Market Access in India for Organic and Natural Produce: CSE
Date & Time Jun 21, 2023, 04:00 PM in India
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is a public interest research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi. CSE researches into, lobbies for and communicates the urgency of development that is both sustainable and equitable.
The scenario today demands using knowledge to bring about change. In other words, working India’s democracy. This is what we aim to do.The challenge, we see, is two-pronged. On the one hand, millions live within a biomass based subsistence economy, at the margins of survival.
The environment is their only natural asset. But a degraded environment means stress on land, water and forest resources for survival. It means increasing destitution and poverty. Here, opportunity to bring about change is enormous.But it will need a commitment to reform – structural reform- in the way we do business with local communities.
On the other hand, rapid industrialization is throwing up new problems: growing toxification and a costly disease burden. The answers will be in reinventing the growth model of the Western world for ourselves, so that we can leapfrog technology choices and find new ways of building wealth that will not cost us the earth.
Our aim is to raise these concerns, participate in seeking answers and in pushing for answers, transforming these into policy and so practice. We do this through our research and by communicating our understanding through our publications. We call this knowledge-based activism. We hope we will make a difference.
India’s journey towards producing food without chemicals is gaining momentum. In the last few years, governments at the Centre and a few states have been more vocal about the need to promote organic and natural farming. While plans and policies are coming up, it is on-ground implementation that will determine their degree of success.
Two key issues need to be addressed: farmers must be helped in their transition to non-chemical ways of farming, and they must have assured access to markets to sell their produce at good prices. While most ongoing initiatives focus on the transition through capacity-building and incentives, a lot needs to be done to provide better markets through a structured approach. Access to markets should no longer be a barrier for India’s organic and natural farming movement.
To discuss this, join us and our experts at a webinar which will build upon our latest report – Market Access for Organic and Natural Produce. The report includes six selected case studies from three key stakeholder groups — farmer-producer organisations, retail corporations and state governments.
Get your copy of the report before the webinar here
Know more about the speakers here
The webinar is open to all who are interested in the subject of organic and natural produce and the question of market access for it.
For more details, Contact:
Anamika Yadav
anamika.yadav@cseindia.org
+91 7838161625
