Newsletter of the Organic Farming Association of February 2016. Issue Twenty-One (For private circulation) The(Past issues at www.ofai.org) Living Field Organic World Congress 2017 (Jaivik Krishi Vishwa Kumbh) World’s biggest organic farming event comes to India, with OFAI as host • Event will take place from November 9-11, 2017 at New Delhi • Prime Minister being invited to inaugurate the World Congress • Ministry of decides to associate as “joint-organiser” • National Centre of Organic Farming is member of Congress Steering Committee • Organic farmers to get four separate halls to make their presentations • BIOFACH Trade Fair will be part of the event • OFAI members will get priority provided they act on time

The Organic World Congress (OWC), The specific aim of the OWC is to organised by IFOAM - Organics Inter- showcase the organic farming practices and national, is held in a different country innovations of organic farmers from Asia, every three years. Africa and Latin America to the rest of the It was held last in Istanbul, in October world, with strong emphasis on the pioneer: 2014. India. The procedure is that organisations, or For this reason, this Congress will even governments, make a formal bid (via be much different from OFAI’s Biennial a presentation) to the General Assembly Conventions. Only selected and regis- of IFOAM to host the Congress in their tered participants who can contribute country. The IFOAM World Assembly then some valuable content to the world chooses the best bid by ballot. community of organic farming will be able to enter the venue. At Istanbul, the bid put up by OFAI and its trade event partner (PDA Trade Fairs Newcomers to organic farming, including could afford a minimum of one lakh rupees those who are still doing chemical farm- and Events, Bengaluru) was voted in the equivalent could participate. best proposal. OFAI won the bid against ing and want to get introduced to organic competition from Russia, China and Brazil. All that has now been changed with the farming, will not be able to register for this India edition of the Congress. Congress. OFAI was able to bid because PDA Trade Fairs agreed to make the necessary financial The 2017 OWC will cost lower than Only those organic farmers who have an investments required for holding a World all the earlier OWCs. In fact, the registra- innovation or technique which the world Congress of this kind. tion charges for Indian organic farmers is organic farming community would benefit Rs.2000 only, for all three days, inclusive of from knowing about, would get first chance. Once assured that OFAI and PDA Trade meals. Fairs had the requisite financial muscle So if you are an organic farmer and fall to host the event, the General Assembly All organic farmers from Asia, Africa and into the category of farmers who have tried found OFAI’s proposal – to turn the OWC Latin America are being provided 50% off out some successful organic farming tech- into a world organic farmers’ event – most on the registration fees. nique or any innovation connected with interesting and attractive. Hitherto, almost Since this is an OFAI hosted event, OFAI organic farming, and want to share it with all OWC events have been unsuccessful in members will get priority in registration. the whole world, start work immediately. attracting organic farmers. This is because OWC India is being held in the spirit of Pages 4 and 5 of this newsletter provide participants must pay their own fares, a kumbh. The three days will be a conflu- all details of how you can try to get your accommodation, and steep registration ence spot of organic farmers from across the presentation prepared and accepted for the fees. This has ensured that only those who world. OWC. 2 More details about the Organic World Congress 2017

The Organic World Congress is being held Organic Farming Sourcebook in New Delhi from November 9-11, 2017 and will have several major components. Update The main focus of the event is of course the The first ever documentation of the 5 “tracks” through which the Congress is organic farming community – the generally organised. Organic Farming Source Book – is be- ing updated, to be released during the These 5 “tracks” will be organised indepen- OWC 2017. dently in 8 separate halls at the Trade Expo and Mart complex in Greater Noida. We welcome you all to send in your comments or corrections about the These include the Main Track (2), the Sci- information in the earlier edition. Some ence Track (1), the Workshops Track (1), the organic farmers have already left the Farmers Track (3) and the Marketing and planet. A few have even returned to Assurance Track (1). conventional farmers. A veritable new The Farmers’ Track will be held in three Other major events at OWC: army of new organic farmers is now on separate halls. The Congress Steering Committee (CSC) the horizon. Please help us with what- One additional