New Delhi:The government is promoting organic farming through the schemes of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) in all the States, and Union Territories (except North Eastern States).
For North Eastern States, the government is implementing the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) scheme. Both the schemes stress on end-to-end support to farmers engaged in organic farming from production to processing, certification & marketing, and post-harvest management training and capacity building.
Under PKVY, the assistance of Rs 31,500 per ha for a period of 3 years is provided for the promotion of organic farming, out of this, the assistance of Rs 15,000 per ha for a period of 3 years is provided to farmers adopting organic farming through Direct Benefit Transfer for on-farm/off-farm organic inputs, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ramnath Thakur, in a written reply, told Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Under MOVCDNER, the assistance of Rs 46,500/ha for 3 years is provided for the creation of a Farmers Producer Organization, support to farmers for organic inputs etc. Out of this, assistance Rs 32500/ ha for 3 years is provided to farmers for off-farm/on–farm organic inputs under the scheme including Rs 15,000 as a Direct Benefit Transfer to the farmers, Thakur informed Rajya Sabha.
Two types of organic certification systems have been developed to ensure quality control of organic produce. Third-party certification by by Accredited Certification Agency under the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) scheme under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for the development of the export market. Under the NPOP certification scheme, the production and handling of activities at all stages such as production, processing, trading and export requirements for organic products is covered.
Participatory Guarantee System (PGS-India) under the Ministry of Agriculture and farmers Welfare in which stakeholders (including farmers/ producers) are involved in decision-making about the operation of the PGS-India certification itself by assessing, inspecting and verifying the production practices of each other and collectively declaring produce as organic. PGS- India certification is to meet the demand of the domestic market.
To ensure market availability States organize seminars, conferences, workshops, buyer-seller meetings, exhibitions, trade fairs, and organic festivals either within their own region or in key markets of other states. The government has developed a web portal as an online marketing platform for the direct sale of organic produce by farmers to consumers to help them for better price realization. A total of 6.22 lakh farmers have been registered under the Jaivik kheti portal, MoS Ramnath Thakur said.
