Integrating Farmer Producer Organisations in Sikkim Organic Mission: Opportunities, Challenges and Policy Measures

Abstract

Sikkim, a small mountainous state in the northeast region of India launched an organic mission in 2003 and aimed to become fully organic by 2015. Since organic farming was being traditionally practised by most of the Sikkimese farmers since ages, adoption of organic farming in the state was not a difficult task. In 2016, Sikkim was declared “India’s first fully organic state”. However, even after achieving the organic tag, Sikkimese crops have not been able to reach high-value organic markets at a larger scale. Most crops are sold within the state at local markets or roadside-stalls. Production, processing and marketing of organic crops under existing farmer collectives like Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) will further boost the organic mission and benefit the farmers. With the help of a primary survey among 60 organic farmers in Sikkim, this paper first identifies the constraints faced by organic farmers existing still after the launch of organic mission and then advocates role and necessity of existing Farmer Producer Organisations to enhance the mission. On the basis of mean score, constraints in order of severity were lack of reliable marketing channels (2.87), low yield(2.67), incidence of pests and diseases (2.40), competition from non-organic food (2.33), lower profitability compared to conventional farming (2.20), exploitation by middlemen (2.12), high transportation costs (1.98), lack of knowledge about bio-inputs and technology (1.90), lack of storage and processing facilities (1.87) and timely access to seeds (1.68).