Organic Farming

The current position of organic farming w.r.t. area covered across the country is 23.02 lakh hectares  under the schemes Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) and National Programme  of Organic Production (NPOP). The details are given at Annexure I.

Under PKVY and MOVCDNER schemes enough assistance is provided to Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs)/ entrepreneurs for development of value chains/ marketing of organic produce. The guidelines for providing  assistance  for various post harvest management/ value chain development activities including infrastructure development, branding, marketing are given at Annexure-II.

Cost of organic agriculture largely depends on on-farm generation of inputs. When on-farm organic inputs are used, cost of production per unit area is less by 13 % under organic agriculture than inorganic management. However, if organic inputs from outside the farm are purchased and utilized, the cost of production increases by about 15-20 % depending on the nature of inputs used. Integrated Organic Farming System (IOFS) models being developed under NPOF promises to meet 70-80 % of organic inputs within the farm thus reducing the market input cost considerably. During the conversion period of initial two to three years, yield levels are expected to be low till soil system regains to respond to organic production system especially in the intensive agriculture areas.

Government of India under the schemes- PKVY & MOVCDNER is supporting the production and marketing of organic produce in the country to reduce their costs and prices. Use of organic inputs like PROM, vermicompost, organic/bio-fertilizers, city compost, waste decomposer have been promoted under these schemes which will further reduce the costs of production in organic farming. The details of the schemes PKVY and MOVCDNER is given at Annexure-III & IV.

           Annexure-I

Grand Total (area covered under NPOP, PKVY & MOVCDNER): 23.02 Lakh Ha

* Source Data provided by the accredited Certification Bodies under NPOP on Tracenet

Annexure-II

Under the following schemes the policy measures are taken by the Government to develop/ boost marketing of certified organic produce easily available to households consumers to promote organic farming:

Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) :

1. Financial assistance is given for direct marketing to the groups and clusters including procuring common packing material, printing of packing material, brochures, leaflets, preparation of labels, holograms, transportation expenses to local markets, hiring spaces on rent for specific organic markets and branding of organic products @ Rs. 15 lakhs/ cluster of 1000 ha. each.
2. Clusters can develop their own post-harvest, value addition and processing facilities, preferably under their institutions such as Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)/ Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) for creation, collection and aggregation of post harvest process centre (one between every 5-10 groups) @ Rs. 20 lakhs/ cluster of 1000 ha. each.
3. Market linkage/ brand building with FPO/  Small Medium Enterprises (SME) including the cost of organic fare to be provided on submission of appropriate proposal to the Executive Committee (EC) on case to case basis @ Rs. 53 lakhs/ cluster of 1000 ha. each

Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER):

Financial assistance is given for setting up of the following:

1. Functional infrastructure for collection, aggregation, grading units and North-Eastern (NE) organic bazaar @ Rs. 15 lakh (75% subsidy).

2. Integrated Processing Units with Total Financial Outlay (TFO) of Rs. 800 lakh or more limited to 75% to Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) and 50% to private entrepreneurs as credit linked back ended subsidy.

4. Integrated pack house with 75% subsidy to FPCs on TFO of 50 lakh or more and 50% to private entrepreneurs or maximum of 37.50 lakh whichever is less as credit linked back ended subsidy.
5. Transportation/ 4 wheeler up to TFO of 12 lakh (50%).
6. Refrigerated transport vehicle/ Pre-cooling/ cold stores/ ripening chambers  upto TFO of 25 lakh (75% subsidy to FPC and 50% to private).

Annexure -III

Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)

It is the first comprehensive scheme launched as a Centrally Sponsored Programme (CSP) since 2015-16, which now has been revised for next 3 years. The scheme is implemented with a 90:10 (GoI: State Govt.) funding pattern in 8 NE states and 3 hilly states of J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, 100% in Union Territory and 60:40 funding pattern in remaining states of the country. The new guidelines of the scheme has been uploaded in the website www.agricoop.nic.in/guidelines/integrated-nutrient-management

The scheme PKVY is implemented by the State Government on per hectare basis for 500-1000 hectare area in each cluster. A group of farmers having a total area of 20 hectare as far as possible in contagious patch within a village. The farmer within a group can avail benefit to a maximum of 2 ha., and the limit of assistance is Rs.50, 000 per ha., out of which 62% i.e., Rs. 31,000 is given as incentives to a farmer for organic conversion, organic inputs, on farm inputs, production infrastructure, etc., shall be provided directly through DBT during the conversion period of 3 years. The target of an area of around 4 lacks ha is proposed to be covered in the 3 years which is double the area covered in last three years.

Status of the Scheme

Total amount allocated for the scheme 2015-2018 is Rs. 947 crore   and fund released Rs. 582.47 crore till date for total 11891 clusters. Under PKVY scheme 237820 hectares of land has been converted into organic farming land and 3,94,550 farmers have been benefited.

Annexure-IV

Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region

Realizing the potential of organic farming in the North Eastern Region of the country, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has launched a Central Sector Scheme entitled “Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region” for implementation in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, during 2015-16 to 2017-18. The scheme aims at development of certified organic production in a value chain mode to link growers with consumers and to support the development of entire value chain starting from inputs, seeds, certification and creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing, marketing and brand building initiative. The scheme was approved with an outlay of Rs. 400 crore for three years.

The assistance is provided for cluster development, on/off farm input production, supply of seeds/ planting materials, setting up of functional infrastructure, establishment of integrated processing unit, refrigerated transportation, pre-cooling /cold stores chamber, branding labeling and packaging, hiring of space, hand holdings, organic certification through third party, mobilization of farmers/processors etc. Under this scheme, an area of 50,000 ha have been targeted to be covered under organic farming in North Eastern Region of the country during the period of three years i.e. from year 2015-16 to 2017-18.  The guidelines of the scheme has been uploaded in the website www.agricoop.nic.in/guidelines/integrated-nutrient-management

Major components of MOVCDNER:

1. Value Chain Production
2. Value Chain Processing
3. Value Chain Marketing
4. Value Chain Support Agencies

Physical and Financial Progress report of MOVCDNER scheme

A) Fund Released:

1. During the year 2015-16 an amount of Rs. 112.11 crore has been released.
2. During the year 2016-17 an amount of Rs. 47.63 crore has been released.
3. During the year 2017-18 an amount of Rs. 66.22 crore has been released.
4. In the current financial year 2018-19 an amount of Rs. 9908.20 crore has been released to seven states.

B) Physical progress:

As on against target of 50000 ha area, 45918 ha area brought under the Organic Farming. Against the target of 100 FPCs, 97 FPCs has been achieved, against the target of 2500 FIGs, 2469 FIGs has been formed, and 48948 farmers are mobilized.

(This Information was given by the Minister of State for Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Parshottam Rupala).