Parshottam Rupala, the Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, informed that the government is increasingly focusing on organic farming to boost production of nutritionally rich agri produce.

As a part of the government’s push, States adjoining the Himalayan range will be encouraged to go all organic, Rupala said, while addressing the Assocham summit on Food Processing, Agriculture and Dairy industry held in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

“This government is open to innovative ideas in food processing. Also, we want to encourage organic way of farming to make our agri produce free from chemicals. All those States adjoining the Himalayan region will be encouraged to adopt and focus on organic farming on the lines of Sikkim. Sikkim has been a great success and we want to replicate it,” said Rupala.

In her speech, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Union Minister of State for Food processing Industries, stated that demand for organic food was increasing. “I have visited several countries and found that there is a growing demand for organic food. We have an opportunity there and we should work to tap it,” said Jyoti.

Notably, in January 2016, Sikkim was declared a fully organic State by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The State contributes about 800,000 tonnes of organic farm produce out of the 1.24-million tonnes of India’s total organic production.

The Gujarat government has decided to declare the tribal district of Dangs and nearby talukas of Dharampur and Kaprada in Valsad district and Vansda in Navsari district as 100 per cent organic.

“There is already traditional farming taking place in these regions of South Gujarat. The traditional way of farming is giving them good yields and production without chemicals. This is the reason Gujarat government plans to declare these talukas and Dangs district as fully organic,” said Sanjay Prasad, Principal Ssecretary, Agriculture, Government of Gujarat.

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