In the wake of the chemicalisation and commercialisation of agriculture in India, there is a severe farmer and food crisis. Several farmer and civil society organisations, and some government initiatives, are trying new paradigms of sustainable, small-farmer agriculture that provide glimpses of food sovereignty and community self-sufficiency.

1. Towards Food Sovereignty
Initiatives and Lessons from India
Ashish Kothari
Kalpavriksh / ICCA Consortium

2. Several thousand years old
65-70% population occupied
Extremely diverse:
• Several thousand domesticated animals and
plants
• wild foods
• ways of life (settled/shifting cultivation,
nomadic/settled pastoralism, hunting-gathering,
agroforestry, fisheries …)
• knowledge systems, expertise, skills
• cultural beliefs & practices relating to agriculture
• cuisines and foods
India’s agricultural heritage

3. Indias domesticated biodiversity: ecosystems
• Agricultural ecosystem diversity
– Settled, shifting
– Cultivated, pastoral, fisheries

4. India’s domesticated biodiversity: species
• Domesticated species diversity
– One of 8 global centres of crop plant origin
– 166 crop species originate in India

5. Indias domesticated biodiversity: genetic
–Diversification within crops, e.g.
• Rice: 50,000 - 300,000 varieties
• Mango: >1000 varieties
• Sorghum: >5000 varieties
• Centre of diversity for rice, wheat, sugarcane,
legumes, sesame, eggplant, okra, citrus, banana,
mango, jamun, jute, ginger, millets….

6. Diversification within livestock:
•26 cattle breeds
•40 sheep breeds
•18 poultry breeds
• at least 35 dog breeds
India’s domesticated biodiversity: genetic

7. WHY / HOW THIS DIVERSITY?
Deliberate selection and adaptation by
farmers and pastoralists, for:
*resilience / buffer against disaster
*diverse needs (food, medicine,
cultural)

8. ‘Green / White revolution’ models (1960s-onwards)
•addiction to outside seeds, water, fertilisers, pesticides, credit
•soil loss and degradation
•dependence on market, govt, moneylenders
•monocultures, bias against diversity
•neglect of dryland agriculture & shifting cultivation
•From frying pan (state control) to fire (corporate control)
Impoverishment of marginal/small farmers: >300,000 suicides!
Destruction of India’s agriculture

10. Continued food insecurity, hunger…
• Upto 2/3rd population deprived of
adequate nutritious food
• World’s largest number of
malnourished and
undernourished
women/children
• 60 million people displaced by
‘development’ projects; many more
dispossessed of survival resources

11. Towards alternatives

12. •Reviving traditional diversity (millets)
•Promoting cultivated and wild foods
•Creating community grain banks
•Empowering dalit women farmers, securing land rights
Deccan Development Society: conservation,
equity, & livelihoods through sustainable agriculture

13. Thriving in drylands
Nadimidoddi Vinodamma
3 acres
45 crop varieties (millets/pulses/vegetables)
Food sufficiency for family (1st priority)
Rs. 200,000 sale in market (with expenditure of Rs. 18,000)
Fully organic, all local seeds

14. Creating localised, cyclical economy
•Consumer-producer links (Zaheerabad organic food restaurant / shop)
•Linking to Public Distribution System
Deccan Development Society (contd)

15. Towards 100% organic, Kedia village
(Jamui), Bihar
Vermicompost replacing fertilisers
Herbal potions replacing pesticides
Mixed cropping revived

16. An individual revolutionary…
Natwar Sarangi
Narishu vill, Cuttack dist, Odisha
GenX: Jubraj Swain
Growing >400 varieties of rice
Seed albums and banks

17. Sustaining wild foods
>8000 species (food, medicine, fodder)
Crucial nutritional supplement, buffer in drought
Documentation, festivals, regeneration

18. Dharani: farmer’s company
(facilitated by Timbaktu Collective)
Greater market access, better prices, all organic, relations
with consumers

19. Changing urban mindsets on food
Rooftop / backyard farming (>10,000
families in Bengaluru)
Organic, traditional food markets /fairs
Producer-consumer cooperatives
Not-for-profit shops (e.g. reStore, Chennai)

20. Coalition Against GM
Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA)
Millet Network of Indian (MiNI)
MAKAAM (women farmers’ network)
Food Sovereignty Alliance
Beej Bachao Andolan (Save the Seeds Campaign)
Movements, alliances for resistance
& alternatives

21. The government responds …
• Food Security Act 2013
• Organic farming support in 16 states
• Some states targetting 100% organic
(but still marginal compared to dominant
policy)

22. Towards a sustainable and equitable
society … 5 pillars
•Ecological sustainability
–Conservation of nature, sustainable use of resources
•Social well-being & justice
–Equality between men/women, classes, castes, etc
•Direct democracy
–Decision-making by citizens, accountable govt
•Economic democracy
–Means of production in hands of producers, localised self-sufficiency,
economy of caring/sharing
•Cultural and knowledge diversity
–Knowledge as public resource, respecting cultural/ethnic diversity

23. Eco-swaraj:
Radical ecological democracy
(Radical = going to the roots)
• achieving human well-being, through:
– empowering all citizens & communities to participate in
decision-making
– ensuring socio-economic equity & justice
– respecting the limits of the earth
Community (at various levels) as basic unit of organisation, not
state or private corporation

24. Hey, don’t forget the spices …
Fundamental values & principles
• Diversity and pluralism (of ideas, knowledge, ecologies, economies,
polities, cultures…)
• Self-reliance for basics (swavalamban)
• Cooperation, collectivity, and ‘commons’
• Rights with responsibilities/duties
• Dignity of labour
• Respect for subsistence
• Qualitative pursuit of happiness
• Equity / equality (gender, caste, class, ethnic)
• Simplicity, enoughness (aparigraha)
• Decision-making access to all
• Respect for all life forms
• Ecological sustainability

25. Vikalp Sangams (Alternatives Confluences):
practical collaborations, bottom-up visioning

26. Regional confluences
Timbaktu, Andhra Pradesh, Oct 2014
Madurai, Tamil Nadu, Feb 2015
Ladakh, J&K, July 2015
Wardha, Maharashtra, October 2015
Thematic confluences
Energy, Food, Youth, Learning/education

27. www.alternativesindia.org
www.vikalpsangam.org

28. • www.kalpavriksh.org
• www.alternativesindia.org
• chikikothari@gmail.com
For more information….