Question : Organic Agricultural Products

(a) whether the demand for organic agricultural products has increased in the global market and these products have also fetched good prices;

(b) if so, the steps taken by the Government to promote organic farming and the details thereof, State-wise especially of Maharashtra;

(c) whether the Government proposes to provide assistance to encourage and promote organic farming in the country and if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether many studies have proved that organic farming will increase the productivity and fertility of the land in the country and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the total increase in organic farming during the last three years and the total number of farmers doing organic farming, State-wise including Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra?

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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(a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.


STATEMENT IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) TO (e) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *365 FOR 29.03.2022 REGARDING “ORGANIC AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS”.
(a): There has been increase in the quantity and value of organic products exported from the country in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 indicating increased demand in the global market. The quantity of Indian organic products exported under National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) during 2020-21 was 8.88 lakh MT as against 6.38 lakh MT during 2019-20 which amounts to 39.18% increase in export. The value of Indian Organic Products exported has increased from 689.10 million USD in 2019-20 to 1040.95 million USD during 2020-21 which is more than 50% of the exported value.
(b) & (c): Government has been implementing Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) for promotion of organic 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 Maharashtra.
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. Whereas, financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh/ cluster of 1000 ha for 3 years is provided for value addition and infrastructure creation. In Maharashtra, since 2015-16, a total of Rs 96.66 crore has been released for 1608 clusters for 32160 ha area and 8.03 lakh farmers have been benefited.
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. Whereas 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.



(d): A long-term experiment, at selected sites, for comparative evaluation of organic and conventional management conducted by Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) indicated that yield was found to be higher during kharif and rabi /summer crops for coarse/ basmati rice based cropping systems, soybean-based systems compared to inorganic approaches indicating better suitability of these systems under long-term organic management approaches. Soil organic carbon was found to be significantly higher under long-term organic approach for coarse rice, basmati rice and soybean-based systems.
(e): The State-wise total area under organic farming (NPOP + PGS) during the last four years is given at Annexure – I, which indicates that there is increase in area of 5.25 lakh, 3.82 lakh and 8.77 lakh ha respectively during 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 under organic farming in the country. The details of State-wise total number of organic farmers (NPOP + PGS) till 2020-2021 are given at Annexure-II.