space for farmer experi- which is monitoring the organisation of the ever information you can send us either ments will be held in the grounds outside event on behalf of both IFOAM - Organ- through letter, email or even by phone. the halls. ics International and OFAI, has agreed to All written or typed information should All the farmer track events will be the exclu- OFAI’s suggestion to work to create a cel- be sent to: sive responsibility of OFAI. ebratory atmosphere at the Congress venue. OFAI The marketing and assurance track will Nehha Bhatnagar from Sarvan Foundation G-8, St Britto’s Apts., be in the hands of the National Centre has been invited to head the team that will Feira Alta, of Organic Farming (NCOF) which will ensure a world class cultural show for the Mapusa 403507 Goa. focus principally on large scale exposure to delegates. All cultural troupes wishing to Phone - 0832-2255913 certification under PGS. The sessions will be submit items for the cultural event will send Email - [email protected] managed by NCOF, PGS Organic Council, their proposals to the Sarvam Foundation ICCOA, World Fair Trade Organisation, which will select them from all aspects. A new book called A Sourcebook on etc. Chairing the Market Track is Dr A.K. Wendell Rodricks, one of India’s most India’s Organic Seeds is forthcoming Yadav, former Director, NCOF. creative fashion designers and a supporter of from the Other India Bookstore. It is a compilation that provides easy access The science track will be under the gen- organic farming, will present a fashion show to traditional folk seed knowledge for eral supervision of Gerald Rahman, from of organic and handwoven fabric. farmers, and champions the cause of IFOAM. Farmers and agricultural research In the year 2017, BIOFACH India will their conservation. scientists may also present papers in the sci- host its trade show on organic also at the For more information, or to buy a copy ence track. same venue, under the overall rubric of contact the Other India Bookstore. Though OFAI will ensure that all the five the OWC. All those in the organic trade Phone - 0832-2263305 tracks run successfully with maximum at- wishing to put up stalls for purpose of B2B Email- [email protected] tendance, it will focus all its organisational promotion will sign up directly with BIO- skills on the farmer presentations. FACH. Cultural events at OWC 2017 Considering the number of farmers wanting Official pavilions of governments, both cen- tral, state and foreign will be allocated space to make presentations, a total of 240 or- The OWC will play host to organic in a separate hall, adjoining the Congress, ganic farmers from across the world may be farmers from all over the world. To wel- and will sign up directly with OWC itself. accommodated in the three-day time-table. come them and show them the flavours Of these only about 100 slots (perhaps less) A small number of pre-conferences are also and colours of India, we are organising may be available for Indian organic farm- being organised one day prior to the OWC a cultural extravaganza with song and ers, while the balance 140 will go to farmers event. These will be hosted at the NCOF dance from all regions of India. from Africa, Latin America, Asia and other premises in Ghaziabad and other locations. parts of the world. Overall charge of the cultural events is Post-OWC, members of the General As- with Nehha Bhatnagar of the Sarvam OFAI is proposing to sign a MOU with sembly of IFOAM - Organics International Foundation and her team. Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) will shift to New Delhi city proper, to hold If you want to contribute to the cultur- New Delhi which will take overall charge the 22nd General Assembly (GA) of the al night events, please let Nehha know. of copying and formatting all soft copies organisation. The business of the association She will personally visit you, so that of farmer presentations and ensuring their will be conducted over 12 and 13 of No- you can present the cultural item to her ready availability during the Congress. vember, 2017. The GA will also elect a new and she can come to an opinion. Besides the farmer presentations, the OWC Executive Board to manage the association will also see the largest possible seed exhi- for the next three years. Her address: bition in our times. A group of seedkeep- For delegates who wish to see and visit Nehha Bhatnagar ers will handle the arrangements for seed organic farms, OFAI will be making the Sarvam Foundation display. Space for the display is being made necessary arrangements after the event. New Delhi available free of cost by the organisers. 3 Making Presentations before the World Congress

Do you want to make a presentation of your innovations or techniques at the Organic World Congress? You should! Follow these steps. If you succeed, your travel and registration charges may be waived.

