Govt endeavour to promote natural farming

Aware of the importance of nature-based fertilizers, nutrients and pesticides in organic farming, the government is promoting their production and use under various schemes to promote natural farming.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed organic farming packages for 68 cropping systems suitable for 16 states.

A total of 104 crop varieties suitable for organic farming have been identified. In addition, ICAR has also developed 64 prototype Integrated Farming System (IFS) models suitable to 26 States/Union Territories having the potential to increase the income by 3-5 times.

The evaluation of natural farming in eight major cropping systems is also in progress.

Multi-disciplinary teams of scientists are involved in research, need-based training to farmers and extension agents and in giving technical support to state agencies for the promotion of organic farming, while the scientists in Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) organize regular training programmes for farmers on organic agriculture, including the production and use of organic inputs.

For the promotion of organic farming, the Government has been implementing dedicated schemes, namely Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCD-NER), in the country since 2015-16.

Both the schemes stress end-to-end support to organic farmers, that is, from production to processing, certification and marketing and post-harvest management support, including processing. PKVY is being implemented in all the states across the country, except NE states. MOVCD-NER scheme is being implemented only in the NE states.

Under PKVY, farmers are provided financial assistance of Rs 50,000 per hectare (ha) for three years, out of which Rs 31,000/ha is provided to farmers through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for on-farm and off-farm organic inputs. Financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh per cluster of Rs 1,000/ha for three years is provided for value addition and infrastructure creation.

Under MOVCD-NER, an assistance of Rs 46,575/ha for three years is provided for the creation of FPO, support to farmers for organic inputs, quality seeds/planting material and training, handholding and certification.

Need-based assistance is provided for post-harvest infrastructure and value addition up to a maximum limit of Rs 600 lakh for integrated processing unit, Rs 37.50 lakh for integrated pack house, Rs 18.75 lakh each for refrigerated vehicle and cold store components, Rs 10.0 lakh for collection, aggregation, grading and custom hiring centre and Rs 6.0 lakh for four-wheeler transportation.

The ICAR, through the Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research at Modipuram, operates research schemes of the All India Network Programme on Organic Farming (AINP-OF) in 20 cooperating centres covering 16 states to develop a package of practices for organic production of crops in cropping and farming systems perspective. The scheme involves 11 State Agricultural Universities (SAUs), 8 ICAR institutes/centres and one special heritage university.