farming in India will have to counter
opposition from the sections who benefit from such policies in the conventional
farming system. The political system in a democracy like India is likely
to evade the formulation of policies, which affect the interests of the voting
blocks unless there are more powerful counter forces demanding changes.
In the absence of
alternative employment opportunities and other considerations, the organized
workforce particularly in the public sector fertilizer, pesticide and seed industries
is also likely to oppose moves on the part of the government to promote organic
farming on a large scale.