The Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) is a non-profit organization based in Telangana, India that works to promote organic and sustainable farming practices. Over the past 10 years, CSA has worked with farmers and state governments in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh to establish community-managed sustainable agriculture programs covering over 200,000 hectares. CSA has also helped form 14 agricultural cooperatives with over 1,500 member farmers. The organization provides training, resources and market support to help farmers transition to organic practices and improve their incomes.

1. 2004-2014 …caring for those who feed the nation
Telangana Andhra Pradesh Maharashtra
Punjab
Organic way forward
Centre for sustainable agriculture
Head office: 12-13-445, Street no.1, Tarnaka, Secunderabad, Telanagana- 500 017
Contacts: http://www.csa-india.org, email: csa@csa-india.org, ph. 040-27017735

2. Farmer
•Shifting to better and sustainable practices
•Getting organised to deal with the markets and policies
Policy Support
•Supporting sustainable models
•Regulating unsustainable practices
•Invest more in agriculture
•Income security to farmers
Market Support
•Farmers moving up the value chain
•Direct marketing
•Forward and backward linkages
•Better prices

3. End to End solution across agri-value chain
•Mobilization, capacity building
Soil
Fertility
Water harvesting
and Moisture
conservation
Seeds and
Biodiversity
Community
marketing
professionals
Community
procurement
centers
Tie-up with bulk
consumers
Quality
management
Bio inputs
Small Scale
Infrastructure
Best Practices Business
Community
extension
Farmer field
Schools
Planning
Credit
Food security
line
Tie up with
wholesalers
Insurance

4. Achievements 2004-14
• Worked with Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP)
Govt. of Andhra Pradesh in designing and establishing
Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA) in 1500
villages covering 200 thousand ha across 18 districts during
2004 to 2008 which is now practiced in more than 35 lakh acres
in all the districts of AP and Telangana
• Worked with Govt. of Chhattisgarh in designing and establishing
Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture in 2 clusters, 10
villages in Raipur dist.
• CSA has established 14 Cooperatives including an aggregator
FPO ‘Sahaja Aharam Producers Company’ in Andhra Pradesh
and Telangana with combined membership of 1500
• In Maharashtra, CSA is working with farmer groups organised
into Naisargik Sethi Beej Producer Company producing and
marketing organic food and seeds
0.225 25 200 700
1300
2000
2800
3500 3600
0.1 15
80
300
600
1000
1500 1600 1770
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Acerage ('000 acres) Farmers ('000)

5. Sahaja Aharam Producer Organisations
Producer Co-op-1
Farmer Group B
Direct to Home
Organic Stores
•Healthy food
Mobile Store
•Affordable Price
•Max share to farmers Organic Store
Producer Co-op-2
Other farmers and
farmers groups
Farmer Group A
Farmer Group C
Sahaja Aharam
Producer Company
•Capacity building
•Institutional building
•Investment support
•Brand building
•Quality Management
•Fair Trade
Market place
Direct to resellers
Whole sale to traders
Bulk buyers
Processing units
Seeds
Yet to estiblish
Marketing
Agency
Bioinputs

6. What is Sahaja Aharam?
• An F2C initiative to create a meeting ground for nature-friendly consumers and farmers
– blend the values of traditional bazaars with ecological concerns
– to build a new supply chain on Farmer to Consumer (F2C) model which helps
• Increasing farmers’ income
– by realising better prices for their produce (50% over cost of production and 50% of consumer price, locally grown by
adopting ecological farming practices
– More employment opportunities by value addition and selling processed produce .
• consumers in getting access to healthy and diverse food
• By establishing a Participatory Food Quality Assurance System and a Fair Trade Model
• By direct retailing to consumers (bulk/individual consumers)
• partnerships

7. www.sahajaaharam.in

8. Awards and Recognitions
• 2014: Best Rural Innovation Award for Non Pesticidal Management
in Bihar Rural Innovation Forum
• 2014: Best Rural Innovation Award for ‘Community Managed
Sustainable Agriculture’ in Maharashtra Rural Innovation Forum
• 2012: Best Green Enterprises award by Hivos for NPM scalingup in
AP
• 2010: Krishi Gourav Award for Enebavi
• 2008: TV9 ‘Navya’ Award for effective campaign
• 2005: World Bank Development Market Place Award

9. Public Policy
• Increase right investments in agriculture
– Budgetary allocations to 10-15%
– increase more informed choices to farmers than driven by captive
institutions
– Support to farmers own labor, resources and knowledge
– Infrastructure support
• Regulations over unsustainable practices
– GM crops
– Chemical pesticides

10. We are what we eat

11. What makes food unsafe?
• bad practices (poor hygiene, reliance on antibiotics and
pesticides)
• unproven or risky technologies (genetic modification,
nanotechnology, irradiation, cloning)
• deliberate contamination (such as tampering)
• just poor supervision,
• Genetic predisposition causing allergies, and
• Food habits including the combinations

