Food sovereignty and agro-ecology in Karnataka: interplay of discourses, identities, and practices

ABSTRACT

Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), a farmers’ movement, and a member of La Via Campesina, has been encouraging zero-budget natural farming in Karnataka, India, within the framework of food sovereignty and agro-ecology. Using the experiences of KRRS, this article addresses the question of the extent of pluralism within the discourse of food sovereignty. Focusing on the interplay of local and global practices, discourses and identities, the article throws light upon contradictions and negotiations between “necessary abstractions” and “particularisms”, spaces and places of resistance and implications it may have on struggles at both local and global levels.

Le Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), un mouvement d'agriculteurs qui est membre de La Via Campesina, encourage l'agriculture naturelle dans le Karnakata, en Inde, avec une approche budgétaire « base zéro », dans le cadre de la souveraineté alimentaire et de l'agroécologie. En passant en revue les expériences des membres du KKRS, cet article aborde la question de l'étendue du pluralisme dans le discours sur la souveraineté alimentaire. En se concentrant sur l'interaction entre les pratiques, les discours et les identités locaux et mondiaux, l'article apporte un éclairage sur les contradictions et les négociations entre « les abstractions nécessaires » et « les particularismes », les espaces et les lieux de résistance, et les implications que cette interaction pourrait avoir pour les luttes, aussi bien au plan local qu'au plan mondial.

En el marco de la soberanía alimentaria y la agrecología, el movimiento campesino Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), integrante de La Via Campesina, ha promovido la agricultura natural de presupuesto cero en Karnataka, India. Tras examinar las experiencias protagonizadas por KRRS, el presente artículo aborda la cuestión de la existencia de pluralismo al interior del discurso sobre la soberanía alimentaria y en qué medida se presenta. Centrándose en analizar la interacción entre prácticas locales y globales, discursos e identidades, el artículo ilumina tanto las contradicciones como la transigencia entre “abstracciones necesarias” y “particularismos”, espacios y lugares de resistencia, así como las implicaciones que dicha interacción puede tener en las luchas libradas a nivel local e internacional.

KEYWORDS:

• Environment (built and natural) – Food security, Agriculture
• Globalisation (inc trade, private sector)
• South Asia

Acknowledgements

This is a paper based on my doctoral research, completed at the Department of Sociology, University of Hyderabad, during 2010–15.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Niloshree Bhattacharya is currently a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India. She completed her PhD in Sociology from the University of Hyderabad in 2015. For her doctoral research she explored the processes of transformations in agrarian movements during globalisation, for which she conducted fieldwork in Karnataka, with Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) and La Via Campesina (LVC) during 2011–12. Her research interests include social movement studies, development studies, agrarian studies, and public policy.

Notes

1 See krrsarchive.wordpress.com, viacampesina.org, http://siccfm.blogspot.in/2011/10/asian-farmers-visit-to-karnatakas.html, https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/sustainable-peasants-agriculture-mainmenu-42/1136-asian-farmers-visit-and-learn-from-karnatakas-farmers-about-natural-farming.

2 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

3 See Assadi (1997) for a discussion on the profile of KRRS members. Dominant caste is defined as the caste in the village that is numerically strong and also yields greatest economic and political power in the village, as defined by M.N. Srinivas in his essay “Social System of a Mysore Village” (1987).

4 See Brass (1995) for detailed overview on new farmers’ movements.

5 This estimate of KRRS farmer leaders is based on the number of people who have attended training camps in the last ten years and the number of training camps that have been organised. This is not an accurate estimate as it is extremely difficult to pinpoint ZBNF farmers as there is no formal register of members.

6 It is well known that KRRS leader M.D. Nanjunaswamy and Vandana Shiva have had conflicts in the past, some documented in Madsen (2001).