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33ProOrganic-II

1ProOrganic-II

ProOrganic-II

Developing a Culture of SustainableConsumption and Lifestyle throughOrganic Production andConsumptionin the State of Rajasthan

DevelopingaCulture of SustainableConsumption and Lifestyle throughOrganic ProductionandConsumption in the Stateof Rajasthan

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ProOrganic-II

Developing a Culture of Sustainable Consumptionand Lifestyle through Organic Production andConsumption in the State of Rajasthan

Published by

D-217, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur 302016, IndiaTel: +91.141.2282821, Fax: +91.141.4015395, 2282485Email: [email protected], [email protected],Web site: www.cuts-international.org/cart

Supported by

© CUTS International, 2018

First published: February 2018

ISBN 978-81-8257-254-6

Printed in India by MS Printer, Jaipur

This document has been produced with the financial contribution bythe Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (SIDA)through the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC). Theviews herein shall not necessarily be taken to reflect the officialopinion of SSNC or its donors.

#1803

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Preface 5

1. AboutCUTS 71.1 Consumer Action, Research &Training 8

2. Project Overview 9

3. ResearchMethodology 11

4. Findings 134.1 Consumers� Perspective 134.2 Farmers� Perspective 194.3 Initiatives by the Government 27

5. Challenges and Recommendations 30

List of Figures

Figure 1: Awareness on Availability ofOrganic Products in the Market 15

Figure 2: Consumer Awareness onSustainable Consumption 15

Figure 3: Consumer BuyingOrganic Productsw.r.t. Monthly Expenditure 16

Figure 4: Reasons for not Buying OrganicProducts 17

Figure 5: District-wise Consumer Intereston Buying at Reasonable Price 17

Figure 6: Consumer Response on EasyAccessibility to Organic Products 17

Contents


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Figure 7: Reasons for Non-Availability ofOrganic Products 18

Figure 8: Suggestions for IncreasingConsumption of OrganicProducts 18

Figure 9: Quality Assessment ofOrganicProducts 19

Figure 10: Reasons for Considering OrganicProducts Better 19

Figure 11: District-wise Farmer Respondents 20Figure 12: Farmers� Perception for

Considering Organic Productsbeing Better 21

Figure 13: Awareness on Adverse Effects ofChemical-Based Farming w.r.tFarmer Category 21

Figure 14: Types of Inputs Used by Farmers 24Figure 15: Farmers Facing Difficulty in Selling

Organic Products 25Figure 16: Barriers in Adopting Organic

Farming 26Figure 17: Suggestions to Improve Organic

Farming 26

List of TablesTable 1: Geographical Outreach of

the Survey 12Table 2: Awareness Issues and Levels 14

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�Developing aCulture of SustainableConsumptionand Lifestyle through Organic Production andConsumption in the State of Rajasthan� or�ProOrganic� is a project supported by SwedishSociety for Nature Conservation (SSNC) andimplemented byCUTS Centre for Consumer ActionResearch& Training (CUTSCART) inmultiple phases.The first phase of four years (2013-17) covered 102gram panchayats in six districts of Rajasthan. Thesecond phase popularly known as �ProOrganic-II(2017-2021)� hasbeenextended to fourmoredistrictsof Rajasthan, making it a total of 10 districtscovering 192 gram panchayats.

This report is the compilation of findings of baselinesurvey conducted under the �ProOrganic-II� in 10districts to understand the behaviour of bothconsumers and producers in relation to organicproducts and built the way forward accordingly.CUTS International is dedicated toachieve thegoalof easy availability and accessibility of organicproducts without affecting the livelihoods andlifestyles of people.

In this regard, we take this opportunity to expressour sincere thanks to SSNC for its valuablepartnership to take the objectives forward sincemore than half a decade now and provide theirunrelenting support.

Preface

George CheriyanDirectorCUTS International


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We are very thankful to Partners-in-Development(PiD), a Rajasthan-based research anddevelopment organisation that dedicatedlyconducted the survey and helped the CUTS CARTteam to come out with the findings listed in thereport.