12. Food is as safe as it is grown
•What is sprayed comes to your plate
•What is left comes into your bottle of water,
tea, coffee, softdrink, packed or breast milk

13. Food processing, storage
• Highly polished rice-diabetes
• Calcium carbide used in
ripening
• Wax coated apples
• Transfats in edible oils

14. Food Adulteration
• Synthetic milk
• Metalic colors on greens
• Growth hormones to fruits and
animals
• Animal oils
• Turmeric, chillipowder, tea
adulteration

15. Changing Food Habits
• Loosing diversity in food
• Millets, minor fruits, vegetables disappearing
• Unseasonal vegetable
• Pizzas, softdrinks, icecreams
• Unnatural combinations: cooldrinks/ice creams after fatty food

16. Junk food
• Junk food is bad for health
• It lacks nutrition and is loaded with empty calories (refined carbohydrates)
• High on Salt, Sugar and Fats, including Trans fat
• Unhealthy diet is one key cause of the growing global burden of disease-
WHO
• Changing diet -- low on nutrients and high on salt, sugar and fat, are
directly indicted to disease.
• Junk food is responsible for rising cases of obesity and non communicable
diseases (NCDs) like cardiovascular diseases and diabetes

17. Food processing, storage
• Highly polished rice-diabetes
• Calcium carbide used in
ripening
• Wax coated apples
• Transfats in edible oils

18. Food Adulteration
• Synthetic milk
• Metalic colors on greens
• Growth hormones to fruits and
animals
• Animal oils
• Turmeric, chillipowder, tea
adulteration

19. Changing Food Habits
• Loosing diversity in food
• Millets, minor fruits, vegetables disappearing
• Unseasonal vegetable
• Pizzas, softdrinks, icecreams
• Unnatural combinations: cooldrinks/ice creams after fatty food

20. Junk food
• Junk food is bad for health
• It lacks nutrition and is loaded with empty calories (refined carbohydrates)
• High on Salt, Sugar and Fats, including Trans fat
• Unhealthy diet is one key cause of the growing global burden of disease-
WHO
• Changing diet -- low on nutrients and high on salt, sugar and fat, are
directly indicted to disease.
• Junk food is responsible for rising cases of obesity and non communicable
diseases (NCDs) like cardiovascular diseases and diabetes

21. Organic Food Market: Growing potential
• Organic agriculture systems and products are not always certified and are referred to
as “Non-certified Organic agriculture or products".
• Government of India has initiated Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) through
National Centre for Organic Farming (NCOF)
• Certified Organic products are generally more expensive than their conventional
counter parts for a number of reasons
• Production cost for Organic food is typically higher because of greater labour inputs
per unit of output.
• Post-harvest handling of relatively small quantities of Organic food results in higher
costs because of the mandatory segregation of Organic and conventional produce.
• Marketing and Distribution chain for Organic products is relatively inefficient and costs
are higher because of relatively small volumes

22. Status of organic farming in India
Organic area: 4.43 million ha; Certified production: 17.11 lakh tonnes;
Total exports:69,837 MT; Value of export: INR 700 Crores

23. Organic domestic sales and exports

24. Market size and Off-Take
(As per NCOF and APEDA March 2012)
Total certified production 29.50 lakh tons
Export 99,000 tons (3.36%)
Domestic sales 3.0 lakh tons (10%)
Rest is sold as conventional
Total value of produce (Farm gate) 5000 crores
Export value 999 crores
Domestic (market value) 1,000 cores
Potential to be tapped 4000 crores

25. Domestic Marketing Channels
(As per OTA Feb. 2012)
Organic Produce value Rs. 5000 crores,
Marketable surplus Rs 4000 crores
• Modern High End Retail 350 units
• General Trade Outlets 1500 units
• Institutional Consumers 300 units
• Claimed Organic Outlets 2000 units
• Rural/Farmer/NGO operated 2000 units
• Existing trade volume Rs. 450 crores food crops and Rs. 550 crores others
A premium organic produce worth > Rs 3500 crores is being lost
as conventional - farmer is loosing its value and consumer is not
having access to it

27. Roadmap to Organic Farming-Recommendations
• Vegetable Initiatives for Urban Clusters This is being championed by Department of
Agriculture & Cooperation under Ministry of Agriculture.
• Aims at encouraging farmers to grow organic produce and provide enhanced funding to
them.
• State government s to take lead for subsidising group certification of organic products,
so as to reduce the overheads for farmers wishing to take up organic farming
• Encourage setting up “Community Based Organisations” (CBO) for organic farming in
villages.
• State government to provide subsidy schemes for capacity building.
• State government support to Organic farming producer groups by forming “Organic
farmer markets” in urban centres for direct sales to consumers by producer groups

28. Centre for sustainable agriculture
Head office: 12-13-445, Street no.1, Tarnaka, Secunderabad, Telanagana- 500 017
Contacts: http://www.csa-india.org, email: csa@csa-india.org, ph. 040-27017735