Prachi Shukla | University of Calcutta (original) (raw)
Papers by Prachi Shukla
Organic Agriculture, 2024
Amidst the scenario of a general fall in agricultural employment vis-à-vis the increase in non-ag... more Amidst the scenario of a general fall in agricultural employment vis-à-vis the increase in non-agricultural employment as a part of the economic development process, a new trend is seen wherein the farm sector is receiving new-entrants- relatively younger population who are taking up farming after leaving non-primary sector jobs. India has been especially emphasized to tap the potential of its vast pool of human resource for agricultural growth. Agriculture employs the largest share of the country’s labourforce. However, the productivity of the sector is rapidly decreasing as compared to other sectors of the economy. Besides, there are growing concerns regarding the future approaches to agricultural development and more emphasis is being laid on the agroecological approach for revitalizing the farming scenario. Hence, a need is felt to understand the motivations and activities of new-entrant farmers as they shall guide the course of farming in the coming time. This study aims to understand the driving factors which cause the occupational transition among new-entrants with particular emphasis on adoption of organic farming. The data was collected from fifteen farmers who shared their stories via online conferences organized by an organic farming training center in north-Central India. Thematic analysis technique was used to process the data. The findings reveal that the switch to agriculture occurs due to dissatisfaction with earlier job, which is found less meaningful than farming; environmental consciousness and health concerns related to conventional agriculture; and the desire to fulfil social responsibilities by doing something ‘new’. The entry of young non-agriculturists in agriculture is a rewarding incidence if their practices are rooted in agroecological principles. This is because various dimensions of sustainability can be ensured by a combination of- farm entrepreneurship (addressing economics), organic farm practices (addressing farm-ecology) and, enhancement of social bonding within and outside the farm-family (addressing social capital), as is evidenced by the activities of the studied neo-farmers.
Humanities and Social Science Studies, 2023
The purpose of this study was to understand the problems farmers face in converting to organic fa... more The purpose of this study was to understand the problems farmers face in converting to organic farming. The arid, semi-arid, and drought-affected regions are emphasized for promotion of organic farming. The present work, hence, was done in a semi-arid drought-prone region of north-central India. It analyzed farmers' perception about organic farming and their experiences with it. The study was based on the narrative approach. Research participants were selected from such villages where organic farming was being promoted by a non-governmental organization. Two groups of farmers (adopters and non-adopters) were selected from five villages. Data was collected through direct interviews using a semi-structured survey schedule. Participants' narratives were coded using thematic analysis technique. Three themes were found to prevent organic conversion-economic vulnerability, scarcity of organic inputs, and lack of proper information. While the first two themes were critical for both groups of farmers, the non-adopters also experienced limited organic know-how. The study proposes following interventions for convenient adoption of organic farming-economic incentives for the transition period, more robust awareness campaigns, and suitable package of practices for growing organic crops.
IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2022
Background: Organic farming as a sustainable agricultural practice is gaining wide popularity in ... more Background: Organic farming as a sustainable agricultural practice is gaining wide popularity in India. However, the overall coverage of organic farming in the country is only 2%. The indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has resulted in severe decline in soil fertility, along with environmental pollution, death of beneficial insects, birds, soil microorganisms, etc., and has also posed serious threat to human health due to contamination of food by such chemicals. In order to understand the status of chemical and organic input use in Indian agriculture, this paper has attempted to calculate the growth rates in consumption of chemical and organic fertilizers and pesticides in the country in the last twenty years (2000-01 to 2020-21). A state/UT-wise analysis of the consumption trends have also been done. The states and UTs have been ordered as per their performance in terms of organic farming adoption. In the last section, important government organic policies have been reviewed using secondary data to find the relation between presence of government policy and area under organic farming in a state/UT. Materials and Methods: The growth rate of chemical and organic fertilizers/pesticides has been calculated using Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR). States and UTs have been assigned ranks with respect to organic farming adoption by using the Kendall's Ranking Coefficient Index. Political maps of India have been created using ArcMap 10.3 software. Simple bar graphs and Line Graphs prepared in MS-Excel have been used to represent other data. Results: Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) for India has shown that growth of bio-fertilizers as well as bio-pesticides (19.06 and 13.56 percent respectively) has been much higher than chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides (3.02 and 1.79 percent respectively). The application of total organic manure has declined slightly by 1.22 percent between 2007-08 and 2017-18. However, the use of vermin-compost has registered mani-fold rise of around 2400 percent in the same period. Kendall's composite index shows that the northeastern states have performed the best with minimum use of chemical fertilizers/pesticides per unit of gross cropped area. It was found that states/UTs having a separate organic farming policy along In the last section, the area under organic farming in different states/UTs and important government organic policies were reviewed.have been able to perform better with respect to adoption of organic farming than other states with no policies of their own.
Drafts by Prachi Shukla
I decided that I could not do better than watch the operations of these peasants and acquire thei... more I decided that I could not do better than watch the operations of these peasants and acquire their traditional knowledge as rapidly as possible. For the time being, therefore, I regarded them [Indian peasants] as my professors of agriculture.
