Sikkim: Making of the First 100% Organic State of the World

Abstract

A small Indian state, Sikkim, sitting in the lap of the Himalayas, took a revolutionary step by deciding to turn 100% organic. This made Sikkim the first state in the world that is 100% organic. No other state in India has been even close to achieving this. In 2021, Sri Lanka attempted to do the same but ended up with disastrous consequences. President Rajapaksa declared a ban on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides almost overnight. It was impossible for the farmers to change their agriculture practices suddenly. After COVID, Sri Lanka was already facing a foreign exchange crisis; it was worsened with this step since agriculture production plummeted. It is reported that 9 out of 10 Sri Lankan families had to skip meals due to food shortages. Compared to this, the experiment in Sikkim was very systematic. Sikkim decided to turn organic in 2003-04. It gave itself ten years to change the situation on the ground, and it was only by 2015 that it declared itself a 100% organic state. The ban on chemical inputs was made official only in 2015. One hundred farmers from South Sikkim were interviewed by the researcher. It was found that, indeed, no farmer used any chemical inputs and that Sikkim, even after 20 years of experimenting, remains a truly organic state. This paper shows the path taken by Sikkim to become a fully organic state. It shows how the entire process was planned systematically. It also notes the way the farmers adapted to this change-how the cropping pattern changed, as well as the difficulties that the farmers faced while adopting organic farming. The paper looks into the replicability of this operation and also the scalability. We conclude that it is not feasible to scale up Sikkim's experiment, and it is also difficult to replicate it. But still, the experiment is successful because Sikkim looks poised to remain organic, mostly by choice.

Full text

22 Indian Journal of Sustainable Development Volume 9 Issue 1 2023
Abstract
A small Indian state, Sikkim, sitting in the lap of the
Himalayas, took a revolutionary step by deciding to
turn 100% organic. This made Sikkim the rst state
in the world that is 100% organic. No other state in
India has been even close to achieving this. In 2021,
Sri Lanka attempted to do the same but ended up
with disastrous consequences. President Rajapaksa
declared a ban on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides
almost overnight. It was impossible for the farmers
to change their agriculture practices suddenly. After
COVID, Sri Lanka was already facing a foreign
exchange crisis; it was worsened with this step since
agriculture production plummeted. It is reported that 9
out of 10 Sri Lankan families had to skip meals due
to food shortages. Compared to this, the experiment
in Sikkim was very systematic. Sikkim decided to turn
organic in 2003-04. It gave itself ten years to change
the situation on the ground, and it was only by 2015
that it declared itself a 100% organic state. The ban on
chemical inputs was made o󰀩cial only in 2015. One
hundred farmers from South Sikkim were interviewed
by the researcher. It was found that, indeed, no farmer
used any chemical inputs and that Sikkim, even after
20 years of experimenting, remains a truly organic
state. This paper shows the path taken by Sikkim to
become a fully organic state. It shows how the entire
process was planned systematically. It also notes the
way the farmers adapted to this change – how the
cropping pattern changed, as well as the di󰀩culties that
the farmers faced while adopting organic farming. The
paper looks into the replicability of this operation and
also the scalability. We conclude that it is not feasible
to scale up Sikkim’s experiment, and it is also di󰀩cult
to replicate it. But still, the experiment is successful
because Sikkim looks poised to remain organic, mostly
by choice.
Keywords: 100% Organic State, Sikkim Agriculture,
Scalability of Organic Farming
Sikkim: Making of the First 100% Organic State
of the World
Alka Parikh*
*
Director, Centre for Field Learning, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Email: alka.parikh@yahoo.in
Indian Journal of Sustainable Development
9 (1) 2023, 22-28
http://publishingindia.com/ijsd/
INTRODUCTION
Sikkim is recognised as the rst state in the world to go
100% organic. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation
conferred an award to Sikkim for this achievement in
2019. This paper talks about the process that Sikkim went
through to achieve this feat.
