Government of India promotes organic farming

Government of India has been promoting organic farming through dedicated schemes of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region (MOVCDNER) since 2015-16. Both the schemes provide end to end support to organic farmers from organic production to certification and marketing including post harvest management support like processing, packaging, storage etc.

PKVY is implemented in all the States across the country to promote organic farming in cluster mode, in which, farmers are provided financial assistance of Rs 50000/ha for 3 years out of which, Rs. 31000/ ha / 3 years is provided directly to farmers through DBT for organic inputs such as seeds, bio fertilisers, bio-pesticides, organic manure, compost/vermi-compost, botanical extracts etc.

MOVCDNER is implemented in all the North Eastern States for promotion of certified organic production, in which, organic farmers are supported to develop their value chain from organic production to processing and marketing etc. through FPO formation. Under the scheme a sum of Rs. 46,575/ha for 3years are provided for creation of FPO, support to farmers for organic inputs, quality seeds/ planting material and training, hand holding and certification. Apart from that financial support is also provided as subsidy to FPOs and private entrepreneurs at 75% and 50% respectively for setting up of post harvest infrastructure such as integrated processing unit, integrated packhouse, cold chain component and small processing unit as per the requirement of value chain.

In addition, organic farming is also supported under Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) and National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF), Network Project on Organic Farming under Indian council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The financial outlay of PKVY and MOVCDNER for last three years:

Under PKVY and MOVCDNER schemes, there is a provision for training and capacity building of farmers. Under PKVY a financial assistance of Rs 7500/- per farmer for three year is provided for capacity building. Whereas under MOVCDNER, there is provision of financial assistance of Rs 10,000 per farmer for three year for training, handholding and certification. The details of States wise number of farmer trained under PKVY and MOVCDNER is given below.

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