India exported organic products worth Rs5,151 cr in 2018-19: Narendra Singh Tomar
03 Dec 2019
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India exported 6,14.089.61 tonnes of organic products, valued at Rs5,150.99 crore, in the fiscal year 2018-19 while total production of organic products in the country during the financial year stood at 25,087,328.65 tonnes.
Production of certified agricultural commodities in the country during the fiscal stood at 2.607,384.90 tonnes, union minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare Narendra Singh Tomar informed the Lok Sabh in a written reply.
Maharashtra has emerged the top producer of organic products in the country with total production of 12,474,318.83 tonnes in 2018-19, of which 8,60,976.013 tonnes have received third-party certification.
The government, he said, has been promoting organic farming in the country through dedicated schemes, namely, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) since 2015-16. Both the schemes aim at promotion of cluster/ Farmers Producer Organisation (FPO)-based chemical-free, low input cost sustainable organic farming and support farmers from input procurement to market linkages.
The centre provides assistance of Rs50,000 per hectare for 3 years, out of which Rs31,000 (62 per cent) is directly given to the farmers through DBT for inputs (bio-fertilizers, biopesticides, vermicompost, botanical extracts etc) production/ procurement, post harvest management etc in PKVY scheme. Farmers adopt low cost Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) of certification for domestic markets.
Assistance of Rs25,000 per hectare for 3 years is provided to farmers for both on-farm and off-farm organic inputs, and seeds/ planting material in MOVCDNER, while third party certified organic farming is also encouraged for export of niche crops.
Organic farming has also been supported under other schemes, viz, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Network Project on Organic Farming under ICAR.
The major thrust of the government has shifted from production centric to market linked production so that farmers can get better returns for their produce including organic produce, the minister said, adding that to further boost production of organic produce, a dedicated web portal https://jaivikkheti.in/ has also been created to connect farmers involved in organic farming with consumers directly for better prices.