Steps to follow for getting your presenta- Presentation Approval Committee (PAC) 101. Ashok Bang & Niran- 196. Kailash Chaudhary jana Maru 197. Kanku Bai tion accepted: OFAI has set up a Presentation Approval 102. Babulal Gandhi 198. Krishan Kumar 103. Bapusaheb Korde Jankhad 1. If you feel that the world organic Committee (PAC). All the presentations Guruji 199. Madan Lal Devara 104. Brajesh Shah 200. Manaram Aangari community will benefit from a sharing will be sent to the committee for selection. 106. Dada Wadekar 201. Om Prakashji Sharma of your organic farming work, contact The members are mostly organic farmers. 108. Dr Mahadev Pachega-202. Punaram Dagacha onkar 203. Rampalji Ravat the person appointed in your region. They are listed here: 110. Geeta Deshmukh 204. Ratan Lal Daga The list of contact people will be up- 112. Jayant Barve 205. Sunda Ram Verma 1. Sarvadaman Patel, President (OFAI) 113. Jitubhai Kutmutia 206. Vardhi Chand Patel dated on the OFAI website. 2. Dr. Deva Kumar 114. Kad Siddheshwar 207. Dhanpati Sapkota 3. Raghava, Treasurer (OFAI) Swami 208. B. R. Narayanswamy 2. All organic farmer presentations are to 115. Kamalkishore Dhiran 209. Dr. K. Natrajan 4. Kapil Shah, Secretary (OFAI) 116. Kantilal Nalage 210. Dr. Sultan Ahmed be made in a fixed format. Total number of 5. Debal Deb 117. Kori Ismail slides permitted is 20. Slides must be only 6. S.R. Sundaraman 118. Madhav Barve 211. Jayachandran 119. Manohar Khake 213. Madhu Ramakrishnan photographs, with space left for one sen- 7. Dr. K. Natrajan 120. Manohar Shriram 214. N Gopalkrishnan 8. Ramaswamy Selvam Parchure 215. P B Murali tence below the photograph. 121. MOFF 217. Ramasamy Selvam & 9. Natobar Sarangi 122. Mona Patrao Poongadi 3. If you can take the photos yourself or 10. Sultan Ismail 123. Nagesh Swami 218. S R Sundaraman if you can get the help of anyone in the 11. B.N. Nandesh 124. Narendra Khot, 219. V Ravi MKCL 220. V S Arunachalan neighbourhood, please do so. If you can- 12. Arun Sharma 126. Padmakar Chinchole 221. Vinod 13. Shamika Mone 127. Pandurang Patil 222. B. R. Narayanswamy not, contact OFAI office and sometime in 14. Sabarmatee (Sambhav) 128. Prakash Borge 223. R. Murugesan the coming months, a trained person will 129. Pramod Jagtap 224. Chetna Organic 15. Clea Chandmal 130. Pranjali Borse 225. Deccan Development connect with you and then help you prepare 16. Yogita Mehra 131. Prithwiraj N GhorpadeSociety 133. Raghunath Dhole 226. Abhishek the PPT. 134. Rahul Deshpande 227. Brijapalsingh Preliminary List of Farmers Identified: 135. Sajal 228. Dharmendra Singh 4. Once the PPT is done, it is despatched to 136. Sanat Kumar Das 230. Fula Devi the myofai email id. The Central Secretariat 137. Saneer Zanzurne 231. Himanshu Gangwar OFAI has also compiled a preliminary list 138. Sanjay Patil 233. Man singh staff will make copies and then send it for of farmers who will be invited to give pre- 139. Sanjay Patil Guruji 234. Prashant 140. Santosh Nimbarkar 236. Prem Singh consideration to the Presentation Approval sentations at the Congress. If you know of 141. Shirish Pawar 237. Pushpendrabhai Committee (PAC) for its decision. anyone that we missed, please get in touch 142. Shitole Pandurang 238. Ratiya Singh Balkrishna 239. Shanti Devi 5. If your proposal or PPT is accepted, the with us. 143. Shobha Jagtap 240. Shoor Vir Singh 144. Shubhada Pandhare 241. Surat Singh PPT will go for translation into 11 other- 1. Bagappa 51. Narasimhamurthy.K. 2. N.V.Venu Gopal 52. Narayan Reddy 145. Soumendra Lokhande242. Vivek Chaturvedi languages. It will then be sent to Digital 3. Santosh Kumar 53. Raghava 146. Subhash Sharma 244. Alauddin Ahmed 4. Suvarnamma 54. Richard Rebello 147. Sudhakar Sable 245. Animesh Bera Empowerment Foundation in New Delhi 5. Timbaktu Collective 55. Sangita Sharma 148. Suresh Bhaurao Parab246. Ardhendu S Chat- for ensuring uniform good quality in the 6. Bhaskar Mahanta 56. ShivKumar 149. Suresh Desai terjee 7. Bina Chetia 57. Sumangala Veerab- 150. Swaraj Prayog Pariwar247. Asamanjan Barman presentations. 