Does Organic Farming Provide a Viable Alternative for Smallholder Rice Farmers in India?

Abstract

Smallholder rice farming is characterized by low returns and substantial environmental impact. Conversion to organic management and linking farmers to fair trade markets could offer an alternative. Engaging in certified cash-crop value chains could thereby provide an entry path to simultaneously reduce poverty and improve environmental sustainability. Based on comprehensive data from a representative sample of approximately 80 organic and 80 conventional farms in northern India, we compared yield and profitability of the main rotation crops over a period of five years. Contrary to the widespread belief that yields in organic farming are inevitably lower, our study shows that organic farmers achieved the same yields in cereals and pulses as conventional farmers, with considerably lower external inputs. Due to 45% lower production costs and higher sales prices, organic basmati cultivation was 105% more profitable than cultivating ordinary rice under conventional management. However, since holdings are small and the share of agricultural income of total household income is declining, conversion to organic basmati farming alone will not provide households a sufficiently attractive perspective into the future. We propose that future efforts to enhance the long-term viability of rice-based organic farming systems in this region focus on diversification involving higher value crops.

Contemporary Challenges to the Organic Farming: A Polish and Hungarian Case Study

“…One of the barriers to establishing and running organic farms, namely high production costs, was not included in the discriminant function model. These results are consistent with those presented by Batyk [40] and Frank et al [73], with information that there are much lower material and money inputs for agricultural production in the organic way of farming. The production costs were most likely not that important because both Polish and Hungarian agriculture is not yet so developed and innovative.…”

UK Consumers’ Preferences for Ethical Attributes of Floating Rice: Implications for Environmentally Friendly Agriculture in Vietnam

“…"Rice is an emerging [fair trade] product" [45], such that the fragrance and flavor characteristics of some rice varieties have facilitated fair trade certification [27,46], earning a premium price. Studies have provided evidence that farmers can receive significantly higher gross margins for specialty rice varieties that are produced using environmentally friendly methods [35,47]. This enables smallholders to earn a higher income and improve their livelihoods without jeopardizing their family's food security.…”

Benchmarking the performance of organic farming in India

“…No doubt the differences can occur in the performance of organic farming and conventional farming which leads to a diverse conclusion across the various regions. In the work of Uematsu and Mishra (2012) it has been observed that the certified organic farmers' income is not significantly higher than conventional, in a contrary study by Eyhorn, van den Berg, Decock, Maat, and Srivastava (2018) it is conclusively shown that organic farming gives the same yield with higher efficiency than the conventional farming. Das et al (2017) estimated 7 years of organic farming effect on soil and crop yield in the eastern Himalaya part of India, their findings reveal that organic farming is beneficial for soil yield, sustainable productivity, and production quality.…”