We are also very thankful to all the civil societypartners in each of the targeted districts for theirimmense support andcooperation. This study couldnot have been substantial without the support ofagencies like Department of Agriculture, RajasthanGovernment; Agricultural Universities of Jobner,Jodhpur, and Kota; Home Science Department,Rajasthan University; State Institute of AgricultureManagement (SIAM); Central Arid Zone ResearchInstitute (CAZRI); Krishi Vigyan Kendra in variousdistricts; and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs)working on issues related to organic agriculture.

In the end, we would like to thank and express oursincere gratitude to all those outside and withinthe organisation, especially to the �ProOrganic-II�team of my colleagues including Deepak Saxena,DharmendraChaturvedi, Rajdeep Pareek, NimishaGaur and Aakansha Choudhary without whom,anchoring of �ProOrganic-II� would not have beenpossible.

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Established in 1983 as a voice of thepoor to express their developmentalneeds andaspirations, Consumer Unity& Trust Society (CUTS International) is aleading Southern voice and face ofconsumer empowerment through itsRight-Basedapproachandactivities forinfluencing the process and content ofinclusive growth and development.From Consumer Protection work inIndia it has expanded its scope andinterventions to subjects, such asGoodGovernanceandSocialAccountability;Trade and Development; andEconomic and Business Regulationsincluding Competition, Investmentand Corporate Governance andHuman Development.The organisations� vision is

�Consumer Sovereignty�. It includespolicy research and evidence-basedadvocacy for policy and practicechanges to bridge the gaps betweenthe core and periphery, and betweenstate and non-state actors.CUTS is headquartered in Jaipur,

with its three ProgrammeCentres, andthree Resource Centres in New Delhi,Chittorgarh and Calcutta (nowKolkata). Thegeographyextends to fiveoverseas centres in Lusaka, Zambia;Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; Hanoi,Vietnam and in Geneva, Switzerland.The organisation has established itsrelevance and impact in thepolicymaking circles and among thelarger global developmentcommunity.

About CUTS1


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Consumer Action, Research & TrainingCUTSCentre forConsumerAction, Research&Training (CUTSCART)was established in 1996 to continue to contribute towardsattaining its inherited agenda of Consumer Protection andEducation. The Centre spearheaded several campaigns andpioneered consumer movement.

Programme Areas

MISSION�To enable consumers, particularly the poor andthe marginalised to achieve their right to basicneeds, sustainable development and goodgovernance through strong consumer movement�.

Consumer Empowerment

GoodGovernance

Sustainable Development

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India is mainly an agriculturalcountry, where around 58 percentof the nations� population dependon agriculture for livelihood. Thereis huge untapped potential oforganic farming in India. Organicfarming emerged as an alternativefor meeting increasing fooddemand, maintaining soil fertilityandenhancing soil carbonpool. Thepromotion of organic consumptionis directly related to consumer�sright to healthy environment invarious ways.Use of harmful pesticides and

chemicals in agriculture is one ofthe major causes of environmentaldegradation, and this is also not

Project Overview2

GeographicalCoverageThe target group of theproject is entirepopulation of thecovered 10 Districts, 96blocks and selected192 gram panchayatsin the State ofRajasthan


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good for humanhealth. The chemicals in foodproducts adverselyaffect reproduction in females. Moreover, Indian society beinglargely patriarchal where needs of women are not prioritised sosuch women are prone to chemical contaminations in food.Hence, adoption of organic consumption will benefit women,especially girls.With the support from SSNC, CUTS is implementing a Project

�Developing a Culture of Sustainable Consumption and Lifestylethrough Organic Production and Consumption in the State ofRajasthan (ProOrganic-II)� fromApril 01, 2017 toMarch 31, 2021 in192 gram panchayats (GPs) of 10 selected districts of Rajasthan(India). The main objective of the project is to fill the identifiedgaps and sustain the acquiredmomentum to achieve expectedoutcomes of better eco-system through promotion of organicconsumption.One of the basic thoughts of the project is that promoting

sustainable consumption and production are important aspectsof sustainable lifestyle, which are largely consistent withenvironmental and social factors, education and empowermentof consumers. In this project, focus is on the aspect of sustainablefood and farming and formulating an agenda to achieve itthrough promoting organic production of farm products on onehand, and promoting organic consumption, on the other.The target group of the project is entire population of the

covered 10 Districts, 96 blocks and selected 192 GPs in the Stateof Rajasthan. Creating a sustainable lifestyle takes a lifelongcommitment and always requires reducing use of the non-renewable natural resources andpersonal resources at individualand societal level.Promoting sustainable consumption requires improved

understanding and sensitisation of consumer behaviour andattitudes as per their different needs to turn the positive butpassive view of sustainable consumption into an active one. Therationale behind promoting organic food production is that it isa method more in harmony with the environment and localecosystems.

