On a cold winter’s day in January 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared Sikkim as the first organic farming state in India.
Seven years since then, and two decades since the then chief minister announced government policy to transform Sikkim to a completely organic farming state, the movement is faltering; low earnings and migration to towns mean farmers are leaving the profession, there is competition from cheaper non-organic produce from neighbouring states, several problems plague the supply chain for organic produce, and there are rumours of farmers in districts that border the neighbouring state of West Bengal moving back to chemical farming, and organic produce alone cannot sustain the state’s population, our reporting on the ground has found.
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“Only 11% of total land here is cultivable, this has also decreased because there has been development, road construction and different infrastructure is coming up,” said Laxuman Sharma of the horticulture department at Sikkim University. On the reducing numbers of farmers, he said that many people migrate to towns, and the population’s fertility rate is also low, which means a small rural population.
