Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
Organic farming and demand for green agricultural products is gaining
momentum in India. During the last few years, the organic agriculture has developed
rapidly worldwide and is now practiced approximately in 110 countries of the world.
According to latest survey by the Foundation Ecology & Agriculture (SOEL, 2005),
more than 26 million hectares are currently managed organically by at least 558,449
farmers worldwide. The market for organic foods is also growing, not only in Europe
and North America but also in many other countries. Growing receptivity and
acceptance of organic food concept is reflected in both mushrooming of local markets
and government involvement, including policy support, in the India in recent years.
On 16th July, 2002, Department of Agricultural Cooperation, Ministry of
Agriculture, Govt. of India has issued the draft guidelines on organic agriculture.
Beginning with individual farmers today, agri-business models for organic agriculture
for different crops are in the pipeline (Anon; 2002). Increasing realization of the ill
effects of long sustained exclusive use of chemical fertilizers, and consistent growing
demands from the consumers for fruit quality, coupled with unsustainable
productivity of arid fruits, have fostered experimentation with some alternative
practices (Srivastava et al., 2002) Organic cultivation is claimed to be the most benign
alternative.
Therefore, an effort has been made in this chapter to deliberate on status of
organic farming in India. In response, no assimilated research Information is available
on the organic cultivation but concerning on the possibilities for change, the options
available and the likely effects of a range of land use practices and strategies have
been discussed.
Recent status and scope of organic farming in India
Organic farming is in infantile stage in India. A Technical Team constituted
by the Ministry of Agriculture in 1993 reported that in principle, India should phase
out use of chemicals systematically and it should move out from policy and official
documents to farmers. At present, the per cent share of organic food to total food
production is negligible. However, interest in organic agriculture in India is picking
up. In the year 2000, the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) was
initiated and in 2001, the National Accreditation Programme was notified by the
Ministry of Commerce. APEDA has set up model farms for rice, sugarcane and
pineapple. Organic cultivation and agri-business in organic products is expected to
receive major boost in the country.
Under the Tenth Five Year Plan, the Government of India has included
organic agriculture as a thrust area for research and development (Anon., 2001) and
based on Task Force recommendations, a National Project on Organic Farming was
formulated for implementation during Tenth Five Year Plan (Anon., 2003). Various
state governments, SAUs and NGOs have also initiated programmes on different
aspects of organic agriculture with emphasis to augment production of organic food
and subsequently to make the significant contribution in the global market. The
Spices Board of the country has shown interest in raising organic spices for
augmenting export potential of spices. Several organic villages have been in limelight
in recent past for their impressive performance in organic farming related activities,
Ashtha village in Maharashtra and Village 3 HH (Sri Ganganagar district) in
Rajasthan have been declared as first and second organic villages of country,
respectively (Sharma, 2002b). In India, due to lack of health consciousness, domestic
population is not ready to pay a premium for food raised without the use of chemicals.
However, organic farming has a better prospect in India since, agriculture in India in
line with organic farming principles. Hence, it is very easy for Indian farmers to
practice organic farming in its true sense and produce organic food. Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR) plans to replace All India Coordinated Project on
"Organic Manures" with; organic farming at Indian Institute of Soil Science (IISS),
Bhopal. The Project Directorate for propping Systems Research (PDCSR),
Modipuram would initiate a coordinate scheme to standardize a package of practice
on organic farming (Anon., 2003). A National Institute for|0rganic Farming has been
announced to be set up at Ghaziabad (U.P However, keeping in view the long term
benefits of organic agriculture, the Government of India has considered it as a priority
area for research and development. It is hoped that adoption of organically sound
agricultural practices will lead to a comprehensive socio-economic and environmental
transformation in the country by 2020 AD (Dahama et al., 2002).
Government of India
Ministry of Agriculture
Ministry of Commerce (MoA)
(MoC)
Accreditation
Technical Committee Committee
(On standards, accreditation,
inspection and certification)
Tea Board
Accreditation Agencies
(AA) Coffee Board
APEDA
Other agencies
constituted by
Spices Board Government of
Evaluation Agency (EA) India
Inspection and
Certification Agencies
Certification Bodies
There are 12 accredited certifying agencies in the country and the list is
presented in Table 20. Tentative tariff structure (8) for certification is as below:
• Travel and Inspection: Rs.12000 - Rs.19000 per day (depending on small
farmers, cooperative, estate manufacturers, large and medium sized
processors).
• Report preparation: Rs.5000/-
• Certification: Rs.5000/-
Acts for Regulatory Mechanism of Organic Foods
For organic food regulation, several statutory provisions are available in India
and these may be incorporated in regulatory mechanism as and when required. Some
of these acts are mentioned below:
• Preservation of Food Adulteration Act, 1954.
• Essential Commodity Act, 1955.
• Standards on Weight and Measures (Packed Commodities Rule), 1977.
• Export (Quality Control & Inspection) Act, 1963.
• BIS Act, 1986.
• Agricultural Produce (Grading & Marketing) Act, 1937.
• Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
• Regulation of Export of Fresh Grapes through Control of Pesticide Residue
(Trade Notice No. QME/GEN/049/2003, dated 22.12.2003.
• Fertilizer (Control) Order (FCO), 1957.
• Insecticide Act, 1968.
• Import : Nil
REFERENCES
1. www.apeda.org
2. Bhattacharyya, P. Organic Food Production in Inda- Status, Strategy and
Scope. Agribios (India), Jodhpur, 01 - 182 (2004)
3. Bhattacharyya, P and Kumar, D. Estimates of availability of organic nutrients,
SWOAT analysis and Government Initiatives. Paper presented in National
Seminar on National Policy on Organic Farming, 10-11 March,2005 (2005)
4. Gouri, P.Y.S.M., National Programme for organic production. Bulletin of
Indian Society of Soil Science. No.22 (K.P. Singh, G. Narayanasamy, R K.
Rattan and N. N. Goswami ed.), 61-64 (2004)
5. IFOAM- The World of Organic Agriculture Statistics and emerging trends
(Helga Willer and Minou Yussefi eds), 1 - 167 (2005)
6. Sharma, P.D. and Singh Mohan. Problems and Prospects of Organic Farming.
Bulletin of Indian Society of Soil Science, No.22, 14- 41 (2004)