Sleeping Buddha

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During my first trip to India in 1992 I also visited Sikkim, a small Indian state north of Darjeeling, with its beautiful Buddhist monasteries and forest areas.
The region renowned for its natural beauty, dominated by Kanchenjunga, the world´s third highest mountain, has now become famous for being a state with 100% organic agriculture since 2016.
This vision was perceived and realized by Shri Parawan Chamling, a farm boy from Sikkim, who, after a stellar political career, became chief minister of Sikkim in 1994, is now in his fifth term and has been named "India´s greenest chief minister“.

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Sikkim´s Way

2003
Sikkim reduces subsidy for chemical fertilizers by 10 %. The Sikkim Organic Board is constituted.

2003-2009
State adopts 396 villages as bio-villages to test organic inputs.

2010
Sikkim Organic Mission is launched to fast-track conversion of Sikkim into a 100 per cent organic state

2012-13
Organic farming is included in school curriculum

2015
The entire agricultural area in the state is converted to certified organic.

2016
Sikkim is formally declared a 100 per cent organic state.

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If you read up on the subject you will find that not all is roses and unicorns in Sikkim.
From raving reviews by environmentalists to critical reviews by scientists fearing food security being sacrificed to ideology, the “truth“ might be somewhere in the middle, the truth one subscribes to also depending on one´s belief system.

If you believe that the "green revolution“ with its heavy use of agro-chemical products leads to soil depletion, environmental pollution and degrades Indian farmers to slaves of the agro-industrial complex then you will be all for Organic Sikkim.

If you believe that only conventional chemical agriculture can feed the world then you will be worried about crop failures and pest attacks, real world problems, Sikkim had and still has to deal with on its path to a successful organic agriculture.


Sikkim consumers were also not really prepared to pay the higher prices for organic products, so the farmers were struggling to market their products. In some kind of "genius socialist" move the government of Sikkim decided to pass a law banning the import of non-organic food starting on April 1, 2018. Maybe the date itself rang a bell with them, or they somehow got it otherwise, but apparently they withdrew the bill in January 2018.

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Now don´t get me wrong.
Generally I am all for organic, I buy mostly organic food and hope that one day we will be back to the good old days where the question if food was organic did not even arise, because there was no chemical attacks on agriculture yet.

The problem is obviously the transition period.
And if you look at ideological experiments like the forced collectivisation and industrialisation of agriculture in the former Soviet Union or Mao´s Great Leap Forward in China, both with disastrous results, you can see why I am a bit worried when politicians are trying to save the world.
After all, the road to hell is still paved with good intentions.

I can understand though why Indian politicians wholeheartedly embraced the promises of the green revolution in the sixties, so India never again would experience disasters like the Bengal famine of 1943, in which some 3 million people starved to death. In those days of unlimited belief in human genius, progress and the ability to command nature at will, you would have been branded as backward and uncivilised by your electorate if you decided otherwise.

Today India is not so sure anymore about those promises. Climate change, soil depletion and the costs of agro-chemical products have put a heavy burden on conventional Indian farmers, leading sometimes to suicide by pesticide.

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Organic Sikkim

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To end this article on a more positive note let´s look at some of the achievements in Sikkim

100% organic agriculture, so no more poisoning of the environment

30% of the state territory are protected as national parks or nature reserves

Hunting and fishing is prohibited.

Cutting down trees is prohibited, the punishment is having to plant ten trees for each cut down tree.

Once a year the whole population participates in a tree planting campaign

All electrical energy comes from renewable sources (solar and hydro) and there is a surplus which is being exported

Avoiding garbage and recycling are a government priority, with a special awareness towards the use of plastics. At all state institutions and public venues water will only be served from glass bottles and in glasses.

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@ecotrain

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