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Research Methodology3The report is based on both quantitativeas well as qualitative methods of datacollection. The quantitative survey hasbeen carried using StructuredQuestionnaire for consumers andfarmers, and to supplement the same,qualitative interviews using Semi-Structured Questionnaire wasconducted with other stakeholders,such as policymakers, concernedgovernment agencies, subject experts,other organisations and institutesworking on organic production andconsumption issues.There are total 96 blocks in the 10

selecteddistricts having total 3185GramPanchayats (GPs). For thepurposeof theproject, only two GPs from each blockhave been selected. Hence, a total of192 GPs were covered under the study.Around 2439 respondents including 644farmers and 1795 consumers wereinterviewed during the course ofquantitative survey.Trainings for survey teams were

conducted at four places to briefsurveyors, supervisors and fieldmanageron survey objective, survey tools,sampling design and expected dataquality. This was to ensure that all teammembers have a shared understandingof the study. Post training Field Testingand De-briefing sessions wereconducted at two locations. For fieldwork quality control and monitoring ofdata collection, rigorous field visits wereheld in all the field locations.

QuantitativeSurvey� Consumers� Farmers/Producers

QualitativeSurvey� Policymakers/officials fromconcernedgovernmentagencies

� Subject experts� Organisations/Institutes workingon organicfarming andconsumptionissues


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Geographical coverage of the surveyDistrict Blocks Farmers Consumers Total

Covered Surveyed Surveyed

Jaipur 7 89 251 340

Dausa 3 37 109 146

Kota 3 40 110 150

Chittorgarh 6 82 215 297

Pratapgarh 3 35 114 149

Udaipur 5 66 183 249

Bhilwara 6 80 219 299

Jhalawar 4 55 147 202

Sawai Madhopur 3 39 113 152

Jodhpur 8 121 334 455

Total 48 644 1795 2439

Table 1

The data collected was disaggregated and analysed onvarious parameters to adopt a holistic approach to evaluatethe findings. The parameters taken into consideration were:� Geography (district-wise)� Gender� Age� Education� Income� Employment

The findings have been cross-analysed on the aboveparameters and relevant relations have been highlighted infollowing sections.

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Findings4It is important to understand theconsumer behaviour before getting theproduct in the market. There were 1795consumer interviews out of the total 2439interviews conducted in targeted 10districts of Rajasthan.Consumers drive thedemand side of the two-way demandand supply chain to push for organicproducts. Some of the interesting findingsout of the survey are highlighted here.Out of the total consumer respondents,

more than 70 percent were reported tospend between one to five thousand permonth on food and vegetablesamounting to amajor portion of averagemonthly income of a rural household inIndia.The consumer behaviour was

captured through various dimensionsgiven as below:� Awareness Levels� Availability and Accessibility ofOrganic Products

� Quality Assessment of OrganicProducts

Awareness LevelThe ill-effects of use of excess chemicalfertil isers and pesticides in foodproduction and the advantages of usingorganic products is not a hiddenperspective for consumers, but theavailability and use of organic productsis where the work needs to be done. Thebaseline survey brought to notice the lowawareness level of consumerswhenasked

4.1 Consumers�Perspective


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about availability of organic products in market, specific storesselling these products, concept of kitchen gardens using vermincompost prepared using kitchen waste and concept ofSustainable Consumption, as a whole. Some of the findings onawareness levels of consumers are listed below, which to someextent highlight the gaps to be taken care of while promotingSustainable Production and Consumption in Rajasthan.In the survey, more than 85 percent of consumers were aware

of harmful effects of chemical input based products, but when itcomes to using organic products only 39 percent of peopleaffirmed to the use of these products whilemore than 60 percentof population had never purchased organic products. This raisesan important question of what is prohibiting the consumers toswitch to organic products or forcing them to use chemical inputbased products. Though, when analysed by age of respondents,the younger generation was found to be more aware aboutavailability of organic products but overall just about 41 percentof respondents were aware of availability of organic products inmarkets (Figure 1).As an alternative to organic products from the market, 33

percent of theconsumers respondents reportedawareness aboutkitchen gardens. When the concept was explained to people,

