The jump that is still to be made

In September 2011, an ad-hoc 12-member steering group published a Five Year Sustainable Agriculture Plan which argued that sustainable organic agriculture could be massively increased for Auroville if heavy investments in existing and new farms were made, and if FoodLink - the nexus between the farmers and consumers that manages the demand-supply gap - developed into a large organization. It would also be necessary that more residents participated in the food and agriculture sector of Auroville and that food habits changed. "The time has come for a big jump," concluded the group. [see AV Today September 2011, # 266].

Today, more than 10 years later, the jump has still to be made. As compared to 2011, the community consumption and farm productivity has not meaningfully increased. The large investments required for improving existing agricultural land and to develop new land, in 2011 estimated at Rs. 10 crores in the 5-year plan period, have not materialized. Meanwhile, the development of FoodLink has stalled and the food and farming sector lacks a clear direction. So what next?

A new research and offer

In the beginning of this year, a 4-member study group (Allan, Avinash, Fred and Nidhin) began analyzing Auroville's food sector, helped by the Budget Coordination Committee which allocated it a three-months' research budget. In April, it presented its findings to the Funds and Assets Management Committee, highlighting some of the barriers to greater food autonomy that are being faced by food sector. With Isabelle joining the team, they are now putting themselves forward to offer services to overcome some of the challenges identified.

Food sector challenges

Their research findings reach some strong conclusions, pointing to systemic gaps between the current reality and the ideal scenario for Auroville's unique needs and aspirations.

The main hurdle is that the food sector in Auroville is largely unplanned, seasonal and uncoordinated, and the current system forces farmers to compete with each other and the outside market while producing for Auroville. There is no coordinated plan to meet the needs of Auroville in an efficient/ mutually supportive way, leading to unpredictability and volatility in the food supply coming from Auroville farms. This unreliable internal market has pushed some farms to also take on their own marketing and distribution at the same time as distribution centres and eateries are procuring the bulk of their products from external markets. These critical information and coordination gaps are where the new team hopes to offer their energy and skills.

The team also reports that there are no formal commitments or systemic support for the community distribution centres and eateries to utilise Auroville farm products; they feel constrained by consumer (Aurovilian) tastes and preferences, which are not necessarily focused on locally-grown produce. At the end of the day, farms are regularly having good produce turned away at FoodLink, or returned days later spoiled. In consequence, the farms and food sector suffer: if they cannot sell their produce in Auroville, they have to find a market outside or accept a loss, feeding the returns to the cows.

This has a constricting and demotivating effect for Auroville farmers who generally just want to focus on producing healthy food for the community. The eateries emphasise high price as a barrier when it comes to opting for Auroville produce. The fact that Auroville farm produce is organic, and that food items bought on the external market are often non-organic and produced in ecologically unsustainable ways, does not overcome the price-barrier that Aurovilians face with the limited maintenance. The five-year Plan from 2011 offered a potential solution: that Auroville subsidises the crops so that the price of non-organic foods from Pondicherry market would be the same as the price for organic produce from Auroville. But this proposal has never taken off.

The realities of climate, season, soil conditions, and water availability make it difficult, if not impossible, for Auroville farms to produce a major part of the 'demands' of the community. Typical farm production oscillates between peaks in the cool season, when the weather is conducive to a wider diversity of crops, and a deeper shortage in the hot season. The group observed that the economics of small organic farms are poor and often not well understood, neither by the farms themselves nor by the larger community. Many farms are kept afloat by either personal funds, sometimes only the maintenance of the farmer, or through external donations. Currently, only the 'maintenance' of the managers of the farms are covered systematically by the recurring city services budget. A few farms are exploring food processing (jams, preservatives, cheese) to help make ends meet.

Earlier this year, the Funds and Assets Management Committee (FAMC) conducted a farm survey as part of their efforts to understand and support the farm sector to better fulfill its potential. The research group helped FAMC analyse the priorities and needs of the farms. It was found that the priorities were infrastructural investments, mainly fencing, as many farms suffer from wild animals grazing on their crops which are inadequately protected, housing for Auroville residents working on the farms, storage facilities and machinery.

Overall, the systemic gaps leave farms caught in unhealthy, even toxic dynamics which prevent deeper collaboration and a cohesive voice for other stakeholders to engage with. This has led to a lack of trust, and missed opportunities for the wider sector as well as competition for financial resources and power politics within the farm group. This also gets in the way of developing the culture of sharing 'best practices', training novices and skill development.

Is a top-down directive required?

The team feels that a "centre-out approach", rather than a "top-down", would be more suitable and aligned to the spirit of service and experimentation of those involved. There is a need for a Food Group to form with a representation of all the stakeholders and the endorsement of the community (perhaps through the FAMC), to set direction and policies for the sector. The emerging coordination service is offering to lay the groundwork for this and to carry the technical and administrative work involved.

Along with that, FoodLink currently sees itself becoming more independent from the farms to better fulfil their service of marketing and distributing farm produce. To build capacity in the system, investments are recommended in storage, processing and marketing of any farm produce that cannot be used directly in Auroville outlets. The group pointed out that there is a large interest from outside Auroville in Auroville food products, as in the case of the bakery. A vegetable shop that sells high quality organic produce and processed food products from Auroville might do well, but the priority for the sector remains the feeding of the community. Such measures could go a long way to reducing the currently constrained and competitive nature of the farming sector.

A pilot project

The research group also proposes to hold a pilot project to demonstrate a planned production and consumption model, so as to move away from non-planned and competitive production, starting with a few products. This would be open to anyone interested, on a voluntary basis and give the necessary confidence with commitments from producers and consumers. This would include standardised information sharing to help forecast supply and demand and promote transparency between the participants. This would also be an opportunity to bring together the proposed Food Group on a practical project.

Can we change food habits?

The group proposes to explore how to influence food habits to support Auroville's food autonomy. The produce that the Auroville farms can grow, such as millets, is not always to the liking of the consumers, who favour foods that are mainstream in their culture. There is also a large demand for vegetables and fruits that can only be grown in colder climates. The group proposes that the various food outlets start promoting locally-grown foods by dedicating a section of their outlet to Auroville produce and making interesting recipes freely available at the outlet and on a dedicated website. The eateries too could help by having at least one dish every day made with locally- grown produce. Critics may argue that all this has been proposed before, with no or little effect, and question why it should be more successful this time. But it's worth a try.

In conclusion

The group emphasises the complexity of the food sector and the necessity that the Auroville community becomes aware of the problems of the farms, distributors and kitchens and consciously tries to help them develop. They warn that addressing the parts individually (such as pushing for increasing production alone) might offer temporary relief but the system will soon face the next bottleneck. A big integral effort needs to be made to increase Auroville's food security. Large financial support will be required to move towards greater food autonomy and resilience for Auroville. With a concerted effort from the Aurovilians, and the financial backing required, the big jump might become feasible.