Sikkim is one of the smallest states in India, situated
in the lap of the Himalayas. There are no planes, only
undulating land. The variation in elevation is extreme –
from the shores of Teesta at 750 feet to Kanchenjunga
at 28,200 feet. About two-thirds of its area is covered by
high and snow-capped mountains. Of the remaining area,
46% is under forest land (Envis Centre Sikkim, 2007).
Only 11% of the total area of the state is cultivable. The
density of the population, hence, is very low – it was
just 86 persons per square kilometre in 2011. The total
population of the entire state was just 610,577 (Census,
2011) – much lower than even the cities in India. Most
people live in rural areas in small hamlets or villages.
There are no major industries here; the main occupations
are agriculture and government services.
Sikkim is one of the Indian states that have a high human
development index. 81% of the population is literate
(Census, 2011), which is higher than the Indian average.
The Infant Mortality rate is just 5 per 1000 live births as
opposed to 27 for India (knoema.com). The Net State
domestic product per capita for Sikkim is the third highest
in India, next only to Goa and Delhi (NSO, Government
of India). Sikkim became a part of India in 1975 when
it was underdeveloped. But good administration by its
leaders made it one of the fastest-growing states.
LOGIC FOR TURNING ORGANIC
Agriculture productivity in Sikkim was always low.
There are few sources of perennial irrigation. Only 15%
Submitted: 10 July, 2023
Accepted: 15 July, 2023

Sikkim: Making of the First 100% Organic State of the World 23
of the agricultural land is irrigated. Sikkim agriculture
is mainly rainfed. The mountains are dicult terrain
to cultivate in – terrace cultivation requires constant
maintenance. Roads are few and narrow, making it
dicult to reach markets for inputs. Because of these
factors, Sikkim farmers never used many chemical inputs
– there was little accessibility to such inputs and hence
low awareness.
The 1970s was the decade when the green revolution
started in India. By the 1980s, it had spread to most parts
of the country. Sikkim government also tried to encourage
the use of chemical inputs and hybrid seeds by giving
subsidies, but it met with little success. Some farmers
started using the HYV seeds, but as mentioned earlier,
irrigation was not feasible, and accessibility to chemical
fertilisers and pesticides was low. Inorganic farming was
not adopted much by the farmers. However, farmers in
South Sikkim did start using these inputs.
In 2003, the Sikkim government realised that the limited
spread of chemical inputs could actually be a boon. If
Sikkim decides to eliminate these inputs that are anyway
not used very widely, it can become a totally organic state.
Its produce will be purer than other organic farming lands
in India simply because there would be no leeching of
chemicals into the organic elds through the neighbouring
elds. This way, even if the productivity of the Sikkim
farms remains low, the value of its crops will increase. It
will become a low-volume-high-quality agriculture state.
In addition, it was also realised that tourism is an important
contributor to Sikkim’s urban economy. If Sikkim goes
totally organic, the state can be advertised as serving
mainly organic food. It was not expected that normal
restaurants and hotels would serve totally organic food
(because organic products are expensive). The vision of
the government was to slowly encourage homestays so
that the tourists could not only stay in Sikkimese houses
but also get to personally pick organically grown fruits
and vegetables that they would eat. Thus the state can be
advertised as the one that would give the tourists pure
air (the air quality index, even in its capital Gangtok is
always good – always below 50), pure water (coming
straight from the streams of the glaciers in the Himalayas)
and pure chemical free organic food.
Thus a decision was made in 2003 to turn Sikkim into
a 100% organic state. The intention was declared, and it
was decided that by 2015, the state should be completely
chemical-free.
THE PROCESS OF CHANGE
It was a democratic government in Sikkim. There was no
desire to impose a decision on the people. The government
started its reforms by slowly withdrawing subsidies on
chemical inputs. Subsidies are given to encourage the use
of something. Reduction of subsidies would only imply
that the government does not want to support a certain
practice.
In 2003, the Sikkim government was giving 40% subsidy
on urea. The subsidy was reduced a little, then a little
more after some time, and so on. There was no ban on
fertilizer use. Only economics was used. In India, the
demand for fertilizer is considerably elastic with respect
to price. This knowledge was used to discourage the use
of chemical fertilizers. The farmers were anyway not
using chemical fertilizers very much, so as the subsidies
were gradually brought down to zero, the farmers showed
little inclination to buy urea.