Table 2

Awareness Issues and LevelsApproximate

Awareness Levels (%)

More than 85

85

41

33

33

15

Issue of Awareness

Harmful effects of chemical input-based products irrespective ofeducation levels

Existence of organic products

Availability of these products in themarket

Specific shops selling organicproducts

Concept of kitchen gardens

Sustainable Consumption

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64 percent of the consumers showed interested in adoptingkitchen garden for self-consumption. Another interesting pointcame to light that mostly people retired from work or engagedin household activities showed more interested in the conceptand adoption of kitchen gardens.It came as a surprise that though people consider organic

products as environment friendly and are aware about theirbenefits for healthy lives, but when specific term of �SustainableConsumption� was put forward for views, only 15 percentresponded positively on awareness about the same (Figure 2).

Figure 1

Awareness onAvailability ofOrganic Productsin the Market

Figure 2

Consumer Awareness on Sustainable Consumption


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Availability and Accessibility of Organic ProductsIt was noticed that only 41 percent of respondents were awareof availability of organic products in market and just 31 percentknewabout specific shops selling such products, which highlightslack of both awareness and availability of organic products inmarkets.Use of organic productswhenanalysedwith incomeof people

showed a direct relation. When the average monthly expensesonconsumables increasesbeyond INR10,000/month,morepeoplebought organic products (Figure 3).

In another response recorded,more thanhalf of thecustomersalso responded to have paid more for organic products whichalso is one of the main reasons for not buying organic productsregularly (Figure 4). If the organic products are available atreasonable prices, majority of the consumers showed interest inswitching toOrganic Products (Figure 5). Though, consumers fromall income categories showed interest in Organic Products butmost of the consumers with average monthly income aboveINR10,000 were ready to purchase these products.Oneofmain objectives of this researchwas also to understand

if organic products are easily accessible to consumers. More than65 percent of the consumers raised issue of not able to findrequired organic products in the market implying that theseproducts still have a long way to go to mark their presence inmarket. Comparatively, districts of Sawai Madhopur (44.2

Figure 3

Consumer Buying Organic Products w.r.t Monthly Expenditure

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Figure 4

Reasons for notBuying OrganicProducts

Figure 5

District-wise Consumer Interest on Purchasing at Reasonable Price

Figure 6

Consumer Response on Easy Accessibility to Organic Products


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percent), Kota (41.8percent)andJodhpur (38.6percent) recordedbetter condition when asked about accessibility (Figure 6).When inquired about the reasons for Non-availability,

consumers themselves accepted that low demand and lowconsumer awareness were major factors behind it (Figure 7).Consumers were also asked about what they think will increasethe consumption of organic products, and the most prominentanswer was to increase the production of organic products byincreasing the awareness of farmers on the topic andsimultaneously increase awareness of community (Figure 8).

Quality Assessment of Organic ProductsMore than half of the consumers sourced their products fromlocal vendors and just 5 percent approached farmers directly.When asked about satisfaction with quality of products, about90percent consumers have responded satisfaction toeither greatextent or to some extent. An interesting finding of the researchwas, though, 85 percent of the consumers want Certification tobe made mandatory for organic products, but the words of theseller act as major trust factor behind purchase of organicproducts at present and only about 16 percent of consumerslooked for certification sign on the packet while buying organicproducts (Figure 9).

