Lok Sabha Question No. 2543 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-02
Subject: Data on Organic Farming
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Sangeeta Azad, Hibi Eden

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2543

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 02 ND  AUGUST, 2022

## DATA ON ORGANIC FARMING

## 2543. SHRIMATI SANGEETA AZAD: SHRI HIBI EDEN:

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

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  any  Scheme  to  promote  organic  farming  as  a  form  of chemical-free farming, if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise, especially in Kerala and Uttar Pradesh;
- (b) whether the Government proposes to come up with a scheme to restore the past glory of Pokkali rice farming, a paddy variety unique to Kerala and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  taken  steps  to  promote  Zero  Budget  Natural  Farming (ZBNF) announced in the Union Budget 2019-2020 and if so, details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government sees any difference between ZBNF and Organic farming, if so, the details thereof including change from ZBNF to Organic farming; and
- (e) whether same organic village has been adopted for manure management and organic nitrogen  harvesting  through  cluster  approach  and  if  so,  the  status  of  Integrated  Manure Management; and
- (f) the extent to which the Government has been able to pass on the benefits of organic farming to the farmers?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a): Government has been promoting organic farming through  Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana  (PKVY)  and  Mission  Organic  Value  Chain  Development  for  North  Eastern  Region (MOVCDNER) as a form  of chemical free farming through cluster/FPO in the country since 2015-16.  Both  the  schemes  stress  on  end  to  end  support  to  organic  farmers  i.e.  from production to processing, certification and marketing and post harvest management support including  processing.  PKVY  is  being  implemented  in  all  the  States  across  the  country including Kerala & Uttar Pradesh. MOVCDNER scheme is implemented only in NE States.

Under PKVY 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 on-farm and off-farm organic inputs. Financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh/ cluster of 1000 ha for 3 years is provided for value addition and infrastructure creation. In Kerala, since 2015-16, a total of Rs 26.17 crore has been released for 619 clusters for 12380 ha area benefitting 30950 farmers. Whereas, in Uttar Pradesh since 2015-16, a total of Rs 67.26 crore has been released for 1120 clusters for 22400 ha area benefiting 53972 farmers.

Under MOVCDNER, an assistance of Rs. 46,575/ha for 3years is provided for creation of FPO, support to farmers for organic inputs, quality seeds/ planting material and training, hand  holding  and  certification.  Need  based  assistance  is  provided  for  post harvest infrastructure  and  value  addition  up  to  maximum  limit  of  Rs  600  lakh  for  integrated processing unit, Rs 37.50 lakh for integrated pack house, Rs 18.75 lakh each for refrigerated vehicle and cold store components, Rs 10.0 lakh for collection, aggregation, grading   and custom hiring center and Rs 6.0 lakh for four wheeler/transportation.

(b):     This is a s tate subject on that there is no such proposal has been received from Kerala under any scheme of this Ministry.

(c): In view of the announcement made in the Union Budget for 2019-2020 Government is implementing Bhartiya  Prakritik  Krishi  Padhati  (BPKP)  since  2020-21  as  a  sub  scheme  of Paramparagat  Krishi  Vikas  Yojana  (PKVY)  for  the  promotion  of  agro-ecological  farming system which have many variants and is based on sound ecological principles and traditional indigenous  practices  including  Zero  Budget  Natural  Farming.  The  scheme  is  generic  in nature  and  gives  freedom  to  farmers  to  adopt  indigenous  practices  with  emphasis  on exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs and also promotes on-farm biomass recycling with major  stress  on  biomass  mulching,  use  of  cow  dung-urine  formulations  and  other  plantbased preparations. Training through capacity building is 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 by trained personnel, certification and residue analysis. An area of 4.09 lakh ha area has been covered under natural farming and a total fund  of  Rs.  4980.99  lakh  has  been  released  to  8  States  namely  Andhra  Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,  Kerala,  Himachal  Pradesh,  Jharkhand,  Odisha,  Madhya  Pradesh  and  Tamil Nadu under BPKP.

(d): In  principle,  Organic  farming  relies  on  bio-diversity,  on  farm  bio  mass  management, rejuvenation of natural nutrient recycling, crop rotation, multiple cropping etc. and it allows use of off-farm purchased organic and biological inputs like bio-fertilizers, organic fertilizers, bio-pesticides etc.

Natural  farming  is  based  on  four  pillers  namely  Bijamrit,  Jiwamrita,  Mulching  and Waaphasa as described below:

Jiwamrita: Jivamrita  is  a  desi-cow  dung  -cow urine  formulation  applied  to  soil for  natural nutrition to crop plant.

Beejamrita: It  is  prepared  with  cow  dung,  cow  urine  and  lime  water  and  used  for  seed treatment  to  protect  seeds  and  seedlings  from  soil  borne  and  seed-borne  pathogens  that commonly affect plants.

Mulching (Acchadhana): Three types of mulching namely soil mulching, mulching with crop residue and live mulching involving intercropping systems.

Whapahasa (Soil Aeration): Whapahasa is created in the inter particle  space  of  the soil (filled  with  50%  vapour  and  50%  air)  which  is  considered  ideal  in  ZBNF  to  reduce  water requirement for better plant growth.

ZBNF  gives  freedom  from  purchased  inputs  by  not  allowing  use  of  any  kind  of  off-  farm inputs.

(e): Manure management and organic nitrogen harvesting through cluster approach is part of organic farming . Under PKVY and MOVCDNER schemes, organic farming is promoted under  cluster  approach  and  these  strategies  (Manure  management  and  organic  nitrogen harvesting) are integrated. Details of two schemes are given in reply of Part (a).

(f):    Since 2015-16 a total of 16.19 Lakh farmers have been benefited with the formation of 32384  no  of  clusters  covering  6.53  Lakh  hac.  area  under  PKVY.    Whereas  under MOVCDNER,  177  FPO's  have  been  formed  benefitting  1.56  lakh  farmers  covering  1.77 lakhs hac area.

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