Lok Sabha Question No. 190 (STARRED), answered on 2022-12-20
Subject: Promotion of Natural Farming under PKVY
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Jyotsna Charandas Mahant

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 190

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 20 TH     DECEMBER, 2022

## PROMOTION OF NATURAL FARMING UNDER PKVY

† *190. SHRIMATI JYOTSNA CHARANDAS MAHANT:

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

(a) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  promote  natural  farming  in  the  country  under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY);

(b) whether  any  training  sessions,  workshops  and  conferences  have  been  organised  to promote and implement the said scheme/yojana;

(c) if  so,  the  details of the training sessions/ workshops/conferences held in the State of Chhattisgarh during the last three years; and

(d) the percentage of small and marginal farmers benefited by the said scheme/yojana in the country including Chhattisgarh?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR) (a) to (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

O.I.H.

## STATEMENT  IN  RESPECT  OF  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA  STARRED QUESTION NO. 190 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 20.12.2022 REGARDING 'PROMOTION OF NATURAL FARMING UNDER PKVY'.

(a): Government has been promoting organic farming in the country since 2015-16 through the scheme of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY). PKVY is being implemented in all the States other-than North Eastern (NE) States, across the country. The scheme provide end to  end  support  to  farmers  engaged  in  organic  farming  i.e.  from  production  to  processing, certification and marketing and post harvest management support including processing. Under PKVY, farmers of various states in the country 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 on-farm and off-farm organic inputs.

Under PKVY a total 11.85 lakh ha area has been covered benefitting 16.19 lakh farmers with total expenditure of Rs. 1758.48 crore during the period 2015-16 to 2022-23. A total 8 no. of brands namely Made in Mandla, Organic Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu Organic Product (TOP), Sahi organic, Nasik Organic & Gadchirrolia Organic Farming, Jaivik Jharkhand, from the land of  Jharkhand,  Aadim  brand  of  Bhoomi  Gadi  FPO,  Bastar  Naturals,  Five  Rivers  and Tripureshwari  Fresh  of  organic  products  have  been  developed  in  various  states  under  the scheme.

Under the Flagship Programme of Namami Gange 'ARTH GANGE' Programme, 1.23 lakh ha area have been covered along the Ganga basin by developing 6181 clusters. Under PKVY 131 FPOs have been formed in 17 States/UTs under the provisions of 10,000 FPOs Scheme.

In  the  year  2019-2020  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  and  Farmer's  Welfare  initiated  a component of natural farming under PKVY, Bharatiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati (BPKP). Training and capacity building are integral part of the scheme. Under BPKP, financial assistance of Rs 12200/ha  for  3  years  is  provided  for  cluster  formation,  capacity  building  and  continuous handholding, certification and residue analysis while Rs. 2000/ha for 3 years is provided to farmer as incentives through DBT. Moreover, farmers can also avail assistance @ Rs. 8800/ha for  3  years  from  PKVY  funds  for  marketing,  value  addition  and  publicity  of  natural  farming products. So far 4.09 lakh ha area has been sanctioned to eight States under BPKP.

A Digital web portal ( naturalfarming.dac.gov.in ) has been launched for promotion of natural farming to display information about implementation framework, resources, implementation progress, farmer's registration, blog etc.

(b) & (c): BPKP Scheme guidelines provide for manpower for handholding and capacity building through Champion Farmers & Clusters Coordinator (CCCF), Senior Level Resource Persons (SLRP), Community Resource Person (CRP), Lead Resource Person (LRP), Cluster Office  Management  &  Data  Entry  Operations  and  capacity  building,  exposure  visits  and trainings of field functionaries are as under:

## (i) 7 days on-field practical training including exposure visit to LRPs and CRPs:

One per year 7 days training including exposure visit to Natural farmers for LRPs & CRPs to be provided by BPKP/ZBNF experts and Champion Natural Farmers.

## (ii) Yearly Capacity building of all Resource Persons (CRP/LRP/Expert Farmers/SLRP etc.) by external resource persons:

One two days annual capacity building training for all resource persons

## (iii) Capacity Building of Clusters through Expert Natural Farming farmers/or Agriculture Graduate/SLRP:

20 Cluster farmers training per year in batch of 50 farmers.

## (iv) Training of the farmers by LRPs and CRPs:

5 trainings of one day duration at village level for all the farmers in a batch of 25 farmers.

