Lok Sabha Question No. 494 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-12-19
Subject: Assistance for Organic Farming
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: BANSHILAL MAHTO

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 494

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 19 TH   DECEMBER, 2017

## ASSISTANCE FOR ORGANIC FARMING

494.   DR. BANSHILAL MAHATO:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  provide  assistance  to  encourage  and  promote organic farming in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  various  studies  have  identified  that  organic  farming  can  increase  productivity and fertility of land in the country;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the response of the Government thereto?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंालय म राय मंी (SHRI PARSHOTTAM RUPALA)

- (a) & (b): Government  is  promoting  organic  farming  and  providing  financial  assistance through the schemes of Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain  Development  for  North  Eastern  Region  (MOVCDNER)  under  National  Mission  of Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).  The details are given at Annexure I & II.
- (c) to (e): Indian Council of Agricultural Research through its Plan Scheme 'Network Project on  Organic  Farming'  (NPOF)  is  undertaking  research  to  develop  location  specific  organic farming package of practices for crops and cropping systems.  Presently, the project is being implemented in 20 centres covering 16 States.  Organic farming package of practices for 45 crops/cropping systems have been developed to provide technical backstopping to Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) scheme being implemented in the country.

## Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)-

The  Parampragat  Krishi  Vikas  Yojana  (PKVY)  is  the  first  comprehensive  scheme launched by the Central Government as a centrally sponsored programme (CSP), where the Central and State Governments share the funding in varying ratio. It is 100% in UT, 90:10 in North-Eastern and Hilly States and 60:40 in case of other States. The scheme is implemented by the State Governments. It is implemented on a cluster basis of 20 hectare each. The farmer within  the  cluster  is  given  financial  assistance  upto  a  maximum  of  1  ha  and  the  limit  of assistance is Rs.50,000 per ha during the conversion period of 3 years. The target is to promote 10,000 clusters covering 2 lakh ha over the period of 3 years, 2015-16 to 2017-18. In order to implement  the  PKVY  in  the  2015-16,  2016-17  and  2017-18  an  amount  of  Rs.300  crore, Rs. 297 crore and Rs. 350 crore has been allocated respectively to the States.

## Annexure I

## Annexure II

Mission  Organic  Value  Chain  Development  for  North  Eastern  Region:  Ministry  of Agriculture  and  Farmers  Welfare  has  launched  a  Central  Sector  Scheme  entitled  "Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region" for promoting organic farming in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. The scheme aims at development of certified organic production in a value chain mode to link growers with consumers and to support the development of entire value chain starting from inputs, seeds, certification and creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing, marketing and brand building initiative.

The assistance is provided for cluster development, on/off farm input production, supply of seeds/ planting materials, setting up of functional infrastructure, establishment of integrated processing unit, refrigerated transportation, pre-cooling /cold stores chamber, branding labeling and  packaging,  hiring  of  space,  hand  holdings,  organic  certification  through  third  party, mobilization of farmers/processors etc. Under this scheme, an area of 50,000 ha. have been targeted to be covered under organic farming in North Eastern Region of the country during the period of three years i.e. from year 2015-16 to 2017-18. An amount of Rs.112.11 crore, 47.63 crore and 34.02 crore have been released to the states during the period of 2015-16           to 2017-18.

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