Tibetan Organic Farming
[ Making Tibetan setttlements viable and sustainable through Development of Agriculture and its products. ]
BACKGROUND
Agriculture was the mainstay of Tibetan livelihood till the middle of the 20th century. Every village or family produced all its needs and led a life of self-sufficiency, embodying what Mahatma Gandhi termed as Gram Swarajya. More than 20 varieties of food-grains were grown.
Agriculture flourished in Tibet due to the abundance of natural resources. The Buddha's teaching has greatly influenced the Tibetan people way of life. As a result, nature is least disturbed and exploited out of human greed. This is the reason why scholar Rakra Thubchoy wrote: "Right from the beginning of time, the Snow Landers have never known famine."
The Gaden Phodrang government of Tibet had issued the "Decree for the Protection of Mountains and Rivers". Offerings were made to the lakes and rivers and ritual performed to appease the Guardian Deities of Land and Water in order to maintain soil fertility. A rich tradition of animal husbandry ensured plentiful dung for use as manure. Many villages had efficient irrigation networks. Tantric and occult rituals were performed to call down timely rain, protect harvests from hail storms and wild animals.
Then, in 1959, Tibet suffered the worst tragedy in its history, forcing H.H. the Dalai Lama and nearly 100,000 Tibetans into exile. H.H.the Dalai Lama suggested the Tibetans to live in cohesive units to avoid losing their culture and identity. With the generous assistance from the Government of India, 35 settlements for Tibetans were established. The main agriculture settlements are located in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Jammu & Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh.
At that time the green revolution became fashionable throughout India. Unaware of the long term consequences of chemical farming, the Tibetans too adopted this method resulting in soil degradation, health problems and decreasing crop yields. These have compelled the settlers to migrate in search of steady income, placing severe strains on family stability and children's development. Worse still, most of the educated youths set off to pursue more lucrative jobs. These developments are fraught with danger for the very survival of the settlements. The crucial point being when we return to Tibet, the settlers will have no skills or experiences to contribute for the development of agriculture.
Organic farming policy
In the early 2002, the Exile Tibetan Government has adopted a new policy on agriculture by introducing organic and natural farming, as a way to improve the living and economic conditions of the settlers and make sustainable use of resources. This new policy is drawing inspirations from the Gandhi philosophy of traditional farming and Masonobu Fukuaka's theory of natural farming.
Objectives
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama proposes to make future Tibet a zone of ahimsa and sanctuary of environment protection. In view of this, we need to adopt right now in our settlements non-violent and environment-friendly farming practices. Our goal is to make future Tibet a storehouse of organic grains to the rest of the world.
- We will try to develop a sophisticated farming tradition so that one acre of land produces enough to sustain a family. We will make attempts to increase the settlement population, and create conditions for them not only to achieve self-sufficiency, but also to contribute to the environment protection.
- We are convinced that this kind of rich farming tradition holds the promise of sustainable livelihood for the entire population of the Tibetan settlements. To encourage the educated youth to live in settlements, we intend to create remunerative opportunities for agriculture, animal husbandry, small-scale industries, and technical service enterprises.
- In order to rejuvenate the environment and soil nutrients, we will make efforts to introduce several organic practices and put an end to the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides; we will upgrade the embankments and build irrigation reservoirs.
- We will restore the ritual of "Burying Treasure Urns in Offering to Guardian Deities of Land and Water". Similarly, we will make efforts to restore the tradition of performing rituals to make rain, avert storms, and protect harvests from wild beasts. This will benefit not only the Tibetans, but also the local Indians.
Organic Farming Developments
In 2004 the Central Tibetan Relief Committee and the Italian NGO COSPE initiated a 4-year project for Sustainable Agriculture Development co-funded by the Italian Cooperation. Under this project, training and demonstration on organic farming are implemented in 12 major settlements located in 9 Indian states. In 2005 the CTA adopted Dhondenling Tibetan settlement in south India as a model organic settlement and started several projects with assistance from other donors (NCA–Norway, Tibet House Trust -UK, Tibetan Information Office-Australia, The Charitable Foundation-Australia, Tibet Fund-USA, IM-Sweden, Trento–Italy, DGDC-Belgium, Mexico). At present there are more than 1000 registered farmers with around 3000 acres of organic land. The number of farmers is increasing steadily year by year. In each settlement one or two agriculture extensionists organize trainings and assist the farmers to adopt several organic techniques, which include both traditional and modern practices.
- Soil fertility is maintained by appropriate crop rotation, green manures, cover crops, application of compost, vermicompost, biofertilizers, and traditional preparations like jeevamruth and panchagav.
- Pests and diseases are controlled through the application of home-made leaf extracts, integrated by purchased biopesticides whenever necessary.
- Biodynamic methods have been introduced and are increasingly popular among farmers.
TIBETAN ORGANIC
Our brand Tibetan Organic is being promoted by the Federation of Tibetan Co-operatives in India Ltd., the expression of a movement comprising 15 settlement co-operatives and 23,425 members engaged in agriculture and handicraft.
The Federation was formed and registered in April 2005 under the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act; Registration No. MSCS/CR/223/2005.
Given the diversified conditions of the settlements we are able to produce a comprehensive range of quality organic products, which include:
- Several varieties of Rice (brown, polished, beaten)
- Millets, Sorghum, Buckwheat, Wheat, Maize (grain and flour)
- Cowpea (Lobia), Green Gram (Mung Dal), Black Gram (Kala Chana), Red Gram (Tor Dal), Horse Gram (Kulthi), Soybean, Groundnut, Kidney Beans (Rajma)
- Oil from Groundnut, Sunflower and Mustard
- Potatoes, Ginger, Turmeric, Vegetables, Fruits, Black Pepper
Tibetan farmers bring you healthy and nutritious foods devoid of toxic chemical residues. All our products are grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides and are certified under NPOP (Indian Standards) and ECC 2092/91 (European Standards) by IMO Control Bangalore (settlements in Karnataka and Central India) and by SGS India (settlements in Arunachal Pradesh).
For information, please contact:
23, Masjid Road, Jangpura, New Delhi – 110014
Email: ftci@gmail.com
Ph.:+ 91-11-24376920, 24372646
Fax: +91-11-24377234
Supported by:
COSPE, in collaboration with Central Tibetan Relief Committee (CTRC), co-funded by Italian Cooperation.