Indian Farmers  Vs Globalised Capital Prajateerpu or citizens' jury   Andhra Pradesh farmers put World Bank   / DFID plans for their agriculture on trial.

The following reports are from Tom Wakeford in Andhra Pradesh, a state

with some of the worst poverty in India.

Tom, who's with the Institute for Development Studies at the University

of Sussex, has travelled up from Hyderabad to Medak to help with

the final preparations for a "Prajateerpu" or "citizens'jury", starting

26 June 2001, which will be asking farmers from all over the state

living below the poverty line what sort of future they want: GM or not

GM, organic or chemicals, fair-trade for export or local self-sufficiency.

THERE WILL BE DAILY DESPATCHES FROM THE JURY --

phone connections permitting!

This is a great opportunity to move away from headlines and sound-bites

and explore the range of perspectives on what is the best way forward

for ‘feeding the world’. It is also a rare chance for the excluded

population of Andhra Pradesh to have a voice in the major decisions to

be taken affecting their future.

Here's Tom's first report on Andra's "Prajateerpu".

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Indian Farmers Vs Globalised Capital

Andhra Pradesh farmers put World Bank / DFID plans for

their agriculture on trial.

Citizens Jury to Start Tomorrow

Narsamma lives in a remote mountainous area in the

north east of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Though she has never been beyond her local town ever

before and cannot read, her literacy is written in her

small fields and in the diverse harvest she and her

family collect from the forest.

Now Narsamma is travelling to the other end of the

state to take part in Prajateerpu - a citizens' jury

on the future of agriculture in her state. It takes

place in the district of Medak, a six hour train ride

from the State's capital of Hyderabad. Andhra has some

of the worst poverty in India, and Medak is one of its

poorest districts, not in human resources or skills,

but in its standards of living.

The whole state of Andhra Predesh is being courted as

a major recipient of grants and loans from the World

Bank and the UK's Department for International

Development (DFID). Of the  £110 million spent by DFID

in India each year, 60% goes to just this one state.

This is set to increase by two-fold over the next 3

years.

Having hired a group of management consultants from

the US, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has developed

a twenty-year strategy for the development of the

state over the last two years. This 'Vision 20:20'

forsees the wholesale mechanisation of agriculture in

the state. Whereas 70% of the people currently draw

their livelihoods from the land, the Vision forsees

this dropping to only 40%. The specific policies

outlined in the document include:

*Contract farming by corporations rather than farmers

growing their food on their own land

*The consolidation of small farms into larger

land-holdings

*Adoption of genetically engineered crops

*Mechanisation of harvesting, weeding and

transplanting

*Incentives introduced for export-orientated cash

crops

The Vision 20:20 has produced a heated debate within

Andhra, and across India. In a country where the

majority of the population still derive their

livelihood from farming, Andhra is the first to

arrange the financing of what would be a radical shift

from labour-insentive largely subsistence system of

agriculture to an indutrialised intensive cash crop

system.

In March 2000 a citizens' jury in which small and

marginal farmers conducted a debate on the

desirability of GM crops occurred in the neighbouring

state of Karnataka. Lakshmamma, a member of this

farmers jury, spoke about the situation at a meeting

in Norwich in the UK during April 2001. She told the

audience of what a drastic change was being planned by

her state government, funded by the World Bank and the

UK Government, without small and marginal farmers like

her being consulted. She encouraged British NGOs and

participatory development workers to come and help the

excluded population of Andhra have a voice in the

decisions being taken.

The resulting "Prajateerpu" or "citizens' jury" is the

first time in India that ordinary people will take the

place of a judge in a "court" which will examine three

different visions for the future of agriculture.

The people's verdict, which will be reached on July

1st and presented to state and national governments,

along with the World Bank, will have implications for

policy-makers at a national and international level.

The citizens' jury will consist of twenty people

largely drawn from among A.P.'s small and marginal

farmers, but will also include small-scale food

processors, small traders and urban consumers. They

will consider 3 scenarios which will be described in 3

specially produced films:

Vision 1: Vision 2020. This scenario has been put

forward by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and has

been backed by a loan from the World Bank. It proposes

to consolidate small farms and rapidly increase

mechanisation and modernisation. Production enhancing

technologies will be introduced in farming and food

processing, reducing the number of people on the land

from 70% to 40% by 2020. DFID (UK) and the World Bank

have expressed an intention to provide a large grant

towards this programme.

Vision 2: An export-based cash crop model of organic

production. This vision of the future is based on

proposals within IFOAM and the International Trade

Centre (UNCTAD/WTO) for environmentally friendly

farming linked to national and international markets.

This vision is also increasingly driven by the demand

of supermarkets in the North to have a cheap supply of

organic produce and comply with new eco-labelling

standards.

Vision 3: Localised food systems.  A future scenario

based on increased self-reliance for rural

communities, low external input agriculture, the

re-localisation of food production, markets and local

economies, with long distance trade in goods that are

surplus to production or not produced locally. Support

for this vision in India can be drawn from the

writings of Mahatma Gandhi, indigenous people's

organisations and some farmers unions.

The jury members will receive evidence to aid their

deliberations by key figures in A.P., India, and the

international community including government

officials, scientists, corporate and civil society

representatives.

The process will be observed by an Oversight Panel of

senior figures from India, chaired by Justice P.B.

Savant, Chair of the Press Council of India, and

former member of the Supreme Court of India.

Funding has been provided by the Dutch government's

aid agency, DGIS and the Rockefeller Foundation.

You are warmly invited to attend Prajateerpu, which

will take place at the KVK Centre, Algole Village,

Zaheerabad Taluk,  Medak District. It begins at 10am

on Tuesday June 26th. However, in case you can't make

it, I will try and provide updates via NGIN's Email

list, phone lines permitting.

Tom Wakeford is a writer and biologist at the

Institute for Development Studies, University of

Sussex. His latest book, Liaisons of Life, is

published by John Wiley.

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