Interacting with farmers and government officials in Sikkim to understand the ground realities, Gauri Sarin, founder, Bhumijaa, explores Sikkim’s journey to becoming a state with 100% organic agriculture.
Thoughts on my visit to Sikkim
- The objective of my visit was to see how Sikkim was faring as India’s first organic state. I met the head of Sikkim Organic Mission Mr Anbalagan, and the head of SICUN, Ganesh Rye, other officials, and farmers in East Sikkim.
- I’ve made recommendations to fill gaps the farming techniques. The need to form Farmer Producer Organizations and converting them into marketing outfits has to be addressed. Other issues include moving out traders from the system and creating direct linkage of farmer to consumers so as it may it a win win for all.
- Despite the many challenges, Sikkim’s organic experiment is worth observing to whether other states could follow it, however different the variables may be, including the size the government and the state.