At the same time, the government started giving grants
for building the infrastructure needed for starting organic
farming. The most important input that was needed was
fertilizers. The government provided both the expertise
and material to make the pits. Nurseries were made to
grow earthworms. These worms were distributed free
of charge to the farmers to start vermicompost. Training
sessions for making compost were held in dierent places
across the state.
Since the days of the green revolution, the government in
Sikkim used to distribute quality seeds free of cost or at a
very low rate to the farmers. The government continued
this practice even after 2003 but started giving more seeds
for fruits and vegetables to encourage the production of
horticultural crops that were more suited to the soil and
climate of the state and were also high-value crops.
This process of slowly changing the mindset of the farmers
and guiding them towards organic farming continued for
12 years. Only in 2015 chemical farming was ocially
banned. If someone was found doing organic farming, a
ne of Rs. one hundred thousand was imposed, together
with 3 months in jail (India Times, 2022; Byju’s;
Government of Sikkim).

24 Indian Journal of Sustainable Development Volume 9 Issue 1 2023
FARMERS’ REACTION TO THE
DECISION TO GO ORGANIC
Farmers of South Sikkim were closer to Bengal and were
exposed to chemical farming. Many were using chemical
inputs like DAP and urea for farming. They reported that
as the subsidies were reduced, they had to reduce the use
of chemical fertilisers. But the soil needed to be healed
for organic farming. One farmer reported growing only
chillies on his eld while treating the soil with organic
fertilisers. Another farmer reported that he did not grow
anything on the soil for a year. Then started growing a
little. They survived on government rations. Also, the
government gave a cow to many families. Milk income
from the cow also helped them in surviving. Around
the same time, a government scheme came that oered
one government job per family. Thus for many families,
salaries became the main source of household income.
As we moved North, beyond Gangtok, the answer pattern
changed. Farmers told us that they never used chemical
inputs. Also, almost all of them reported that farming
was mainly for self-sustenance and not for the market.
Low productivity seemed like a non-issue for them. They
did not seem to have been aected by the government’s
decision to go 100% organic.
The political situation of Sikkim needs to be also
mentioned here to explain how there was no opposition to
such a radical move. The then Chief Minister, Mr Pawan
Kumar Chamling, ruled Sikkim from 1994 to 2019. He
was so popular that in Sikkim, there was no opposition
party. In 2004, his party won 31 of 32 seats, and in 2009,
it was a clean sweep, with all 32 seats going to Chamling.
With no opposition to speak of, it was not very dicult to
push through the reforms.
CHANGE IN CROPPING PATTERN
As the process of turning Sikkim into an organic state and
making agriculture a high value crop sector progressed,
cropping pattern for the state started changing. The gures
given below show how the cropping pattern moved from
cereal centric to horticulture centric.
Rice
that offered one government job per family. Thus for many families, salaries became the
main source of household income.
As we moved North, beyond Gangtok, the answer pattern changed. Farmers told us that
they never used chemical pesticides. Also, almost all of them reported that farming was
mainly for self-sustenance and not for the market. Low productivity seemed like a non-
issue for them. They did not seem to have been affected by the government’s decision to
go 100% organic.
The political situation of Sikkim needs to be also mentioned here to explain how there was
no opposition to such a radical move. The then Chief Minister, Mr Pawan Kumar
Chamling, ruled Sikkim from 1994 to 2019. He was so popular that in Sikkim, there was
no opposition party. In 2004, his party won 31 of 32 seats, and in 2009, it was a clean
sweep, with all 32 seats going to Chamling. With no opposition to speak of, it was not very
difficult to push through the reforms..
CHANGE IN CROPPING PATTERN
As the process of turning Sikkim into an organic state and making agriculture a high value
crop sector progressed, cropping pattern for the state started changing. The figures given
below show how the cropping pattern moved from cereal centric to horticulture centric.