Figure 7

Reasons forNon-Availabilityof OrganicProducts

Figure 8

Suggestions forIncreasingConsumptionof OrganicProducts

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Figure 9

QualityAssessment ofOrganicProducts

Figure 10

Reasons forConsideringOrganicProducts Better

4.2 Farmers�Perspective

As a counterpart to responses byConsumers who buy and use OrganicProducts, responses of farmers involved inproduction activitieswere recorded. It wasan attempt to get the views andsuggestion from both demand andproduction side of the products, tounderstand the gaps and challenges forpromotion of organic products and framerecommendations accommodating viewsfrom main stakeholders.About 644 farmers were interviewed in

10 selected districts (Figure 11) and theirresponses analysed to put forward someof the relevant findings.Out of the total farmers interviewed,

nearly 65 percent practicedagriculture ontheir own land while 18 percent workedas farm labourers and remaining around


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17 percent worked both on their own land andas farm labourers.More than 75 percent of the respondents had monthly incomebetween INR1000-5000, depicting the disheartening state ofagriculture economy in the state.To understand the farmers perspective, again the responses

were divided into three categories:1. Awareness RegardingOrganic Production2. Inputs being used in Agricultural Production3. Support they are receiving for Organic Farming

Awareness LevelsSimilar to consumer responses, majority of farmers(>90 percent)are also aware about adverse effects of chemical farming usingchemical-based inputs and are of the view that organic food ismuch healthier and nutritional (Figure 12). Though, farmers of allcategories small, medium and large were aware of adverseeffects of chemical but slight differencewas noticedwhere large1farmers showed least awareness amongst three (Figure 13). Thismight be due to commercialisation of agriculture whereproduction and profits top the priority list.

1 Small- Less than 1 Ha; Medium- 1- 2.5 ha and Large- More than 2.5 ha

Figure 11

District-wise Farmer Respondents

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Community Seed BankCommunity Seed Banks fulfils diverse purposes ofsustainable agriculture for small and marginalfarmers. These seed banks serve as focal point inmaintaining indigenous genetic diversity on farminvolving farmers� community. The local farmersform an informal seed distribution system prevailingin villages since ancient time at no or very low cost.Community participation in maintaining localgenetic diversity provides pride to farmers andsense of belonging for local landraces. This system isrun, maintained and promoted by farmers tofacilitate good quality seeds and input2.

Figure 12

Farmers�Perception forConsideringOrganicProducts beingbetter

Figure 13

Awareness on Adverse Effects of Chemical-Based Farming w.r.t Farmer Category

2 Malik, S. K., Singh,P. B., Singh, A.,Verma, A., Ameta,N., & Bisht, I. S.(2013).Community seedbanks: operationand scientificmanagement.National Bureauof Plant GeneticResources, NewDelhi, 64.


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When the specifics related to organic farming were asked tothe farmers, there was more unawareness about the practiceand related initiatives. Around 60 percent of the farmers showedawareness about other farmers adopting Organic Farming, butstill a large group of 40 percent were unaware of the adoptionof practice by others. Therewaswidespread unawareness aboutthe concept of community seed bank as only 28 percentrespondents stated that they were aware about the conceptand just 18 percent affirmed the presence of any seed bank intheir village.Farmers� Club is another dark area in Agriculture sector for

farmers. Only around 28 percent of farmers were found to beaware about the Farmer Club without membership and just 12percent of farmers affirmed their membership. Rest 61 percent ofthe farmers were unaware about the existence of any farmersclub in their villages.

Farmer�s ClubIt is an organised structure or group of farmers who areproducing same crop or working on same agriculturepractice like dairy farming, horticultural crops, andprocessing units. National Bank for Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (NABARD) is encouraging banks topromote farmers� clubs with its support and financialassistance for the mutual benefit of the banks andfarmers. These clubs would coordinate with banks toensure credit flow among its members and forge betterbank-borrower relationship, conduct extensionprogrammes, liaison with input suppliers to purchasebulk inputs on behalf of members, and organise jointactivities like value addition, processing and collectivefarm produce marketing for the benefit of members.

Source: The Hans India. (2016). NABARD promotes farmers clubs in a big way..[online] Available at: http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Andhra-Pradesh/2016-07-24/NABARD-promotes-farmers-clubs-in-a-big-way/244409[Accessed 14 Feb. 2018].

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Though farmerswereawareabout ill-effects of chemical inputsin food cycle and positives of using natural organic products,the concept of Sustainable Farming and Consumption was notvery popular amongst them. In fact, most of the farmers wereignorant about the concept similar to the case with consumers.This shows lack of awareness about the concept SustainableDevelopment, which is considered a buzz word of present times.

