Chief Secretary Gokul Chandra Pati has underscored the importance of organic farming in the State.
Speaking at a national conference on Organic Farming for Eastern Region organised here by the Agro and Processed Food Products Development Authority (APEDA), he said large parts of area in the State are naturally organic. He stressed the need to build link between organic farmers and the market so that the agriculturists get a remunerative price for their produces. Five critical interventions required for scaling up organic food production have been identified in the State, he said.
Pati said, “Formulation of standard operating procedure (SOP) for organic farming in different horticultural zones of Odisha, intensive awareness building and training activities for farmers, regular certification of crops and simplification of the process of certification, formation of farmers’ organisations and mobilising them to share a part of their profit towards common facilities like certification and storing etc, and assured marketing support to the farmers with captive purchase are some of these major interventions initiated by the State.”
APEDA Chairman Santosh Sarangi said agriculture and processed food export from India has increased to the tune of 19 per cent during last few years and India has emerged as the eighth biggest agricultural exporter in the world market.
“last year, agro food export has been to the tune of Rs1,34,000 crore. In this export, processed food has a large share. The overall growth rate in processed food export has been around 27 per cent in last couple of years,” he said. Sarangi said Odisha is a frontline player in this sector. “The organic production of textile, livestock, aquaculture and vegetables can be promoted in Odisha,” he said. State Agriculture Principal Secretary Rajesh Verma said the Agriculture Policy of Odisha has always focused on organic farming, and soon the State would have a dedicated policy for organic farming. Organic farming system would be developed in each of the 10 agro-climatic zones of the State, he informed.
Addressing the conference as resource person, Dr PVSM Gouri, Advisor, Organic Food Production said Odisha has around 69,055 hectares of certified area of organic cultivation including 14,033 hectares of wild area which is larger than that of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal. These certified areas are spread over 15 districts of Odisha. The products certified for Odisha are cotton, turmeric, vegetables and cashew. Around 106 organic farmer groups have been formed involving more than 40,000 farmers and the total quantity of organic food production in the State is around 33,994 MT per year, she said. She elaborated various promotional schemes available under the Central Govt for organic food production.
State Director of Horticulture Sanjeev Chadha said that last year organic farming was done in around 18,500 hectares of land in Kandhamal, Mayurbhanj, Boudh, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Khordha, Nayagarh, Puri, Koraput, Ganjam, Balangir, Kalahandi, Cuttack, Jajpur and Deogarh districts.Chadha informed that presently six certification agencies are working in the State and they are Eco Cert India Pvt ltd, Control Union Certifications, One Cert Asia Agri Certification Pvt ltd, Jaipur Indo Cert, SGS India Pvt ltd, Gurgaon and Odisha State Organic Certification Agency.
APICOl Managing Director Om Kar said the APICOl has been designated as the APEDA’s nodal agency in Odisha. The organic farmers from Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand participated in the conference.