8. Kamala Kaman hadrappa 151. Tarak Kate 248. Balai Hembram 9. Neelam Datta 58. Syed Ghani Khan 152. Vasant & Karuna 249. Balaram Das 6. Hindi and English are the official lan- 10. Bhupendra Singh 59. Abdul Latheef Futane 250. Bikash Mahato 11. Shivnath Yadav 60. Anuradha Sarang 153. Vasudha Sardar 251. Bimal Biswas guages of OWC 2017. However, organic 12. Clea Chandmal 61. Arun Kumar K.R./ 154. Vidhya Rudrakshi 252. Chaitanya Mahato farmers are allowed to submit their 13. Yogita Mehra and Karan Sidy 155. Vishwas Patil 253. Devnarayan Nayek Manral 62. Arvindan 156. P Devakanta 254. Dhiren Mahato presentations in any of the following 14 14. Abhijeet Save 63. Asokakumar V 157. Lumlang 255. Dilip Murmur 15. Arun P. Sheth 64. C. G. Prakashan Khongthohrem 256. Dr. Debal Deb languages: 16. Badrishankar Motira Joshi65. Chandran Master 158. Abokali Jimomi 257. Himanshu Biswas 17. Ishwar Singh 66. George Anthony 159. Adi Kumuruka 258. Jaydeb Barman English, Hindi, Gujarati 18. Rajnikant K. Patel 67. Illias KP 160. Debdulal Bhattacharya259. Jogenrda Mahato 19. Samatbhai Jada 68. Indira Kodakara 161. Dolagobinda Panda 260. Kanak Ray Spanish, French, Chinese & Portuguese 20. Sarvdaman Patel 69. Jafar Ali and Salma 162. Ekadashi Nandi 261. Kartik Mahato 21. Sumitra Thacker 70. K V Deyal 163. Jagannath Mazi 262. Madhabi Satpati Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada 22. Vijay Shah 71. K. J. Paul 164. Loknath Nauri 263. Mahadev Tudu 23. Bheem Singh 72. K. V. Sreeja and 165. Minati 264. Matindra Das Bengali, Oriya, Telugu, and Marathi. 24. Dalipsingh Narayanan 166. Natabar Sarangi 265. Matu Haya 25. Phul Kumar 73. M Brahmadhath 167. Padma Behere 266. Nirmal Singha 7. Once the PPT is accepted, it will go to 26. Praveen Kumar 74. Molly Paul 168. Sabarmatee 267. Panumati Soren 27. Raj Bala 75. Molly Thomas 169. Shiv Prasad Sahu 268. Pashupati Murmu the Digital Empowerment Foundation 28. Rajkumar Arya 76. Rajeesh Uppala 170. Sudam Sahu 269. Pradeep Maity (DEF) for professional upgrade and conver- 29. Ramesh Chander Dagar 77. Suman K B 171. Suryamani Kadraka 270. Pramod Biswas 30. Ramkishan 78. Suraj 172. Deepika Kundaji & 271. Ramani Baske sion into standard format for projection at 31. Udhay Bhan 79. Suresh Bernard Declercq 272. Ramen Mistry 32. Nek Ram Sharma 80. T. V. Jayakrishnan 173. Amarjit Sharma 273. RenupadaBagdi the Congress. 33. Rajni Vikram Rawat 81. Tomy Vadakkancheri 174. Amarnath Singh 274. Sahadev Murmur 34. A. P. Chandrasekhar 82. Unni Alur 175. Awtar Singh 275. Sanaka Hembram 9. All organic farmers making presentations 35. A.N. Channappagoudru 83. V. K. Sajeevan 177. Gurmail Singh 276. Shyamoli Satpati will be allowed to speak in English, Hindi Patil 84. Jacob Sebastian 178. Gurpreet Singh 277. Sibani Soren 36. Azad Cariappa 85. P.N. Unnikrishnan 179. Harmail Singh 278. SonamaniTudu or their mother-tongue. 37. B. Basavaraju 86. T.S.Viswan 180. Hartej Singh Mehta 279. Srimanta Soren 38. B.N. Nandish 87. Ajeet Kelkar 181. Hem Khosla 280. Subhash Biswas 10. All organic farmer presentations must be 39. Basavraj Santeshwara 88. Arun Dike 182. Jagtar Singh Dhaliwal281. Sukdev Mondal 40. Dr. B N Viswanath 89. Deepak Suchde 183. Ravdeep Singh 282. Sunil Murmu prepared before 1 October, 2016, in order to 41. Dr. Varanashi Krishna 90. Gordhan Tiwari 184. Sukhchain Singh Gill 283. Surendra Biswas enable the process of selection and transla- Moorthy 91. 185. Swarn Singh 284. Suresh Mahato 42. G. Indrakumar Rathod 187. Vinod Jyani 285. Sushama Arui tion to be completed on time. 43. G. Vijayakumar 92. Raju & Shalini Titus 188. Arjun Ram ji 286. Tapas Das 44. Ganapathy Bandu Jadav93. Shashi Bhushan 189. Arun K. Sharma 287. Uday Hajra 11. All farmers whose presentations have 45. Garugadoddi Natraj Singh 190. Chaganlal Meghwal 46. Juli and Vivek Cariappa 94. Shyam Bahadur 191. Chain Singh Jodha been approved, will be informed well in 47. K.M. Belliappa Namra 192. Chaturbhuj Prajapat advance so that they can book their tickets 48. K.M. Kumbal 95. Anandrao Subedar 193. Ganpat Singh 49. K.R. Neelakanta Murthy 100. Arun Desai 194. Gopal Singh to New Delhi well in time. 50. Krishna Prasad 195. Hukam Chand Patidar 4 Sample 20-Slide Presentation (PPT) for OWC Read the slides from left to right. This is a slide show prepared by a Goan organic farming couple. We have not used all the 20 slides be- cause of space constraints. Please follow the guidelines on the next page when preparing the PPT. 5 Guidelines for making the PPT: 12. Organic dairy production (indig- enous cattle and buffalo, plus goat 1. Follow the sample ppt and do farming) not exceed number of slides (20). 