Abstract:
Plantation sector in India, historically dominated by the large
estates has been promoted intensively by the state given its significant
contribution towards foreign exchange on the one hand its developmental
role and livelihood of workers on the other. However, there has been a
growing concern over the environmental implications of plantations
sector on account of the deforestation, sedimentation in the reservoirs
of hydroelectric projects, environmentally hostile cultural practices,
waste generation in case of certain plantations and others. Hence
economic sustainability of plantation sector is considered as inimical
to environmental sustainability. At the same time, the changes in
environment do adversely affect yield of plantation crops and therefore
their economic viability. In this paper, drawing insight from the literature
on innovation systems, we examined the evolving nature of interaction
between economy, ecology, innovation and finds that the emerging
trajectory appears to be one that promotes sustainability notwithstanding
instances of institutional inertia within the sector towards evolving a
sustainability oriented innovation system.
