Deccan Development Society [DDS], which works with over 5000 ecological women farmers in the Medak District, has the proud privilege of being the first agency in India to secure the formal approval by the PGS Organic India to use the PGS Organic logo on the farm produce cultivated by its farmers.

DDS firmly believes that the small and marginal farmers, especially in the rainfed regions of the country, have been organic farmers by design and commitment. The roots of their ecological agriculture can be found in their deep respect for Mother Earth and her well-being. They have been following this for generations, in spite of the assault of the government policies guided by the Green Revolution ideology.

Therefore we feel it is incredibly cruel that as the word organic has started gaining currency in this country, the women and men, small and marginal, dalits and adivasis in the far corners of India have been once again marginalized, as the organic market space has been forcibly occupied by greedy and predatory corporates. While millions of Indian farmers have been steadfast in their commitment to organic agriculture, the Organic India website of the Government of India counts only 5000 farmers as organic in this vast nation. This can only be termed as  collusion between the government and the corporate sector.

This sleight of hand is possible because the Government recognises only those farmers who have been certified as organic by extortionist certification agencies that have been authorized by the government. The extent of this extortion can be imagined when we realize that some certification agencies charge up to Rs.11000 per acre to certify a farm as organic. Can any small and marginal farmer afford this usurious system? As a consequence, they have fallen through the cracks in the system and to their horror, find rank outsiders being certified as organic. Those very people, who stood in the middle of their toxic chemical farms and mocked at the organic struggle of the small, today preen themselves as organic producers and harvest the new wealth in the elite organic markets. 

In order to fight this extraordinary injustice, DDS has consistently struggled for a community certification system as against the Third Party System that has sidelined the truly organic. In this struggle, the Deccan Development Society has networked with other civil society groups who have seen organic market as an expression of community consciousness and not as corporate colonialism. As a result of this effort, the conscious organic movement in this country has given birth to two major institutions called the Organic Farming Association of India and the PGS Organic Council of India.

The PGS Organic Council of India , in collaboration with the International Forum for Organic Agriculture Movement [IFOAM], the largest international organic movement, FAO and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has started a new certification system that is totally controlled and monitored by farmers themselves. Hundreds of such farmers’ groups have been in existence in the country for the past one year in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh etc.

In this process, farmers form themselves into organic groups, document their practices, monitor one another and self-certify the organic nature of their farming. This liberates them from the clutches of the mercenary certification agencies and their manipulations. In turn farmers grow in confidence that the nation reposes trust in their desire and commitment to be organic.

As a part of this process, Deccan Development Society has received the first formal permission from the PGS Organic Council of India to use the Organic Produce emblem on the produce they market. DDS currently operates 42 organic groups on a pilot basis for the PGS system. These farmers do not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Their farmers are biodiverse and use farmer-saved seeds. This combination of non-chemical farming, biodiversity, farm-saved seeds, non-entry to genetically engineered crops and respectful nurturing of Mother Earth is what entitles the farmers of DDS to the use of the PGS Organic logo.

The market owned and managed by about 2000 women farmers of the DDS will from now on use the PGS Organic logo on the produce that they sell in their local as well as the Hyderabad markets.

This has been a triumph of the small.

p v satheesh