13. Organic poultry production (indig- enous chicken and duck) 2. Ensure that final ppt does not 14. Restoring the bee and frog to or- exceed the size of 10-14 MB. ganic agriculture 3. Use only one or two line de- 15. Small equipments for small organic scriptions under each picture. farmers 16. Fish production and integrated 4. Make sure that the slides follow farming some order, and that they tell a 17. Planning organic farms for water logical and coherent story. conservation Subjects on which you can make Get the whole story first, and see 18. Reducing water usage for intensive presentations for the congress how to best to tell it using pic- cropping tures, and only then proceed to A. Seeds and Biodiversity 19. General water conservation and use take the pictures. The ppt should (including fauna, wild 20. Building overall farm ecology flow in such a way that the audi- and domesticated) ence understands the process 1. Conservation of indigenous seed C. Ecological Farming Practices and Systems from beginning to end. 2. Working with Open Pollinated (OP) 1. Biodynamic Agriculture 5. Highlight the innovativeness of seed 2. Permaculture the farmer's approach to organic 3. Seed treatments and management 3. Organic farming farming. solutions 4. Seed storage systems – traditional and 4. Zero budget farming 6. Take clear pictures, they should new 5. No tillage agriculture not be blurry. 5. Maintaining village level seed banks 6. Diversity of SRI techniques 7. Text should appear at the bot- 6. Successful low-cost seed conservation 7. Homa Organic Farming tom of the slide as far as possible. 7. Maintaining seed diversity 8. Biodiversity-based farming 9. Holistic Approaches to Farm Workers 8. You can put more than one 8. Maintaining / Enhancing soil bacteria diversity on Organic Farms picture in one slide, and make a 9. Wilderness areas in organic fields 10. collage, if you feel that it is neces- 10. Livestock: working with indigenous 11. Insights of Traditional Agriculture sary. species 12. Non-conventional crops and wild Volunteers needed for the OWC 11. Managing troublesome animals and produce wildlife-farmer conflicts 13. Non-Pesticidal Management (NPM) If any of you want to volunteer 12. Fodder and forage farming – tra- 14. Insect repellents and traps with OFAI in any capacity towards ditional fodder, forage and improved 15. Maintaining balance sheets (eco- making the OWC a success, do get varieties on organic farms nomic inputs) in touch with us either by email 16. Product harvest and storage or post. We also require young, B. Soil Fertility and 17. Food processing, quality assurance tech savvy volunteers to go out in Health, Soil Life and Plant guarantees and upscaling (organic jams, their states and help farmers make Health pickles, etc) presentations. If this is something 1. Mulching methods 18. Education of children and complete that excites you, we will put you in organic life styles touch with local farmers. 2. Conserving, enhancing and maintain- ing beneficial soil bacteria 3. Dealing with insect imbalances If you have any further queries 4. Using beneficial insects and organisms Please note: The above topics are with regards to the presentation 5. Termites for organic farmers only illustrative of the many pre- please write to OFAI at myofai@ gmail.com. 6. Earthworms, vermiculture and vermi- sentations topics that can be used. You can also find and download wash Feel free to talk about new and the regional language presenta- 7. Rehabilitating soils after chemical innovative organic practices that tions in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, farming you use. Write to OFAI with your Telugu, Kannada, Oriya, Bengali, 8. Cover crops and green manure crops proposed presentation ideas and Gujarati, and Malayalam on the 9. Forestry principles for organic farms OFAI website. we will get back to you with feed- 10. Organic horticulture and floriculture back and help. 11. Soil nutrient preps 6 OFAI’s 5th Biennial Convention More than 2,000 registered delegates came to Chandigarh

