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 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. 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 first 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