Agriculture: Much More than a Business Opportunity

October 5, 2017
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| Agriculture & Farming Cooperative, Center of Development, Education, Empowering Women, Food in India, Health & Wellness, Life in India, Natural Resource Management, Reflections, Social Enterprise, Social Fund

In my previous entry we learned about the global economic contribution of agriculture.  IMG_6646Despite the significance of its contribution to the wealth of nations, agriculture-and the preservation of the trade-has much more to offer, especially to Indian society.  In many articles I’ve found online, both scholarly and less formal, agriculture has often been referred to as a way of life in India.  Authors Singh and Chetri emphasize that agriculture is much more than a business-it “defines cultural identity, drives individual and collective behavior, shapes socio-economic practices and creates a sense of community” [1].

Though its roots can be traced back to ancient civilization, agriculture, since its inception, has been a sign of modernization.  Throughout its long history the trade has seen its fair share of innovations and technological advances-from ox drawn sledges and wooden ploughs to harvesting sickles and crop rotation to reservoirs and other forms of water storage[2][3].  The shift from hunter-gatherer societies to those based in agriculture dates back to the year 10,000 B.C.  This new agrarian system allowed humans to settle in one area for longer periods of time; thus population boomed, giving way to new adaptive processes and methods of farming at nearly every era of history [4].  It also allowed for the division of labor giving rise to new skills and trades and, unfortunately, a furthering of the gap between the rich and poor-a phenomenon experienced in nearly every society around the world [4].  Land ownership was often directly related to position in society with the largest landholders occupying the upper castes and those without land the lowest [5].  Despite this, agriculture is still much revered by Indian society today.  The threats facing the industry are not only a cause for economic concern but for cultural concern as well.

A blog dedicated to promoting farming initiatives throughout the nation lauds India as culturally diverse.  This diversity, the author explains, depends in large part on agriculture as “almost all cultural traditions, arts, and music have its agrarian inspiration, source, and origin” [6].  Reiterating what many have said in the past, agriculture is a way of life in India and has had much to offer over its long history: passed from one generation to the next, agriculture and farming has helped retain ancestral values of Indian society teaching the importance of community and family, ethical treatment of animals and nature, and upholding the values of selflessness, unity, inventiveness, and adaptability.  This way of life based on heritage and commitment to communal values is slowly fading away, however, due to the urbanization and westernization of Indian society [6].  Big agribusiness has come to rule the day in the form of seemingly more efficient chemical fertilizers and pesticides and a transition to mono- and cash cropping.  Such developments in the agricultural world have contributed to its shift from a multi-dimensional asset to society to nothing more than a business venture.  An article titled “The Culture of Agriculture” laments: a “technocratic and large scale approach ends up with the demise of the family farm, livelihoods and community; food is a cultural, not a technological product, and a destruction of culture, which is more than relics or ornaments, invokes calamity for us all” [7].  Already, the effects of big business in agriculture are being seen worldwide, especially in the form of harm to the environment-arguably another aspect of a nation’s culture.  Overtime, humans have cultivated approximately 7,000 species of plants.  Seventy-five percent of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops has been lost, however, over the last century.  Today, just 30 crops provide 95% of our food needs [8].

These changes in the agricultural industry have been hurting small farmers around the world.  India is no exception.  With these changes come less investment in smallholder farmers and more time and resources spent on large agribusinesses which promote the use of harmful farming methods and tools.  As a result, many regions within India are going through what some refer to as an identity crisis.  There is hope yet as organizations like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations recognize the importance and impact of traditional methods of farming.  The FAO calls for the preservation of such traditions via Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) which work to promote awareness and recognition of the relationship between culture and agriculture on a global scale [9].  Sustainable agriculture initiatives can serve as a path towards restoring India’s past time and helping people to see it for what it can be-not a step backward but a leap forward in the form of new, adaptive, and safe technological and methodological innovations that preserve a nation’s identity and culture.

Sources:

[1]https://books.google.com/books?id=yiglDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR12&lpg=PR12&dq=india%27s+cultural+identity+and+agriculture&source=bl&ots=qxyV4LX4F8&sig=2EOaOiYZvSTRrZxi9KETQDdzgDQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQv_KBhcjVAhUQwmMKHa1TAf8Q6AEIVDAH#v=onepage&q=india%27s%20cultural%20identity%20and%20agriculture&f=false

[2] http://www.agriculturalproductsindia.com/agro/history.html

[3] http://www.thisismyindia.com/ancient_india/ancient-india-agriculture.html

[4] http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001003/100310e.pdf

[5] http://asiasociety.org/education/indian-society-and-ways-living

[6] https://tourdefarm.in/blog/agriculture-the-true-culture-of-india-disappearing-from-our-life/

[7] http://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/wendell-berry/

[8] http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/16725-putting-the-culture-back-in-agriculture-reviving-native-food-and-farming-traditions

[9] http://www.fao.org/in-action/accenting-the-culture-in-agriculture/en/