Certified or not? The everyday realities of the organic certification scheme in Uttarakhand, India

Keywords: Agroecology, organic farming, agriculture, India
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 69

Abstract

Standardization and certification of food products are a recent set of interventions that are globalizing the agri-food industry. This paper analyses how organic crop certification protocols and practices interact with the local farming beliefs, practices, and overall agroecology of the region. Based on an extensive ten-month ethnographic fieldwork involving in-depth and semi-structured interviews with the farming community of Uttarakhand, India, I argue in this paper that certification protocols and practices are inducing new kinds of anxieties among the small/subsistence farmers in the lower foothills of the Himalayas. On the one hand, these small farmers are facing challenges such as extreme weather events, out-migration, etc. and on the other, innovative approaches to farming such as 100% conversion to certified organic, are staring at them with uncertainty. Through a careful examination of the state-sponsored organic certification scheme (Paramparagrit Krishi Vikas Yojna) that has been extensively pushed by the state government, I examine the current status of small farmers in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. Furthermore, I also examine the challenges faced by the small farmers during the Covid-19 pandemic in this region.