Organic farming in Madhya Pradesh - An Overview :
Madhya Pradesh is the only state in the country where organic farming is being done over 1.48 lakh hectares, the largest in the country. Organic farming is being done in 1.48 lakh hectares area, which is the largest in the country. The minister said that Madhya Pradesh is the leading state in the country in terms of agriculture production. The state's agriculture development rate has crossed 9.7 per cent.Organic farming is the solution to the problem of harmful waste generated by use of chemicals.Use of organic manure will not only help in reducing the input cost but also help conserve soil, water and environment. The waste generated from agriculture can be easily recycled to convert into compost, bio-fuel and bio-gas.
Madhya Pradesh has a maximum certified area of 2.32 lakh hectares under organic farming out of a total 7.23 lakh hectares in India, while Manipur and Mizoram have nothing to show on this front. An amount of Rs 300 crore has been allocated for implementing PKVY in 2015-16. The programme aims to set up 10,000 clusters covering 5 lakh acres under organic farming in three years.
Under PKVY, groups of farmers will be motivated to take up organic farming by forming a cluster with 50-acre land in total. There will be no liability on 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 transporting produce to the market.
Organic farming will be promoted by use of traditional resources, and the organic products will be linked to the market. Besides PKVY, the government is promoting organic farming through various schemes such as National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture, National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm and Network Project on Organic Farming of ICAR.
Farmers in the state are being encouraged to adopt organic farming.Around 16 districts Alirajpur, Jhabua, Betul, Khandwa, Sagar, Damoh, Chhindwara, Mandla, Balaghat, Umaria, Dindori, Katni, Anuppur, Sheopurkalan, Bhopal and Sehore–have been included under the state government’s certified organic farming scheme. The state government has also selected eight farms for production of organic seed under the organic seed production programme.With growing population and pressure to make food available, dependency on chemical fertilisers and pesticides has increased as it provides higher yields. However, excessive use of chemicals has affected the environment and also resulted in side effects on humans.
Citing benefits of organic farming, apart from being better on health grounds, organic farm produces may get new markets in the world. Madhya Pradesh accounts for around 9% of the country’s total area under organic farming at 2.3 mln ha at present. The Centre aims to bring more area under organic farming to ensure sustainable growth in production. India is among the leading growers of organic food in the world. The US, Canada, Japan, and the European Union are among major importers of Indian organic products.