The Hindu Business Line : Ministry plans to bring 40% more area under organic farming

New Delhi, Aug. 16 The Commerce Ministry has proposed a programme to augment 40 per cent more area under certified organic cultivation over and above the 1.10 lakh hectares in a bid to boost income of organic produce growers and spare the farm land from overdose of chemical fertilisers.

Official sources told Business Line here that a proposal of the Commerce Ministry in this regard has been forwarded to the Minister of Agriculture, Food & Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution, Mr Sharad Pa war, by the Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, last year.

Recently, Mr Ramesh wrote to Mr Pawar, reiterating the need for expediting the process of developing organic farming in the country for enhancing exports and improving soil fertility and environment in the country and seeking faster clearance of this programme being piloted by his Ministry.

The sources said APEDA had, meanwhile, contacted the governments of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and developed project proposals for assistance under the relevant schemes of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The sources said the products covered for organic farming in these eight states encompass brinjal, banana, grapes, pomegranates, mango, chilli, turmeric and vegetables, wheat and rice, soyabean, sesame, arhar (red gram), basmati rice, onion, garlic, baby corn, pulses, ginger, coffee, vanilla, pepper, coriander and orange.

The sources said the total expenditure for development of organic farming on a project mode in eight States would entail Rs 94.30 crore out of which Central assistance would be Rs 51.71 crore from Ministry of Agriculture and Rs 8.82 crore from APEDA, Rs 3.42 crore from State government assistance and another Rs 30.35 crore from private investment. Currently, 1.10 lakh hectares under certified organic cultivation is fetching export revenue of Rs 95 crore.

It is estimated that the proposed area covering 40,000 hectares might fetch an export revenue of about Rs 120 crore after a span of three years with the number of group growers in the eight States would be 160 with 20 groups in each State and the number of potential beneficiaries would be 80,000 with 10,000 farmers in each of the eight States.