The impacts on Indian farmers when converting to organic cotton production : an organisation theory perspective

Abstract: Changes in the environment are affecting the world market, and pressures from several stakeholders’ are forcing different enterprises to adjust to the current situation. Farmers’ difficult working conditions and environmental impacts of the conventional cotton production in India have been highlighted. The small-scale production that is characterising India’s cotton farmers implies an insufficient competition power. Conventional farming is thus, and due to high input costs, leaving farmers with a low and uncertain income. A suicide wave was reported by media, as a consequence of the high debts that the farmers ended up with when borrowing money to afford the chemicals. By interviewing six farmers about the change to organic certified cotton production, this thesis takes an organisational perspective to investigate farmers’ living and working situation. Through semi structured interviews, qualitative data from six farmers in Warangal, district of Andhra Pradesh in India, was collected. The thesis concludes that the main differences of the change to organic cotton production are the pest control and the fertilising process, since organic production implies no use of synthetic chemicals. In order for a farmer to go through with the change new information and knowledge is required, and which the study states is a limiting resource that farmers need help with. Thus, different NGOs are working to support farmers in the changing process. However, the corporation with an organisation will put farmers in a new situation where they need to adjust to a third party. Throughout the interviews it became clear that the farmers’ main reasons to go through with the change were to receive a higher and more secure income. In conjunction with the change the farmers became a part of a network, which they highly appreciate. The network provides them with access to knowledge and also a better power on the market, since they are buying their inputs and selling their harvest in a group. The change has further, mainly affected the farmers basic needs, this has probably to do with their difficulties in meeting those before the change. As a result of the change, some farmers did however state that they also feel more self-confident.