Lok Sabha Question No. 369 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-04-26
Subject: Symposium on Organic Farming
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Shrirang Appa Barne, SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE, ANANDRAO  ADSUL, DHARMENDRA YADAV

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

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.369

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 26 TH   APRIL, 2016

## SYMPOSIUM ON ORGANIC FARMING

369.       SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE: DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE: SHRI ANANDRAO ADSUL: SHRI DHARMENDRA YADAV:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ षि एवं ककसान कल्याण मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the National Symposium on Organic Farming for Farmers' Prosperity was held in  the  recent  past,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  including  the  issues  discussed  during  the  said conference;
- (b) whether  indiscriminate  use  of  chemical  pesticides  to  control  various  insect-pests  and diseases over the year has destroyed many of their natural enemies and soil micro flora;
- (c) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  corrective  steps  proposed  by  the  Government  in  this regard;
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  made  any  assessment  to  find  out  the  areas  of  land cultivated by organic farming in various States; and
- (e) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  organic  inputs  available  against  the  demand during each of the last three years in the country?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ षि एवं ककसान कल्याण मंत्राऱय में राज्य मंत्री (SHRI MOHANBHAI KUNDARIYA)

- (a): One  Day  National  Workshops  on  Paramparagat  Krishi  Vikas  Yojana  (PKVY)  were organized  at  Imphal(Manipur)  and  Lucknow(Uttar  Pradesh)  on  9 th and  11 th March,2016, respectively,  to  create  awareness    for  promotion  of  organic  farming.      Besides,  National Conference  on  Sustainable  Agriculture  and  Farmers'  Welfare  was  organized  during  Sikkim Organic Festival 2016 at Gangtok (Sikkim) wherein Sustainability through Organic Farming was one of the themes for discussion.
- (b) & (c): Insecticides  are  inherently  toxic  in  nature  and  studies  to  assess  the  impact reveals that some chemical pesticides, if used injudiciously at higher dosage, persist in soil and water bodies (streams, rivers and ground water) and cause adverse effects.

The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India has developed  IPM  package of  practices  for 79 major crops with  the  latest research inputs from  State Agricultural  Universities (SAUs)  and Indian Council  of  Agricultural  Research  (ICAR)  wherein  various  pest  management  techniques  like cultural,  mechanical,  biological  etc.  have  been  recommended  as  alternate  to  chemical pesticides. These Package of Practices are placed on public domain; www.ppqs.gov.in . Besides, various steps have also been taken as under;

-  With the financial assistance of the Central Government, 38 State Bio-control Laboratories have been established across the country.
-  A Scheme i.e. 'Strengthening and Modernization of Pest Management Approach in India' was  launched  since  1991-92  for  disseminating  information  about  good  agricultural practices,  promoting  use  of  bio-pesticides  &  bio-control  agents  and  judicious  use  of chemical pesticides as last resort. Under the ambit of IPM programme, the Government of  India  has  established 35 Central Integrated Pest Management Centers in 29 States and  one  UT.  These  Centres  are  educating  the  farmers  about  various  Integrated  Pest Management techniques through Farmers Field Schools.
-  'Grow safe food' campaign is being run in all the States as one of the IPM programmes.
-  A Scheme  i.e. 'Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at National Level' has been implemented since 2005-06 and by its  25 laboratories   across the country to carry out analysis  of  pesticide  residues  in  food  commodities  such  as  vegetables,  fruits,  cereals, pulses,  spices,  curry  leaves,  red  chilli  powder,  milk,  egg,  fish/marine,  meat,  tea,  water etc. for the possible presence of pesticide residues. The residue data are shared with the State  Governments  who  in  turn  conduct  awareness  programmes  for  the  farmers  for judicious  use  of  pesticides  and  adoption  of  Integrated  Pest  Management  practices  for pest management.

(d) & (e): State-wise  cultivation  area  certified  under  the  National  Programme  for  Organic Production (NPOP) by APEDA for 2015-16 is at Annexure I and  the d etails of organic manure production & availability in the country (excluding green manures)  is given at Annexure II.

## Annexure - I

State-wise Farm area (excluding Forest Area) under Organic Certification during 2015-16

| Sl No.   | State Name        |   Farm Area ( in ha) |
|----------|-------------------|----------------------|
| 1.       | Andhra Pradesh    |      18251.6         |
| 2.       | Arunachal Pradesh |       4185.26        |
| 3.       | Assam             |      28433.2         |
| 4.       | Bihar             |         91.7         |
| 5.       | Chhattisgarh      |      10584.9         |
| 6.       | Goa               |      16957.6         |
| 7.       | Gujarat           |      76813.1         |
| 8.       | Haryana           |       4869.05        |
| 9.       | Himachal Pradesh  |      12759.1         |
| 10.      | Jammu & Kashmir   |      25515           |
| 11.      | Jharkhand         |      30363.7         |
| 12.      | Karnataka         |      93963.3         |
| 13       | Kerala            |      25899.4         |
| 14.      | Lakshdweep        |        895.521       |
| 15       | Madhya Pradesh    |     461775           |
| 16.      | Maharashtra       |     198352           |
| 17.      | Manipur           |        251.4         |
| 18       | Meghalaya         |       4609.42        |
| 19.      | Mizoram           |        213.8         |
| 20.      | Nagaland          |       6186.93        |
| 21.      | New Delhi         |         23.03        |
| 22.      | Odisha            |      95897           |
| 23.      | Pondicherry       |          2.835       |
| 24.      | Punjab            |        961.203       |
| 25.      | Rajasthan         |     155020           |
| 26.      | Sikkim            |      75851.2         |
| 27       | Tamil Nadu        |      14456.5         |
| 28       | Telengana         |     103556           |
| 29.      | Tripura           |        293.56        |
| 30.      | Uttar Pradesh     |      61081.8         |
| 31.      | Uttarakhand       |      37221.4         |
| 32.      | West Bengal       |      17890.4         |
|          | Total             |          1.48994e+06 |

Source: APEDA

Annexure-II

Details of organic manure production & availability in the country (excluding green manures)

| Year    |   Rural compost |   Urban compost |     FYM |   Vermi compost |   other manures |   Total manure production & availability |
|---------|-----------------|-----------------|---------|-----------------|-----------------|------------------------------------------|
| 2009-10 |          804.49 |          618.96 | 1220.65 |           73.72 |           40.62 |                                  2758.44 |
| 2010-11 |          797.54 |          111.24 | 2234.44 |          114.16 |          131.82 |                                  3389.2  |
| 2011-12 |          939.85 |          140.86 | 1860.64 |          268.5  |          235.43 |                                  3245.28 |
| 2012-13 |         1039.35 |          143.04 | 2850.5  |           53.7  |           29.16 |                                  4115.76 |
| 2013-14 |          224.97 |           63.33 | 9647.8  |          582.27 |           24.27 |                                 10542.6  |
| 2014-15 |          225.88 |           64.22 | 1400.4  |          583.2  |           24.44 |                                  2298.14 |

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