The Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) – traditional farming improvement programme was launched in 2015. It is an extended component of Soil Health Management (SHM) under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA). PKVY aims at supporting and promoting organic farming, reduction in dependence on fertilizers and agricultural chemicals, in turn, resulting in improvement of the soil health while increasing the yields. Organic food, thus produced will be linked with modern marketing tools and local markets. The revamped PKVY promotes organic farming through the adoption of organic village by cluster approach and Participatory Guarantee System of certification.

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Objective of the scheme:

• Promote organic farming among rural youth, farmers, consumers and traders.
• Disseminate latest technologies in organic farming.
• To utilise the services of experts from the public agricultural research system in India.
• Organise a minimum of one cluster demonstration in a village.

Contributions of PKVY to organic farming promotion:

• Groups of farmers would be motivated to take up organic farming under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY).
• Fifty or more farmers will form a cluster having 50 acre land to take up the organic farming under the scheme.
• In this way during three years 10,000 clusters will be formed covering 5.0 lakh acre area under organic farming.
• There will be no liability on the farmers for expenditure on certification.
• Every farmer will be provided Rs. 20,000 per acre in three years for seed to harvesting of crops and to transport produce to the market.
• The produce will be pesticide residue free and will contribute to improving the health of the consumer.
• Organic farming will be promoted by using traditional resources and the organic products will be linked with the market.
• It will increase domestic production and certification of organic produce by involving farmers
• Adoption of Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification through cluster approach
• Adoption of organic village for manure management and biological nitrogen harvesting through cluster approach

However, challenges remain:

• The Centre’s free organic certification programme “the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana” has not picked up as most States have failed to utilise the funds set aside for the scheme.
• A 2018 report on the implementation of PKVY highlights that all states, except Tripura, Odisha and Karnataka, have failed to utilise even 50 per cent of their funds under the scheme.
• While the Centre has increased allocation for the scheme by 44 per cent for the current year, corrective measures are needed to ensure that the states become responsible and contribute toward “organic India”.

Conclusion:

With the increase in global health consciousness, organic food is set to knock every door and make its way in healthy kitchens worldwide. People the world over use organic food as a hygiene factor rather than a product by itself. Organic food is a holistic approach in the Indian environment which starts at the farm and ends at the fork of the consumer. The way forward is to support the change in a gradual manner. A holistic and community-driven approach, similar to the “Swachh Bharat” for “Swachh Food” needs to be undertaken.