Before Independence, entire agriculture was practiced using organic techniques in India. Instead of chemical fertilizers and pesticides they were obtained from plant and animal products. During 1950’s and 1960’s, due to increasing population and several natural calamities lead to severe food scarcity in India. To prevent scarcity, the government was forced to import food grains. The Green Revolution became the governments most important program in the 1960’s to increase food security. In this program, several hectares of land were brought under cultivation and hybrid seeds were introduced and chemical fertilizers and pesticides were used instead of organic ones. Large chemical factories were established to meet the demand for the fertilizers. Almost three decades later, in 1990’s, India had surplus food grains and once again started exporting food grains.
But due to extensive use of chemicals the land started losing its fertility and increased the burden of farmers to use stronger pesticides and incurring more debt, which has lead many into debt trap. Today many farmers are shifting back to organic farming realizing the huge potential in domestic and international market. Though the health benefits of organic foods are not clinically proven many believe it’s good for their health. There are more retailers trading organic foods and consumers are willing to pay a premium price for such products. Organic food products are sold at around 20 to 30 percent higher price than non-organic foods. This is on the higher side for middle class population and they either do not buy such products or do not buy on a regular basis. But for international market Indian organic foods are in demand as the labor cost is low compared to developed countries where labor cost is very high. There are about 15,000 certified organic farmers in India. And this is increasing as many farmers realize the potential for the organic food market. The production costs are expected to reduce as many farmers switch to organic farming. This would make India leading sourcing hub for organic food internationally and increase consumption of organic food in domestic market as prices decrease.
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