RICE
Figure 1: Area
under rice, Sikkim
(2003-2020)
Source: ENVIS Hub,
Sikkim: Area, Production and Productivity of Rice in Sikkim (sikenvis.nic.in)
2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
0
5
10
15
20
Rice: Area (000 Hectares)
Year
hectares
Source: ENVIS Hub, Sikkim: Area, Production and Productivity of
Rice in Sikkim (sikenvis.nic.in).
Fig. 1: Area under Rice, Sikkim (2003-2020)
As is evident from Fig. 1, the area under rice is declining.
Rice is an important part of Sikkimese diet. It used to
be an important crop. But its acreage has declined from
14,740 Ha in 2003 to 8,700 Ha in 2020. If we run a semi-
log regression,
Log (area) = α + β (year),
β directly gives the rate of growth. The semi-log regression
is statistically signicant with R square .97 and t statistics
as -25.4. It shows that the rice acreage is falling at the rate
of 1.4% per year.
Maize
Maize is the most important crop in South Sikkim. The
Sikkimese diet often includes maize, and it is also fed to
animals. Fig. 2 gives the trend in the acreage of maize.
As is evident from Fig 1, the area under rice is declining. Rice is an important part of
Sikkimese diet. It used to be an important crop. But its acreage has declined from 14,740
Ha in 2003 to 8,700 Ha in 2020. If we run a semi-log regression,
Log (area) = α + β (year),
β directly gives the rate of growth. The semi-log regression is statistically significant with
R square .97 and t statistics as -25.4. It shows that the rice acreage is falling at the rate of
1.4% per year.
MAIZE
Maize is the most important crop in South Sikkim. The Sikkimese diet often includes
maize, and it is also fed to animals. Figure 2 gives the trend in the acreage of maize.
2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
10
30
Maize: Area (in 000 Ha) - 2003-20
Year
Hectare
Figure 2: Area under maize, Sikkim (2003-2020)
Source: ENVIS Hub, Sikkim: Area, Production and Productivity of Maize in Sikkim
(sikenvis.nic.in)
The area under maize is almost constant: it ranged from 36,700 Ha in 2003 to 38,390 Ha in
2020. Since there is hardly any change, the semi-log regression shows that there is no
statistically significant trend. The R square is insignificant at 0.02. Therefore, unlike rice,
the cultivation of maize continues. It still remains one of the most important crops for
Sikkim.
OTHER CROPS
Source: ENVIS Hub, Sikkim: Area, Production and Productivity of
Maize in Sikkim (sikenvis.nic.in).
Fig. 2: Area under Maize, Sikkim (2003-2020)

Sikkim: Making of the First 100% Organic State of the World 25
The area under maize is almost constant: it ranged from
36,700 Ha in 2003 to 38,390 Ha in 2020. Since there is
hardly any change, the semi-log regression shows that
there is no statistically signicant trend. The R square
is insignicant at 0.02. Therefore, unlike rice, the
cultivation of maize continues. It still remains one of the
most important crops for Sikkim.
Other Crops
Similar to the above results, we found that other signicant
crops are also losing acreage. Wheat acreage declined by
12% per year. Acreage under nger millet, barley, pulses
and oilseeds also decreased.
Fruits and Vegetables
Unlike the foodgrains, time series data on fruits and
vegetables was not easily available. We could nd data
only for ve years, from 2009-2013. The trend, as can be
seen from Table 1, is increasing for fruits. If the year 2009
is not considered, then the trend was increasing even for
vegetables. During our interaction with 96 farmers from
South Sikkim and from a village close to Gangtok, we
also found that each farmer was growing vegetables.
Table 1: Area (in Hectares) Under Fruits and
Vegetables
Fruits Vegetables
2009 12200 28700
2010 17500 23900
2011 13400 25000
2012 14700 25600
2013 16000 26100
Source: State at a Glance, Sikkim Vol 1(4), 2015.
PRODUCTIVITY OF CROPS
As mentioned earlier, agricultural productivity has always
been less in Sikkim. Cultivation is more for subsistence
there and not so much for the market. Most farmers produce
for themselves and sell only the little surplus that remains.
