Hope and Luxury Growing organic cotton is turning around desperate Indian villages — while giving shoppers luxurious goods. BY SARITHA RAI

It is the end of the harvest season in Vidarbha, the cotton-growing hub in central India. In villages fringed by the verdant expanse of the cotton fields, there is a flurry of activity. Under the gentle winter sun, farmers carry loads of cotton to the storage area, weigh and note stock details, and pile them onto the waiting trucks headed to the mill.

Caught in this bustle is 57-year-old Hanumantharao Jalit, a farmer in Kirjawla village. A few years ago, at the insistence of a friend, debt-ridden Jali turned his 13-acre farm into an organic haven. "I wanted to experiment with less expensive farming methods," he says. Turning away from the costly fertilizers and pesticides that have driven many farmers in the region to desperation and suicide, Jalit started growing organic cotton along with some soy beans and millet.

Jalit's fields are now producing "A" grade cotton, completely free of artificial chemicals, a break from conventional cotton-growing methods, which account for 25 percent of all pesticides used in the world. In the last couple of years, three quarters of Kirjawla's 600 villagers have gone organic. In a quiet revolution, dozens of villages in the region have joined in, making India the world's second largest organic cotton producer after Turkey.

The fruits of Vidarbha's labor are destined for stores half-way around the globe. Here, eco-conscious buyers quickly empty shelves of cotton clothing, towels, and bedding from fashion labels and niche retailers, comforted that the products contain no toxic residue.

Illustrating this trend, sales of specialist labels like northern California-based organic bed-linen maker Coyuchi, Inc., have grown 71 percent since 2005. The global organic cotton apparel, home, and personal care products market topped one billion dollars in 2006, up from $245 million in 2001, according to California headquartered not-for-profit Organic Exchange. The market is estimated to reach $3 billion in 2008.

Though this sales figure is minuscule compared with the global market for all cotton products, organic goods are now being introduced even by major retailers such as Barneys New York.

Before converting to eco-friendly methods, Vidarbha's farmers borrowed heavily to buy expensive seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, and were forced to sell their produce back to the same moneylenders. When rains failed, yields dropped, and suicides rose, the region earned the title of "dying fields." Desperate farmers sold their cattle, their wives' jewelry, and even their land.

Farmers like Jalit, who had a debt of $2,000, and his neighbor Ramesh Santoshrao Shinde, who had a $1,500 loan, sensed hope when Arun Chandra Ambatipudi stepped in with Chetna Organic Farmers Association. Ambatipudi, a sustainable farming expert who has worked with the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), partnered with the Dutch NGO Solidaridad to set up Chetna.

Under Chetna, now a collective of some 6,000 or so, farmers reject costly chemical sprays and fertilizers, reducing the need to borrow from local money lenders at high interest rates.

Making herbal pesticide sprays, tending to the organic manure compost pits, and weeding by hand are all hard work. But "our workers are not giddy or nauseous from handling toxic chemicals," says Shinde. Yields have steadied, and the premium for organic, fair-trade cotton is making farmers hopeful for the future. Chetna supports them by providing access to markets, bringing them together to negotiate prices, and connecting them to retailers, says Ambatipudi.

The cotton from Kirjawla and other villages goes from storage to the local ginning mills and then on to the city of Kolkata in eastern India. In that crowded urban sprawl formerly known by its anglicized name Calcutta, Rajat Jaipuria's Rajlakshmi Cotton Mills, a garment- and bed linen-maker, is the link between the farmers and labels like Coyuchi.

Jaipuria proudly says his products are not just organic but also fair trade — certified after ensuring that small producers are paid fair prices and no child labor is used in the factories.

"The higher price for organic cotton and the premium for fair trade certifications can make organic farming sustainable," says Christine Nielson, founder of Coyuchi, whose entire product range comes from Chetna's produce.

Between them, Chetna, Rajlakshmi, and retailers like Coyuchi are giving small farmers a chance to break free from poverty and debt. Because of this thriving chain, employees in the mill have good working conditions, and farmers are getting better prices for their organic and fair-trade certified produce.