Redefining success: the political ecology of genetically modified and organic cotton as solutions to agrarian crisis

Abstract

The transnational spread of law and technology in Indian agricultural development has passed through three distinct phases since the mid-19 th century. In each case, a narrative of agrarian crisis allowed for new state and corporate interventions, conceived by American and British agribusiness, within the existing logics of Indian smallholder agriculture. These begun with colonial British industrial cotton projects in the 1840s, continuing with Green Revolution agriculture, and on contemporary GM and organic cotton farms. In each case, farmers developed strategies through a frictive, contentious adoption of new technologies and built new avenues to success that worked for some farmers and failed for others. In this article I draw on ethnographic fieldwork and household surveys conducted in nine villages from 2012-2014 in Telangana, India. As with previous development initiatives, the US-born legal structures that defined high-tech GM and low-tech organic agriculture were adopted in India without major changes. I argue, however that their actual implementation by farmers has required a significant shift in the ways that people manage the agricultural economy. Keywords: Genetically Modified crops, organic agriculture, development, South India RésuméLa diffusion transnationale de droit et de la technologie dans le développement agricole indien a passé par trois phases distinctes depuis le milieu du 19ème siècle. Dans chaque cas, un récit de la crise agraire a permis de nouvelles interventions de l'Etat et des entreprises, conçu par l'agro-industrie américaine et britannique, dans les logiques existantes de la petite agriculture indienne. Ceux-ci commencé avec des projets de coton industriel britanniques dans les années 1840, la poursuite de la révolution verte, et avec l'utilisation contemporaine des variétés GM et le coton biologique. Dans chaque cas, les agriculteurs ont développé des stratégies grâce à une adoption controversée de nouvelles technologies et construit de nouvelles avenues à succès qui ont travaillé pour certains agriculteurs et échoué pour d'autres. Dans cet article, je tire sur des enquêtes de terrain et des ménages ethnographiques menées dans neuf villages 2012-2014 dans Telangana, en Inde. Comme avec les initiatives de développement antérieures, les structures juridiques des États-Unis qui ont défini de haute technologie (GM) et low-tech (agriculture biologique) ont été adoptées en Inde sans changements majeurs. Je soutiens cependant que leur mise en oeuvre par les agriculteurs a nécessité un changement important dans la façon dont les gens gèrent l'économie agricole. Mots-clés: cultures génétiquement modifiées, l'agriculture biologique, le développement, Inde du Sud ResumenLa difusión transnacional de las leyes y la tecnología en el desarrollo agrícola en India ha tenido tres fases desde la mitad del siglo XIX. En cada caso, una narrativa de crisis agraria permitió nuevas intervenciones estatales y corporativas, concebidas por la industria agraria estadounidense y británica, en la lógi...

“Show Farmers”: Transformation and Performance in Telangana, India

“…Under ideal circumstances, some (Forster et al. ) suggest that organic cultivation yield is not far below that seen with GMOs, although the yields for organic cotton are lower than those for Bt cotton in these Telangana villages (Flachs ). This is not necessarily because organic cotton lacks Bt toxin defenses.…”

“…Most farmers in the three villages received benefits in the form of seeds, jobs, equipment, loans, or consultations from the NGO that facilitated their organic agriculture (Flachs ). These fringe benefits, along with social rewards that are more difficult to quantify, ease or incentivize the transition to organic agriculture.…”

“…In the first time [the cotton yield] came very well, but they kept giving the same seed…we don't want to take from them anymore.” In the absence of clearly defined rewards, the organic farmers in this hamlet no longer had any reason to plant organic cotton seed or perform their organic transformation. Organic agriculture is much lower yielding than conventional cotton agriculture in Telangana, especially in the absence of subsidized inputs and guaranteed markets (Flachs ). “They are defaulters,” lamented Arjuna, Prakruti's district coordinator.…”

The relevance of political ecology perspectives for smallholder Climate-Smart Agriculture: a review

“…For example, Glover (2007) describes the Monsanto Smallholder Program, in which the US-based transnational biotechnology company implemented a package of agricultural extension support to smallholders in selected developing countries in 1999, but appeared to exploit their vulnerability. Other Bt cotton impact studies in India have found that the higher prices charged for GM seeds, monopoly over technology acquisition and complex patent rights had elevated farming and socio-economic risks for the poorest farmers (Flachs 2016;Glover 2010;Ramasundaram et al 2007). While the dominance of multinational companies has created new commercial markets for seeds, technology and agrichemicals, the benefits have gone to a small group of farmers, in a few developed countries (Wield et al 2010).…”

Farmers, Subalterns, and Activists: Social Politics of Sustainable Agriculture in India, by TrentBrown. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2018. Pp. xii+202. £75. ISBN 978‐1‐108‐42510‐0

“…While the book charts relevant literature convincingly, there are nevertheless surprising omissions, such as the work of Daniel Münster () dealing with Zero Budget Natural Farming in Kerala; Sapna Thottathil's () work on organic agriculture in Kerala; Andrew Flachs' () work on organic experimentation in the context of agrarian crisis in Telangana; or Elizabeth Louis' () work on the Deccan Development Society, which reveals this organization's much less illustrious relations to rural communities than Brown suggests in passing (p. 177). These are examples of research drawing upon sustained fieldwork in the agrarian political economy and political ecology traditions that also attempt uncovering inconsistencies and actually existing patterns of agrarian experimentation in the neoliberal juncture in India.…”