Is Sustainable Agriculture Really Sustainable for Small and Marginal Farmers? A study of Zero Budget Natural Farming Farmers from Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Food is fundamental to life. Majority of the food consumed by Indians come from small and marginal farms. The small and marginal farmer who puts food on our plate goes hungry and is unable to meet some basic needs of his family. If the producer of the food were to go hungry then there is something quite problematic with the present system of agriculture. This thesis is an attempt to understand what are the sustainable farming and the discourses around these practices in India. It also analyses the costs and benefits of one such sustainable farming practice, Zero Budget Natural Farming, in comparison with the present chemical farming. It is found that ZBNF farming is more profitable than chemical farming. In spite of such farming practices being profitable to farmers, the policy space is explored to understand what lacks in the policy ecosystem that doesn’t promote such farmer friendly system from fringe to mainstream.