For the first time, several organisations came to join OFAI in organising the event. These included ASHA, NITTR and the Kheti Virasat Mission.

The 5th National Organic Farming Con- presentation of the research papers by vention was the largest congregation scientists and researchers in the field of of organic farmers anywhere ever in sustainable agriculture. the world. This Convention was mostly Policy debates: As part of its technical de- crowd-funded, with participants them- liberations, the Convention hosted debates selves contributing nearly one-fourth of for better policy formulation on a variety the financial requirement, with oth- of themes like seeds, millets, certification, ers like the Government of Haryana, marketing, organic farming policies, and Government of Punjab, Government promotion of bio-diversity conservation. of India (National Centre for Organic Farming), Chandigarh administration in Exhibition for innovations: An exhibition addition to NABARD stepping forward was set up to make citizens aware of the to support this. need for organic farming, various organic practices, inputs, machinery and innova- The convention also attracted extensive tions from farmers and entrepreneurs. media attention and coverage. The special features of this year convention included: Kisan Haat: The Kisan Haat was a key at- traction for the tri-city consumers to inter- Farmer-to-Farmer sharing, learning and act and procure authentic organic farm pro- dialogue: Group discussions, workshops, duce directly from farmers. It also opened live demonstrations and other programs up marketing opportunities for organic pro- for exchange of knowledge and solidarity- ducers from the region and organic farmers building were an important feature of this from other parts of the country. Convention. These were augmented by the technical expertise of NITTTR through Biodiversity festival: The success of organic live transmission and interactions with farming depends on the preservation and farmers and scientists at selected ‘centres’ protection of bio-diversity. A number of around the country. farmers and organizations working for the agro-diversity conservation and revival dis- Live demonstrations: Special agricultural played India’s rich crop bio-diversity. This plots were prepared around Chandigarh by festival was led by Sahaja Samrudha. Simi- Dr Sarvadaman Patel, President of OFAI, larly, uncultivated foods were on display, led who is a pioneering organic farmer. Other by Living Farms. farmers and scientists demonstrated their skills, knowledge and innovations with Organic food festival: The delegates as well ecological practices & products. as general public experienced a first-of-its- kind organic and traditional food festival to Scientific Conference on ‘Mainstream- enable them to reconnect with the healthy ing Agro-Ecology’: The Indian Society food traditions of India. for Agro-Ecology along with the Cen- tre for Sustainable Agriculture held a Urban gardening workshops: Work- shops were organized for people to Scientific Conference which included Biodiversity on Display at Chandigarh 7

Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Minister for Women and Child Development, and a fervent organic farming supporter, participated for a few hurs in the Convention and released a copy of OFAI’s new Organic Seed Sourcebook prepared by Shamika Mone take up kitchen gardening based on for the produce to also be tested and We need to advance, but, we need organic principles. for us to have the capacity to do so. to know that the advancement and Cultural programmes: Cultural pro- This will ensure that the organic food progress is not about reaching a posi- grammes were organised which included is labeled and through this we would tion where we are facing destruction. the famous singer Rabbi Shergill perform- be able to provide better returns to our Organic farming is not about learning ing on the opening day of the Convention. farmers. anything new; it is about