The crucial question is, as the state moved towards
becoming an organic state, was productivity adversely
aected? We present here the data of two cereal crops in
Table 2 and that of fruits and cereals in Table 3.
Table 2: Productivity Trends in Rice and Maize
Year Rice Productivity Maize Productivity Year Rice Productivity Maize Productivity
2003-2004 1437 1554.5 2012-2013 1790.27 1700.03
2004-2005 1466 1585 2013-2014 1815.74 1723.64
2005-2006 1539.35 1664.85 2014-2015 1828.2 1768.8
2006-2007 1515.9 1588.49 2015-2016 1845.25 1753.56
2007-2008 1632.14 1600 2016-2017 1856.02 1766.11
2008-2009 1709.23 1677.04 2017-2018 1856.24 1767.34
2009-2010 1705.79 1637.72 2018-2019 1856.29 1767.93
2010-2011 1727.63 1647.82 2019-2020 1858.08 1769.03
2011-2012 1757 1680.85 2020-2021 1860.61 1769.68
% increase 29.47877523 13.84239
Source: Envis Hub, Sikkim.
The productivity of rice increased by 29% in the last
17 years, i.e. by 1.7% per year. The maize productivity
increased by about 14% during the same period, giving
the growth rate in productivity to be 0.8% per year.
Thus there has been some increase in productivity over
the years, but it shows that the introduction of organic
farming at least has not resulted in lesser production and
productivity in cereals.

26 Indian Journal of Sustainable Development Volume 9 Issue 1 2023
Table 3: Productivity in Fruits and Vegetables
Year
Productivity -
Fruits (mt/ha)
Productivity - Vegetables
(mt/ha)
2009-10 1.5 5.1
2010-11 1.5 5.1
2011-12 1.7 5.1
2012-13 1.6 5.2
2013-14 1.5 5.2
Source: State at a Glance, Sikkim Vol 1(4), 2015.
Table 3 shows that the productivity has been more or
less stagnant for fruits and vegetable crops. Farmers
have adopted the cultivation of vegetables, but either
they do not seem to have learnt the techniques of getting
better yields, or the possibility of having an increasing
productivity trend does not exist in organic farming.
In short, there have been little gains made in productivity
by the farmers. Fortunately, there have been no losses.
But by switching to the higher-valued crops of spices,
fruits and vegetables, farmers might have increased their
incomes.
PROBLEMS WITH ORGANIC FARMING
● No Solution for Pests/Diseases
Organic farming does not have very good remedies
for plant diseases. While talking to farmers, we were
told that if they nd a plant getting some fungus or
pests, they just remove that plant. Farmers talked
about using some remedies like neem oil, cow urine,
wood ash, pheromone traps, etc., but the general
consensus was that these are not very eective. The
most eective remedy is just to uproot the plant and
throw it away. However, if the pests spread far and
wide, there is no solution.
Some methods like crop rotation and crop mix are
also used for preventing diseases. Some biopesti-
cides are there now, but not much is known about
them in Sikkim.
● Production of Organic Fertilizer
The farmers told us that the process of making fer-
tilisers takes six months. If you have a large farm
(which most farmers do not have), the manure made
at home might not be enough. Even if you are ready
to buy it from the market (it is not expensive; only
Re 1 a kilo), there is no supply. Farmers told us that
they use fertiliser only while sowing the seeds. It is
not needed after that.
We met a progressive farmer who grows the highest
cardamom in the region. He told us that his home
production of fertilisers does not meet even half of
his needs. He would like to have more fertilisers, but
there is little supply in the market. He said that if he
can put in more fertilisers, he knows that productiv-
ity will increase.
The innovative organic farmers of Gujarat and
Maharashtra also have talked about the scarcity of
manure when it comes to organic farming. Unless
there is commercial production of manure, it will be
dicult to sustain the widespread practice of organ-
ic farming.
● Marketing Issues
There are two issues with marketing of organic
products:
● The productivity is low, so the xed costs are
spread over a lesser quantity. That makes organic
products more expensive. When compared with
the products of chemical farming, these products
cost almost double. That reduces the demand for
these products.