Organic Agriculture, 2024
Amidst the scenario of a general fall in agricultural employment vis-à-vis the increase in non-ag... more Amidst the scenario of a general fall in agricultural employment vis-à-vis the increase in non-agricultural employment as a part of the economic development process, a new trend is seen wherein the farm sector is receiving new-entrants- relatively younger population who are taking up farming after leaving non-primary sector jobs. India has been especially emphasized to tap the potential of its vast pool of human resource for agricultural growth. Agriculture employs the largest share of the country’s labourforce. However, the productivity of the sector is rapidly decreasing as compared to other sectors of the economy. Besides, there are growing concerns regarding the future approaches to agricultural development and more emphasis is being laid on the agroecological approach for revitalizing the farming scenario. Hence, a need is felt to understand the motivations and activities of new-entrant farmers as they shall guide the course of farming in the coming time. This study aims to understand the driving factors which cause the occupational transition among new-entrants with particular emphasis on adoption of organic farming. The data was collected from fifteen farmers who shared their stories via online conferences organized by an organic farming training center in north-Central India. Thematic analysis technique was used to process the data. The findings reveal that the switch to agriculture occurs due to dissatisfaction with earlier job, which is found less meaningful than farming; environmental consciousness and health concerns related to conventional agriculture; and the desire to fulfil social responsibilities by doing something ‘new’. The entry of young non-agriculturists in agriculture is a rewarding incidence if their practices are rooted in agroecological principles. This is because various dimensions of sustainability can be ensured by a combination of- farm entrepreneurship (addressing economics), organic farm practices (addressing farm-ecology) and, enhancement of social bonding within and outside the farm-family (addressing social capital), as is evidenced by the activities of the studied neo-farmers.
Humanities and Social Science Studies, 2023
The purpose of this study was to understand the problems farmers face in converting to organic fa... more The purpose of this study was to understand the problems farmers face in converting to organic farming. The arid, semi-arid, and drought-affected regions are emphasized for promotion of organic farming. The present work, hence, was done in a semi-arid drought-prone region of north-central India. It analyzed farmers' perception about organic farming and their experiences with it. The study was based on the narrative approach. Research participants were selected from such villages where organic farming was being promoted by a non-governmental organization. Two groups of farmers (adopters and non-adopters) were selected from five villages. Data was collected through direct interviews using a semi-structured survey schedule. Participants' narratives were coded using thematic analysis technique. Three themes were found to prevent organic conversion-economic vulnerability, scarcity of organic inputs, and lack of proper information. While the first two themes were critical for both groups of farmers, the non-adopters also experienced limited organic know-how. The study proposes following interventions for convenient adoption of organic farming-economic incentives for the transition period, more robust awareness campaigns, and suitable package of practices for growing organic crops.
IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2022
Background: Organic farming as a sustainable agricultural practice is gaining wide popularity in ... more Background: Organic farming as a sustainable agricultural practice is gaining wide popularity in India. However, the overall coverage of organic farming in the country is only 2%. The indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has resulted in severe decline in soil fertility, along with environmental pollution, death of beneficial insects, birds, soil microorganisms, etc., and has also posed serious threat to human health due to contamination of food by such chemicals. In order to understand the status of chemical and organic input use in Indian agriculture, this paper has attempted to calculate the growth rates in consumption of chemical and organic fertilizers and pesticides in the country in the last twenty years (2000-01 to 2020-21). A state/UT-wise analysis of the consumption trends have also been done. The states and UTs have been ordered as per their performance in terms of organic farming adoption. In the last section, important government organic policies have been reviewed using secondary data to find the relation between presence of government policy and area under organic farming in a state/UT. Materials and Methods: The growth rate of chemical and organic fertilizers/pesticides has been calculated using Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR). States and UTs have been assigned ranks with respect to organic farming adoption by using the Kendall's Ranking Coefficient Index. Political maps of India have been created using ArcMap 10.3 software. Simple bar graphs and Line Graphs prepared in MS-Excel have been used to represent other data. Results: Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) for India has shown that growth of bio-fertilizers as well as bio-pesticides (19.06 and 13.56 percent respectively) has been much higher than chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides (3.02 and 1.79 percent respectively). The application of total organic manure has declined slightly by 1.22 percent between 2007-08 and 2017-18. However, the use of vermin-compost has registered mani-fold rise of around 2400 percent in the same period. Kendall's composite index shows that the northeastern states have performed the best with minimum use of chemical fertilizers/pesticides per unit of gross cropped area. It was found that states/UTs having a separate organic farming policy along In the last section, the area under organic farming in different states/UTs and important government organic policies were reviewed.have been able to perform better with respect to adoption of organic farming than other states with no policies of their own.
I decided that I could not do better than watch the operations of these peasants and acquire thei... more I decided that I could not do better than watch the operations of these peasants and acquire their traditional knowledge as rapidly as possible. For the time being, therefore, I regarded them [Indian peasants] as my professors of agriculture.