Keralahas seen considerable fluctuation in its organic Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture (OA) policy and this has resulted in concurrent high levels of entry into and exit from the agriculture sector, says a study by a group of international researchers with support from Kerala agriculture scientists.
The case study was done with farmer interviews, focus groups and experts, focusing on Thrissur andWayanaddistricts. The researchers developed a typology of organic farmers and formed them into three core groups wealthy hobby farmers, poorer non-certified farmers, and middle class export farmers.
The study was led byVerena Seufertof University of Hohenheim, Germany, and Navin Ramankutty of University of British Columbia, Canada, et al along with Dr Kunhamu TK, Kerala Agriculture University,Wayanad Social Service Society, Raasta, Organic Wayanad and Fair-Trade Asssociation Kerala among others.
The study recommended that policy support for OA should primarily target non-certified farmers, who are the poorest group and have a strong ideological commitment to OA and are thus likely to persist with it in the long term.