Inputs Used in Agricultural ProductionWhile understanding the dominance of chemical inputs inagriculture of Rajasthan, it was found the out of the total farmersinterviewed just about 19 percent percent were using solelyorganic inputs. The presence of 121 farmers out of 641 farmerspracticing agricultural using just organic inputs shows their strongfaith in organic farming but at the same time around 25 percentsaid they rely on chemical inputs and 55.5 percent said they useboth organic and chemical inputs.The result portrayed that around80percent of the famers partly

or solely dependedonchemical inputs for their production,whichis a disheartening picture (Figure 14). The major reasons cited forthis dependence were more production and less cost of thesechemical inputs.The use of chemical inputs is undeniable, but therewere about

46 percent farmers who said they were involved in organicfarming in some way or the other. This can be their small

Vermi CompostVermi compost or Worm Compost) the process ofusing earthworms to breakdown kitchen andgarden waste to create a faster than normalcomposting. As compared to ordinary soil, theearthworm castings (the material produced fromthe digestive tracts of worms) contain five timesmore nitrogen, seven times more phosphorus and11 times more potassium.

Source: wikipedia (2018). VermicompostAvailable at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermicompost


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production for self-consumption or to supply to a niche categoryof customers as also accepted by 60 percent of respondents.Farmers in district of Dausa showed highest acceptance (nearly68 percent) to involvement in organic farming while Udaipurdistrict had least involvement (about 33 percent).An important aspect to analyse was if more production and

cost of inputs was main reasons for adopting chemicals, howthe farmers who practice organic farming were able to sustain.It was found out that more than half of the farmers involved inorganic farming had installed vermin-compost unit and most ofthese farmers belonged to small andmarginal category despiteof the fact most of them did not avail any grants offered byGovernment and invested on their own.Moreover, 80percent of them said they used theorganic inputs

prepared on their farms but farmers who bought these organicinputs frommarket reported the price of organic inputs inmarketwas higher when compared to chemical inputs.

This raises an important concern about higher pricesof both organic products available in markets asresponded by consumers and organic inputs usedin production as per farmers.

Another important concern of farmers is with the quality ofthese organic produce. When asked about the satisfaction withquality of produce to farmers involved in organic farming, almost70 percent said they were satisfied with the quality to great orsome extent which breaks the normal myth about low quality oforganic produce.

Figure 14

Types ofInputs Usedby Farmers

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PromotingOrganic FarmingApart from self-motivation to practice organic farming either forself-consumption or for selling in the market, another force thatcan drive the farmers to adopt organic farming is the supportand incentives from thegovernmentandother agencies. Differentstates in India are taking different initiatives to promote organicagriculture, so this section aims to understand the ground realtiesof impact of such initiatives in Rajasthan.During the survey, more than half of the farmers involved in

Organic Farming reported of not receiving any support in termsof seeds, insecticides, training, subsidies or counselling whichdepicts lack of outreach from the side of government toencourage people to avail the support.Amongst the people who availed the support voted NABARD

andNational HorticultureMission as amajor source and the StateGovernment received least votes, though,majority of themweresatisfied with the extent of support received.A very important point that came to light was unawareness

about organic certification process as out of total farmerrespondents only 15 percent farmers in ten districts were awareabout the process. More than half (56.1 percent) farmerrespondents indicated that they faced difficulty in selling theirorganic produce (Figure 15).

Figure 15

Farmers Facing Difficulty in Selling Organic Products


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More than two-third farmers (68.9 percent) respondedindicating that theywere not getting higher price for their organicproduce and main reasons cited were lack of consumerawareness about organic products, low demand for theseproducts and consumers prefer normal products which arecheaper in comparison to organic products.Farmers also listed some of the barriers that come in the way

of adopting organic farming (Figure 16). Twomajor reasons citedwere long cycle to three years to convert to organic field freefromchemicals and it was difficult to covert entire field for organicfarming for practical reasons. But at the same time, more than90 percent of farmers from all districts who were not engagedwith organic farming expressed their willingness to adopt organicfarming if proper required support is provided and suggestedsteps to be taken to promote organic farmers (Figure 17).