● The products need to be certied by a govern-
ment agency that these are produced in a 100%
organic manner. All farmers have not been
reached yet with this certicate. Therefore farm-
ers are not getting the prices that they deserve to
get.
● Low Productivity
The productivity of the organic farms is lesser com-
pared to the HYV technology. That is the reason it
is often asked whether the world can feed itself if
every farm turns organic.
Sikkim suers from all these problems. Yet, it is success-
ful in sustaining the organic practice. This is because the
plants grown are sturdy and suitable for the agro-climatic
conditions of the region. They do not face many episodes
of pest/disease attacks. Except for 2 farmers (out of 94
that we spoke to), all others said that the manure that
they get from their livestock (most have only one cow)

Sikkim: Making of the First 100% Organic State of the World 27
is enough for them because their lands are small. Also,
because of the method of cultivation that they use – it
requires them to put in fertilizers only once in six months
while sowing the seeds.
Marketing is usually a problem that many inorganic
farmers in India also report as a major issue. They
complain that (a) the volume that they produce is usually
dicult to transport, and (b) perishable crops often rot
before they are picked up by the traders. Sikkim farmers
do not report these problems. The production is mainly
for home consumption there. They do not have too much
to sell. That is why none of the sample farmers reported
diculty in selling their produce.
If prices are high, the consumers can complain. We talked
to some consumers in the main vegetable market of
Sikkim. They say that as it is, everything is expensive in
Sikkim due to its dicult terrain and poor roads. They do
not mind paying some more money to get the best quality
vegetables..
IS SIKKIM’S EXPERIMENT SCALABLE?
Sri Lanka crumbled when it decided to become 100%
organic, while Sikkim has successfully remained organic
for almost 20 years now. The dierence was in the
procedure. Sikkim turned organic gradually, ensuring
that there was no sudden and rude shock to the system.
The government had put in place many supports, too –
a cow per family, one government job for each family,
and sucient rations distributed through the public
distribution system. All these helped the farmers to absorb
the shock of lower production in the initial years when
the soil had to be treated to become suitable for organic
farming.
Since Sikkim’s model was successful and has been
sustained over time, is it a replicable and scalable model?
We feel that it is not. The following are the reasons for
our deduction:
● Sikkim could make its farmers adopt organic farm-
ing. Such a radical change would not be politically
possible in other democratic states. Sikkim could
pull this o because there was practically no opposi-
tion in the state assembly. Rarely would a state have
a government with such a majority.
● Agriculture is for subsistence in Sikkim. Farmers
were used to low productivity. States with commer-
cial agriculture would not be able to absorb the loss-
es arising out of the reduction in productivity. As it
is, incomes are declining in the agriculture sector.
Such a move would hasten that process and could
result in widespread protests.
● If productivity remains low in organic farming, it
is not possible for a nation to convert fully to this
method. It would be dicult to feed millions of its
citizens with this method.
● Transition to organic farming has to be accompanied
by providing adequate income support so that the
incomes of the farmers do not decline. It is possible
for a small state to do it, but it is not so possible
for a large nation like India; the money required for
income support will be too large.
● Organic fertilisers require a lot of cow dung and
other mulch. And the processing takes months.
Shortage in fertiliser supply can become a major
issue.
● The battle against pests has never been convincingly
won by humans. Chemical farming has at least some
eective methods; organic farming has none. This
can become a major hurdle.
CONCLUSION
This study shows that Sikkim could remain organic just
because the population has found other sources of income
and is not much dependent on agriculture. But it does not
seem like a workable model for other regions.
At the same time, oering pure air, water, and food could
be a great strategy to attract tourists. Sikkim government
should work towards popularizing the homestays. It
should also make the certicate of “100% organic” reach
to all its farmers. The organic Sikkim can then lead to
more tangible benets for its population.
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in depth. Retrieved from https://byjus.com/free-ias-
prep/sikkim-indias-rst-organic-state-rstv-in-depth/

28 Indian Journal of Sustainable Development Volume 9 Issue 1 2023
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Envis Centre Sikkim. (2007). State of environment report,
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