Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar briefed the Rajya Sabha on the steps the Government has taken for promoting organic farming in the country.
Two major schemes of the Union government for promoting organic farming include – Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER), both were introduced in 2015. Organic Farming has also been supported under other Schemes like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) and Network Project on Organic Farming under ICAR. Third party certification of organic farming is promoted by Agriculture Processed Food and Export Development Authority (APEDA), Ministry of Commerce.
As per the report received from States and Agriculture Processed Food and Export Development Authority (APEDA), the total farm area currently under Organic Certification is 27.70 lakh hectares in the country including 5.98 lakh hectares under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), for Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) the area is 0.639 lakh hectares while 19.38 lakh hectares is under National Program for Organic Production (NPOP) of APEDA and 1.70 lakh hectares under other initiatives.
The Union Government has also conducted a study to assess the benefit of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value chain Development for North Eastern Region(MOVCDNER) scheme through National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad.
