Lok Sabha Question No. 5415 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-04-05
Subject: Urban Farming
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Bharatiben Dhirubhai Shyal

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED  QUESTION NO. 5415

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 5 th APRIL, 2022

## URBAN FARMING

5415.  DR. BHARATIBEN DHIRUBHAI SHIYAL:

Will  the  Minister  of  AGRICULTURE  AND  FARMERS  WELFARE कृ षएवंकसानकयाणमंी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government proposes to formulate any action plan for urban farming in view of the increasing consumption of chemical products in daily life;
- (b) if so, the details thereofand  if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (c) the number of cities where urban farming is in progress, State-wise?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ षएवंकसानकयाणमंी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

- (a) to (c): For  development of sustainable and chemical free farming Government has been promoting organic farming through dedicated schemes of Paramparagat Krishi VikasYojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region (MOVCDNER) since 2015-16. Both the schemes provide end to end support to organic farmers from organic production  to  certification  and  marketing  including  post  harvest  management  support  like processing, packaging, storage etc.

PKVY is implemented in all the States across the country to promote organic farming in  cluster  mode,  in  which,  farmers  are  provided  financial  assistance  of  Rs  50000/ha  for  3 years  in  which,  RS  31000/  ha  /  3  years  is  provided  directly  to  farmers  through  DBT  for organic inputs such as seeds, bio fertilisers, bio-pesticides, organic manure, compost/vermicompost, botanical extracts etc.

O.I.H

MOVCDNER is implemented in all the North Eastern States for promotion of certified organic production, in which, organic farmers are supported to develop their value chain from organic  production  to  processing  and  marketing  etc.  through  FPO  formation.  Under  the scheme  a  sum  of  Rs.  46,575/ha  for  3years  are  provided  for  creation  of  FPO,  support  to farmers for  organic  inputs,  quality  seeds/  planting  material  and  training,  hand  holding  and certification. Besides, financial assistance arealso provided as subsidy to FPOs and Private entrepreneurs @ 75% and 50% respectively for setting up of post harvest infrastructure such as  integrated  processing  unit,  integrated  packhouse,  cold  chain  component  and  small processing unit as per the requirement of value chain.

Government  is  promoting  Natural  Farming  through  BhartiyaPrakritik  Krishi  Padhati (BPKP), introduced during 2020-21 as a sub scheme of Paramparagat Krishi VikasYojana (PKVY) for the promotion of traditional indigenous practices including Natural Farming. The scheme mainly emphasizes on exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs and promotes onfarm  biomass  recycling  with  major  stress  on  biomass  mulching,  use  of  cow  dung-urine formulations  and  other  plant-based  preparations.  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. Until now, under natural farming an area of 4.09 lakh ha area has been covered and a total fund of Rs. 4980.99 lakh has been released to 8 States across the country.

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