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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

'Organic farming can create 60 lakh jobs' by Milind Ghatwai

Madhya Pradesh accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the total area under certified organic farming in the country. Though most of it is due to cotton fields, the state has an immense potential to bring even food crops under organic cultivation.
 
What may help the state’s cause is that agriculture is already organic by default in many tribal-dominated districts because farmers either don't have the resources to use chemical fertilizers or lack access to them.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) submitted a study titled, “Madhya Pradesh: Inching towards organic farming”, to the state government last week. The report claims that organic farming can lead to wealth accumulation of a whopping Rs 23,000 crore, generate exports worth Rs 600 crore and create 60 lakh employment opportunities across MP over the next five years.

For its part, MP has already come out with an Organic Policy, one of the few states to do so, and has promised to implement it soon.

According to the ASSOCHAM study, adoption of organic farming will bring down input costs and the produce will fetch a 50 per cent premium over the normal price and nearly 100 per cent in retail market.

“The demand comes mainly from developed countries and MP has the potential to take India’s global share in organic exports from less than one per cent to about 2.5 per cent by 2013,” says D S Rawat, ASSOCHAM’s national secretary general.

The study recommends that the state should increase cultivation through a cluster approach to generate marketable surplus and provide economy of scale in marketing the production. The state will have to map the status of organic farming and certification along with agro-climatic zones to tap the potential of organic crops and understand micro level production potential.

An expert committee formed by the MP State Human Rights Commission, however, is not so sanguine about the present state of organic agriculture in the state.

“There is no alternative to organic farming and the state has a huge untapped potential but the government will have to do a lot more than only framing a policy,” says former Director of Agriculture (MP) Dr G S Kaushal, who was one of the two members on the committee.

Kaushal says the use of pesticides in districts like Mandla and Dindori is negligible and organic farming should be promoted in a big way there.

Till the proposed organic farming commission takes shape, the state government should start by setting up a working group. “The states that adopt organic farming early will take a huge lead,” Kaushal adds.

The use of Bt cotton has increased exponentially in the state over the last few years, sparking a doubt if areas believed to be under organic farming are actually so.

“The state should get its act together before its organic cotton gets a bad name,” says Kaushal.

The recommendations made by the committee include: government should procure organic produce by giving 20 per cent bonus; subsidy for setting up bio-gas plants; agriculture colleges and universities should provide information and practical tips to farmers and set up experimental farms on their campuses; setting up of Organic Agriculture University; government should bear the costs and make arrangements for verification of certified areas; and create a market for these produce and buy the surplus in the initial years.

Additional Chief Secretary (Farmers Welfare and Agriculture Development) R Parshuram admits that promoting organic farming is a huge challenge.

“We will have to promote farm practices that bring down the cost. We cannot impose but only persuade farmers to adopt them. Unless farmers see benefits and a clientele emerges they won’t go for it. The government will make budgetary allocation from the next financial year,” he says, adding that experiments like using blue green algae in paddy growing areas to increase productivity have already begun.

The MP government began its tryst with organic farming nearly a decade ago in 1,565 villages selected from 313 development blocks in then 48 districts. Not only was the use of agro-chemicals in these villages prohibited, nutrients for crops were provided through green manuring and composts.