stopping all We are creating facilities to produce good those things that we are doing which Publications: Books and CDs/DVDs were are destructive. If we can ensure that launched, displayed and sold. compost and also tying them up with our solid waste management programmes. We the farmer gets good returns, then we Many parallel sessions were organised each will ensure that we make a ‘Jaivik Kheti’ can make him adopt these ideas. day, broken up into technical and policy - policy in this state. We will ensure that we Today, the governments pay heed to the level themes - Organic Farming Policies & foster and facilitate the local varieties of the market forces when they are organised. So, Implementation, Agro-Toxins and Environ- cattle. We are looking at traditional breeds we too need to get organised. As an Agri- mental Health, Adivasi Agriculture, Plant of cattle to provide better returns to the culture Minister, my biggest concern is how Protection, Water, GMOs and Organic farmers.” to organize the market for farmers. This is Farming, Biodiversity and Crop Planning, the challenge I face every day. When the Soil, Organic Certification and Market- Shri Om Prakash Dhankar, Minister for Agriculture, Govt of Haryana added that, farmers can directly reach the consumers ing, Seed Sovereignty, Livestock especially and ensure their command and influence in Indigenous Breeds, Women in Organic Ag- “The Chief Minister is himself a farmer who is sensitive to the issues of farmers. I the market, we will be able to do something riculture, Smallholders and Organic Farm- serious.” ing, Organic farming in School Education, have known Shri Umendra for three de- and Crop Planning & Innovative Practices, cades. In 2005, we organized a convention so that all delegates could choose a topic of for farmers here and did a review of the For detailed reports including four decades of Green Revolution. The their interest and join a discussion on the individual event reports like same, for learning, for voicing their views situation of our farming was very different and experience and for policy influencing. before 1965. We got new fertilisers followed seed festival report, declara- by high yielding varieties and then came the Shri Manohar Lal Khattar, Hon’ble Chief pesticides. We could get many technolo- tions by the organic farming Minister, Govt of Haryana said about gies and were able to provide food to the community and scientists, the occasion, “I am happy to have nation, but the by-product of this has been discussions in each sessions people from all parts of the country the cancer and other forms of illness. Today, here today. We have tried to create a even our elite farmers have stopped eating along with the entire fund few opportunities and have in the pro- what they grow and instead consume food mobilisation, please visit the cess also created a few challenges for from other parts of the country where there website link. ourselves. Of the issues that we have is relatively lower usage of chemicals. Wher- created for ourselves, one is the suffo- ever there is a high usage of Bt, there is also cation of the very soil. Organic farming a large increase in suicide rate. is a solution to this problem. We need https://kavithakuruganti.files. to ensure that organic farming is being When I got visitors from Monsanto, I told wordpress.com/2015/10/5th- them that we feed cotton oilcake to our promoted in Haryana. We want to get national-organic-farming- at least 10 percent of all our land under buffaloes and this has an effect on our milk. organic farming each year. Perhaps, I asked them if they have studied the impact convention_report-oct2015- of this. They haven’t done any such study it will be possible for us to do it in for-uploading5.pdf phases. Till now, our testing labs have so far. I had their representatives meet me only been testing the soil. I have asked again but there was no response from them. 8 In FOND memory India’s organic farming movement loses three great organic farming pioneers in the brief span of a few months. Not a nice thing to happen. But the good news is many young people are moving in with great enthusiasm to take their place.