Figure 16

Barriers inAdoptingOrganicFarming

Figure 17

Suggestionsto ImproveOrganicFarming

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Organic farming and consumption isemerging as one of the importantpolicy aspects in government planningand interventions. However, there is stilla lot to do be done as it is evidentthat organic farming andconsumption is still not reflected inimportant programmes, trainings andschemes, such as State Institute ofAgriculture Management (SIAM),RajasthanAgricultural CompetivenessProject (RACP) andMPOWER.

1. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana(PKVY) is being implemented inselected districts to promoteorganic farming. Main activitiesunder the scheme are farmers�training/demonstrations in theirfields and providing themassistance to initiate new

4.3 Initiatives bytheGovernment


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technologies developed by agricultural scientists andresearchers.Organic fairs havealsobeenproposed in thePKVYscheme. Besides, PKVY, Chief Minister�s Organic BlockDevelopment Scheme is also being implemented in selectedblocks of some districts.

2. Rajasthan State Seed and Organic Production CertificationAgency (RSSOPCA) established by the Government ofRajasthan. Rajasthan Organic Certification Agency (ROCA)has been set up under RSSOPCA. The agency is the authorisedagent of the Government to provide certification andassistance for organic products. Rajasthan SeedCertificationAgency is ensuring certification and conducting research ofseeds and organising awareness camps for certification oforganic seeds in consultation with various line departments.

3. NABARD is providing support to organic farmers in a numberof ways. The most significant one is for preparing vermin pits.Banks areproviding rural financeandcredit to Self-helpGroups(SHGs) and farmers in various districts for preparationof organicinputs and other agricultural activities.

4. Mitigating Poverty in Western Rajasthan (MPOWER) projectendeavours to enhance current agricultural practices,integrated farming, buy back the produce and providingvermin compost for organic farming However, there is nospecific constituent for organic farming included the project.

5. SIAMconducts trainings for officials of agricultural department.Farmers� trainings are being provided by the two trainingcentres established in Kota and Tonk districts.

6. In Rajasthan, newOrganic Policy has beenannouncedby thestate government in the year 2017. There are various provisionsmade under the Policy. Now onwards it is assumed that theGovernment agencies will initiate new schemes andprogrammes in the existing ones specifically targeted forpromoting organic farming.

7. FSSAI has released Food Safety & Standards (Organic Food)Regulations, 2017 to ensure genuineness of food products

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labelled as organic. Also, FSSAI APEDA(under Ministry of Commerce & Industry)and PGS � India (under Minisitry ofAgriculture and Farmer Welfare) hasdesigned IndianOrganic IntegrityDatabase Portal as single point ofreference for accessing information onorganic foods and a unified logo of �JaivikBharat�.

Apart from above mentioned government initiatives, thereare someother agencies like Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), CentralArid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Agriculture Universities inRajasthan and CSOs dedicating their time and efforts to shift thefocus of government, farmers and consumers towards organicconsumption and production.KVKs are organising awareness and training programmes for

reducing and controlling adverse effects of use of chemicals infarming and for promoting production of organic products.Besides, theyarealsocontributing indevelopmentandmonitoringof farmers� groups and model panchayats. One of the mainfunctions of KVKs is shifting of technology. KVKs are organisingField Level Demonstrations (FLDs) and extension activities. KVKsalong with some non-government agencies are guiding farmersto look at and closely observe soil and insecticide regularly andinforming the concerned departments for intervention.CAZRI is a Jodhpur-based premier institute working on

agriculture issues. Certified organic farms have been developedin CAZRI and other institutes as well. Package of Practices (PoP)has been developed by scientists for few organic crops, while itis currently in progress for other crops.


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The aim of baseline survey was tounderstand the ground realties,challenges andgaps in promotion andadoption of organic production andconsumption in the state of Rajasthanand adopt the targeted action planthereafter. The government has takenmany initiatives at its level in the formof Policy and Schemes but the limiteduse and reach of these to targetedbeneficiaries remains a challenge. Theconversion of fields soaked in chemicalinputs since decades toaccommodate organic agricultureneed time and support at all levels.The long cycle of three years for

conversion gives goose bumps tofarmers whose livelihood depends ontheir land. This is where the first supportpillar is to be built by providing supportin the form of incentives to switch toorganic farming along with easyavailability of inputs, expert training,guidance and priority remunerativeprices of products out of these fields isto be promised.Initially, farmers get less production

which shall increase with time, but tocompensate for initial loses somemeasuresare tobe taken. Farmers havecomplained about the problems ofavailability and marketing of organicinput materials in the market whichforms another major roadblock toorganic farming.