BPKP under PKVY is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, being implemented by the State Governments. The details of training sessions/ work-shops/ conferences held/organized by the state and the beneficiary level data are maintained at the State level only.

Though organization of training and conferences were held up during 2021-2022 due to Covid Pandemic but during 2022-2023 (till November, 2022) National Center of Organic and Natural  Farming  (NCONF),  a  sub-ordinate  office  of  Department  of  Agriculture  &  Farmer's Welfare has organized various training, demonstration and awareness programme (online & offline) on natural farming for 13055 number of beneficiaries. The details are given below:

| Sl.No.   | Training & awareness Programmes                                                                                                                               | Number of Programmes Organized   | Number of Beneficiaries   |
|----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------|---------------------------|
| 1.       | Online/Offline awareness campaign on Organic & Natural Farming under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav organized by N/RCONFs.                                           | 60                               | 8554                      |
| 2.       | One Day Farmers Training and Demonstration on Organic and Natural Farming for 50 participants                                                                 | 17                               | 915                       |
| 3.       | Two Days Training on Organic and Natural Farming for Extension Officers/Staff (20 participants)                                                               | 08                               | 200                       |
| 4.       | Two Days Training on PGS for State Govt. Extension Officers/RCs/SPs/LRPs etc                                                                                  | 06                               | 122                       |
| 5.       | Trainings on Organic and Natural farming organized as Co-Organizers by NCONF in association with other Ministries/Dept./Govt. & Non Govt. Institutes/SAUs etc | 03                               | 405                       |
| 6.       | Online/Offline Training on PGS for extension officers/LRPs/RCs/SPs etc                                                                                        | 04                               | 84                        |
| 7.       | Online/Offline Farmers Training and Field Demonstrations on Organic and Natural farming organized by N/RCONFs                                                 | 02                               | 100                       |
| 8.       | Offline Awareness Program on organic and natural farming for college students                                                                                 | 02                               | 183                       |
| 9.       | Participation in Exhibitions / Seminars / Webinars / Training / Workshops / Fairs etc. to disseminate organic and natural farming practices.                  | 36                               | 800                       |
| 10.      | Awareness on Organic and Natural farming, PGS Certification and Marketing by Guest lectures / Radio talks/TV Talks etc.                                       | 57                               | -                         |
| 11.      | Farmers Contacted through Outreach Activities for popularization of organic and Natural farming                                                               | -                                | 1692                      |
|          | Total                                                                                                                                                         | 195                              | 13055                     |

It  has  been  informed  by  Chhattisgarh  Government  that  the  training  activities  were banned since last two year due to COVID-19 situation hence webinar on natural farming for Chhattisgarh farmers were organized through RCOF Jabalpur to promote and implement the said scheme/yojana.

5 Webinars on Natural Farming organized during 2022-2023 by RCOF Jabalpur are given below:-

| S. No.   | Date       |   Farmer |
|----------|------------|----------|
| 1.       | 23.06.2022 |       56 |
| 2.       | 01.07.2022 |      101 |
| 3.       | 07.07.2022 |       76 |
| 4.       | 14.07.2022 |       38 |
| 5.       | 22.07.2022 |       69 |
|          | Total      |      340 |

- (d): BPKP  under  PKVY  is  a  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  being  implemented  by  State Governments;  hence  the  beneficiary  level  data  (details  of  small  and  marginal  farmers)  is maintained at the state level only. However, the area sanctioned in the country under the BPKP since 2020 - 21 is given below:

| Sl. No.   | States           |   Area in Ha |
|-----------|------------------|--------------|
| 1.        | Andhra Pradesh   |       100000 |
| 2.        | Chhattisgarh     |        85000 |
| 3.        | Kerala           |        84000 |
| 4.        | Himachal Pradesh |        12000 |
| 5         | Jharkhand        |         3400 |
| 6.        | Odisha           |        24000 |
| 7.        | Madhya Pradesh   |        99000 |
| 8.        | Tamil Nadu       |         2000 |
|           | Total            |       409400 |

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