What have policies geared toward economic liberalisation in common with South Asia's famed Green Revolution in advanced agricultural technology and farm modernisation? Both have eaten away at the diversity of crop and livestock varieties to be found in the region. A report published by the International Institute for Environment and Development highlights the diversity inherent in India's crop plants and livestock breeds. It connects this richness to versatile patterns of farming on the sub-continent and warns of increasing depletion of both under pressure from liberalisation, citing examples from many locations and suggesting agricultural planners take note of policy implications.

Thanks to much methodical crossbreeding and adaptation in the past, India's agriculture boasts a substantial heritage of biodiversity. Since antiquity a host of economic, cultural, religious and survival factors have reinforced such diversification. By the late 19th Century, the pervasive influence of a colonial administration was overriding highly evolved and integrated traditional agricultural practices. The Green Revolution in the 1960s meant agricultural project managers sought more and more to homogenise growing conditions and promote uniform agricultural landscapes. The profit motive and a food scarcity situation superseded a traditional imperative for sustainable agriculture. Factors that have contributed to loss of agricultural biodiversity over time include:

• disruption of native agricultural habitats and traditional livelihoods by side-effects of rural-urban migration and development projects
• changing social and religious norms and methods of cultivation
• overgrazing by cattle
• economic policies which favour homogenised farming practices
• mechanised clearance of bunds and hedgerows
• near universal transformations in consumption habits.

Dwindling agricultural biodiversity threatens Indian agriculture's long-term sustainability. International calls for reductions in governmental controls and the dominance of multinational and domestic agribusiness will further erode diversity and could marginalise Indian farmers who resist modernisation. The report calls for a more pro-diversity agricultural approach to be reinstated. Some aspects of current circumstances favour this, viz:

• Green Revolution technology and practices have still not yet spread to all regions and districts of India.
• Limitations to commercial hybrid breeds and varieties mean many farmers have reverted to old practices.
• An oft-criticised 'backward' mentality among farmers cloaks tacit resistance to changes seen as unwise.
• Many farmers continue to grow both commercial and traditional varieties in mixtures that suit them.

Commending a practical framework to determine the viability of a national 'diverse crop regime', the report outlines a series of policy measures to encourage diversity as a goal of agricultural production, while also achieving farmer self-sufficiency. It divides the 'critical measures' required for this process, into three broad categories:

• research and awareness measures, such as pro-diversity R&D programmes and re-education of officials
• development and environment policies such as changing rural credit and subsidy provision and making new agricultural development projects conditional on comprehensive environmental impact assessments.
• consumer policies, such as more diverse public sector catering, more direct producer - consumer linkages.

Source(s):
Conserving India's Agro-Biodiversity: Prospects and Policy Implications. > Gatekeeper Series No. 65, International Institute for Environment and > Development (iied)/ SIDA, Ashish Kothari (1997) >

Funded by: Kalpavriksh Environmental Action Group, Indian Institute of Public Administration. This research is on-going.

id21 Research Highlight: 1998-Apr-13

Further Information:
Ashish Kothari
Apartment 5
Shree Dutta
Krupa 908
Deccan
Gymkhana
Pune 411004
India

Tel: 91-212-354239
Fax: 91-212-354239
Contact the contributor: ashish@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), UK

Other related links:
Gatekeeper series, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), UK