Challenges andRecommendations

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Challenges� Land conversionrequires threeyears; Lowproduction ininitial years

� Lack of organicinputs in localmarkets

� High Prices� Lack of Market� Less Awareness &Demand

� Absence ofknowledge forpreparation oforganic inputs

� Export orientedApproach & Lackof GovernmentSupport to promotedomesticconsumption

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For both consumers and farmers, inputs like vermin compostare comparatively expensive and cannot be accessed easily inlocal markets. Though, subsidies for installing vermin compostmachines in fields are available, but for farmers who are notable to invest time in self-manufacturing of inputs, marketavailability at reasonable prices shall be insured.No premium price and lack of market for organic products

demotivates farmers. Lack of availability of organic seeds,fertilisers, pesticides, fungicides, Packageof Practices or literature,marketingplatformsandprovisionofMinimumSupport Price (MSP)shall be taken care of responsibly.Lack of awareness has emergedasmajor challenge fromboth

consumer and farmers side. The government should take upvigorous initiatives to advertise and publicise related schemes,especially in remoteareas and shouldalsoprovide safemarketingfacilities to farmers. At the same time, awareness generation topromote organic products amongst consumers shall also betaken on priority to generate demand of these products.To promote organic farming, the government has initiated

PKVY in 2015-16, but even after passing of one year the scheme isnot yet fully implemented. The stakeholders have also raisedconcern about lack of coordination among various departmentslike Watershed, Agriculture, and Seed Certification along withNon-government Organisations (NGOs), NABARD and KVK.Government should focus on speedy initiation andimplementation of such schemes by filling in the governancelacunas.Role of CSOs in promoting organic way of life in Rajasthan

cannot be undermined. The government should work hand-in-hand in local CSOs. Many of the local NGOs are dedicatedlyworking to promote Organic production and consumption inthe state. They are assisting farmers in getting subsidised loan formaking vermin compost pits through NABARD assistance andproviding them training to self-manufacture organic inputs onfield and consumers to develop kitchen gardens.Unavailability of market for farmers as well as consumers, lack

of interest among farmers and absence of knowledge forpreparation of organic inputs needs focussedattention. Absenceof organic inputs for farmers, lack of willingness to put hard labourand confusion prevailing among farmers related to organicproduction needs to beaddressed. At present, there is no specific


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process adopted tomanufacture herbal spray, vermin compost,nadeb compost, jivaamrit, etc. The government should takeserious initiatives for extension of organic input making processto do mass level awareness and capacity building of farmers.Animal Husbandry is one area which has long been ignored

and neglected in relation to organic farming. The governmentshould work to promote Animal Husbandry hand-in-hand withorganic farming to get better outputs. Thoughpromoting organicproduction and consumption is taken into consideration, thereis a need of counter measures to put a control on subsidy onchemical-based inputs in order to reduce their consumption andbring their cost at par with the organic inputs.In India, the Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export

Development Authority (APEDA) is under Department ofCommerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. APEDAdeveloped regulations for export of organic products known asNational ProgrammeofOrganic Production in 2000. The initiativesby Government shows export oriented commercial approachwhich needs a rectification to give equal importance topromotion for domestic consumption. In contrast to this, theParticipatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India) introducedby Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer�s Welfare works accordingto APEDA regulations. In order to promote organic productionas well as consumption, the government need tomake targetedefforts to extend the present export oriented approach todomesticmarket by forminganAPEDA like agency butwith focuson promoting organic products in domestic market.The baseline survey brought to light many important facts,

information, gaps and challenges which will be taken up duringimplementation of �ProOrganic-II� from 2017-21. CUTS inpartnership with SSNC has taken up this challenge to bring thechange in organic scenario of the state in coming years throughdedicated and focussed activities with plan of action and weshall see the improvement in endline survey of 2021.

ProOrganic Book - One Planet Network · 1.1 Consumer Action, Research & Training 8 2. Project...

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