Comments
The Centre appears keen to replicate Karnataka’s initiative in promoting millets and organics at the national level with the participation of all the States.
Over the past four years, Karnataka has brought millets into the limelight by incentivising the production of the cereals, which are nutritent-rich and can be grown with use of less water and inputs. The State is currently hosting a three-day national trade fair in Bengaluru to provide linkages for millet growers and producers of organic foodgrains, fruits and vegetables.
“I propose we take this initative as a national mission with participation from all the States,” said HN Ananth Kumar, Union Minister for Fertilisers and Chemicals and Parliamentary Affaris, at the inaugural of Organics and Millets 2017 on Friday.
The Centre will form a committee with Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and other leaders, including Karnataka Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and former Agriculture Minister Sompal, to take forward the national mission on millets, Ananth Kumar said.
About 250 companies, including large organic players, start-ups and farmer producer organisations, are participating in the three-day fair that is expected to attract over 40,000 visitors.
Karnataka has come out with a new policy on organic farming, with emphasis on sustainable production, collaborative approach in certification, branding and marketing of organic produce.
“The State has now decided to reform the Organic Farming Policy Karnataka 2004 to enable the next level of development in the sector and launch the Karnataka Organic Farming Policy 2017. This policy aims to bring organic farming into the mainstream and transform agriculture in Karnataka into a sustainable remunerative occupation enabling production of nutritious food by promoting eco-friendly organic farming and marketing systems,” Byre Gowda said.
HK Patil, Karnataka Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, said the Centre should procure millets under the MSP programme for distribution under the PDS. Patil suggested that the Centre extend subsidies to organic fertilisers.
DK Singh, Chairman, Apeda, said the Centre’s removal of the quantitative ceiling on exports of agriculture products except for pulses and lentils, would help farmers and organic producers. Organic exports are growing at 30 per cent, higher than any other category of products, he said. Millets accounts for a tenth of organic exports of around ₹3,500 crore.
State Agriculture Secretary Maheshwar Rao said the area under organic farming in the State is over 93,000 hectares, from 2,500 hectares in 2004.
Better seeds and inputs have resulted in growth of millet output by 20-25 per cent over the past five years.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.