Annapurna land issues

At 135 acres, Annapurna is Auroville’s largest farm and is furthest away from the city centre. Due to lack of (wo)manpower and capital for investment, only a quarter of Annapurna is under intense cultivation, while fodder and timber is grown in the rest of the land. Annapurna is one of our most productive farms, supplying Auroville with grains and milk. And Tomas, the main manager at Annapurna, is convinced that with the right inputs, the farm could triple its productivity. Annapurna is the only farm of Auroville to maintain its IMO organic certification.

The land of Annapurna is not contiguous: the farm is divided into three parcels by a peramboke [government owned land, eds.] gully. In recent years, one of Annapurna’s neighboring landowners has turned part of the peramboke gully into a road. Symptomatic of development that one sees everywhere in semi-rural India, putting in a road basically leads to a change in land-use from agricultural land to urban development, which can have negative consequences for organic farms, such as an increase in traffic and inorganic trash.

There are essentially two core land-management issues that Tomas, the Annapurna steward, faces: (1): Can one have a mixed land-use, where part of the land is used for non-agricultural purposes to generate capital for farm investment? 2) Can the farm be consolidated and protected from unwanted development?

Regarding the first issue: A couple of years ago, a reputed company, GT Electric, which was closely associated with the Auroville Institute of Applied Technology in Irumbai, wanted to lease a 5-acre plot of land from Annapurna on a long-term basis. The 5-acre plot located on the main Vanur road was cut off from the main farmland by the peramboke gully. A long-term lease by a stable customer would have given Annapurna a stable financial foundation of Rs. 20 lakhs a year to maintain its operations, increase productivity, and help other farms. A grain farm, the size of Annapurna, needs machinery for farm processes such as ploughing, sowing, harvesting, and processing grains. But the significant funds needed for such investments are not available within the community. Even though Tomas was part of one of the land groups then, he failed to convince other group-members about this proposal to lease 5 acres to GT Electric, and one of the best opportunities for securing funding for the farm was lost. Sadly, as often happens in Auroville, the issue, instead of being looked at from the larger perspective of the needs of the community, was quickly personalized, and Tomas was maligned for bringing up this proposal.

Regarding the second issue: The need for consolidation of the farm and protection from unwanted development is highly important, for organic cultivation affected by any major chemical contamination through water or air pollution would render the farm inorganic. Air and water do not recognize plot boundaries, and at stake is Annapurna’s certification, which internationally recognizes the quality of its organic produce, which has been obtained and maintained with a lot of hard work.

Within the larger boundaries of Annapurna, there is a private property comprising 17 acres that is held in joint ownership by a family. So far only pesticide-free casuarinas have been grown on this plot. But at present, the owners are thinking of selling the land. Given the location of the farm on a state highway and the general trend of development in India, sale of the land is likely to result in an urban development. And as the run-off from this 17-acre plot feeds into two catchment ponds on Annapurna land, it is crucial to secure this plot to ensure that Annapurna’s soil and water do not get polluted by contaminants.

The current land policy of Auroville prohibits the purchase of land outside of the city area, so securing the plot essentially means undergoing a land exchange. The owners of the private plot are open to the possibility of exchanging their land for a roadside plot belonging to Annapurna, and the Land Board is not opposed to such an exchange. But, in India, the reality is when land is jointly held by a family, the legality of the land deeds or paper need to be established, and there needs to unequivocal consensus among all the owners. Following up on such details can take an inordinate amount of time, and the Land Board, given the priority of securing land in the city-area, has far too many urgent issues to deal with to follow up on this potential exchange. Tomas, who also has his hands full in running the farm, feels that a wider support group of Aurovilians, who have the knowledge, interest and capability, could help farmers by taking up such issues. He points out that ideally policies regarding land, investment into farms, and maximizing food production, should not be the responsibility of individual farmers or even the Farm Group, but the community as a whole.