D D Bharamadoudra Bhasker Save O.P. rupela

A native of Yalavatti village in Shi- Bhaskarbhai Save, aged 93, left this There are hardly any words to de- rahatti taluk of Gadag district, D.D. world on Oct 24, 2015. Born on 27th scribe the grief and sense of loss that Bharamagoudra was a pioneer in January, 1922, Bhaskar Save inspired the entire community of organic initiating organic farming in rain-fed and mentored 3 generations of or- farming/ecological agriculture move- areas and also motivated many to fol- ganic farmers. , ment in India is experiencing after low him. the legendary Japanese natural farmer, hearing the news of the sudden and He was the first president of the Or- described Save’s farm as “the best in tragic demise of Dr O P Rupela, a ganic Farming Association of India, the world, even better than my own friend and guide to hundreds in the and served the association for two farm!” It is a veritable food forest and movement. terms. He was also a respected mem- a net supplier of water, energy and We remember him as a strong sup- ber of the Organic Farming Mission fertility to the local ecosystem, rather porter in most of our endeavours. set up by the BJP government in the than a net consumer. Whether it was a high-profile confer- State. In 2010, the International Federa- ence or a closed door lobbying meet- He was also honoured with ‘Karnata- tion of Organic Agriculture Move- ing, or action research in farmers’ ka Rajyotsava’ award and was known ments (IFOAM) – the world-wide fields or reviewing a book being pre- as a resource person on organic farm- umbrella body of organic farmers and pared, or giving his inputs in design- ing. movements – honoured Save with ing and implementation of a research the ‘One World Award for Lifetime study, or training a group of farmers Apart from being a pioneer in grow- Achievement’. Its jury declared, “He is or NGO frontline workers, there was ing cotton and chillis under organic one of the most outstanding person- not a single time when Dr Rupela farming in rain-fed areas, he had also alities in the organic world.” turned down any request. worked towards preserving native varieties of seeds. Save’s way of farming and teachings As a scientist, he was that rare breed were rooted in his deep understand- who had enormous humility and abil- A few years ago, DD, as he was popu- ing of the symbiotic relationships in ity to learn from every situation – he larly known, found he had a serious nature, which he was ever happy to would keep telling again and again heart problem. He submitted to a share freely and enthusiastically with unhesitatingly in all fora that farmers heart operation in Bangalore. He anyone interested. The farm yield – in like Subhash Sharma are his “Gurus”. came out of it and soon gathered all aspects of total quantity, nutri- His readiness in admitting that he did his strength. Very soon, he was back tional quality, taste, biological diver- not know something, his eagerness again at his favourite work: travel- sity, ecological , water to learn new things and his amazing ling, meeting farmers, advising those conservation, energy efficiency, and humility with regard to the enormous who wished to move out of chemical economic profitability – is superior to knowledge that he carried are rarities farming. any farm using chemicals, while costs amongst human beings, leave alone He had just returned from a fam- (mainly labour for harvesting) are scientists. ily outing abroad, when the call minimal, and external inputs almost He will continue to be our guide and came. zero. inspiration in our work, and we hope Since 2014, a residential Natural to imbibe his values so that we may Farming Learning Centre (www. fulfill our collective dream of ecologi- bhaskarsavenftc.in) has been of- cal agriculture in India, led by em- fering 6 day long introductory powered farmers. Our greatest tribute courses (in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati to him would be by taking forward The Living Field is printed and published by & English) at Bhaskar Save’s farm. the mission with strength, and we OFAI for private circulation to OFAI life need to do so. members only. - Bharat Mansata - Kavitha Kuruganti Editor: Claude Alvares