Top Initiatives By Govt for Organic Farming Promotion

In view of the increasing demand for organic agricultural products, the Government has been promoting Organic farming as chemical-free farming through dedicated schemes namely Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) since 2015-16. Both the schemes provide support to organic farmers from organic production to certification and marketing including post-harvest management like processing, packaging etc.

This information was given by the Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

The details of area and farmers brought under organic farming in various States including Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan under PKVY Scheme is given at Annexure-I.

Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Padhati (BPKP) has been introduced as a sub-scheme of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) since 2020-21 for the promotion of traditional indigenous practices including Natural Farming (NF). The scheme mainly emphasizes on the exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs and promotes on-farm biomass recycling with major stress on biomass mulching, use of cow dung-urine formulations and plant-based preparations. Until now, under natural farming, an area of 4.09 lakh ha area has been covered and a total fund of Rs. 4980.99 lakh has been released in 8 States across the country.

The government has initiated a programme to provide financial assistance to individual farmers with 8.0 or more hectare land @ 2700/ha for 3 years for Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification through Regional Council or National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) certification.

Organic Farming enhances soil fertility and crop productivity. The research studies under ICAR-All India Network Programme on Organic Farming indicate that comparable yield or slightly higher yield to that of conventional management can be obtained in kharif and summer crops in 2 to 3 years, while in rabi crops the yield stabilizes after 5 years.

The use of on-farm organic inputs and adoption of Integrated Organic Farming System (IOFS) model minimizes the use of external inputs to a great extent.

Under PKVY & MOVCDNER schemes farmers are provided financial assistance  of Rs 31000/ ha / 3 years  and Rs 32500/ ha/ 3years respectively for organic inputs such as seeds, bio-fertilisers, bio-pesticides, organic manure, compost/ vermi-compost, botanical extracts etc.  In addition to above, support is also provided for group/ Farmers Producers Organization (FPO) formation, training, certification, value addition and marketing of  organic produce.  Under BPKP, financial assistance of Rs. 12200/ha for 3 years is provided for cluster formation, capacity building and continuous handholding by trained personnel, certification and residue analysis.

Annexure I