Chhattisgarh produced 11.23 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of ‘city compost’ during 2015-16 being used as organic fertilizer, the Central Government has informed.
Notably, in the month of May last year, the Chhattisgarh Government has decided to establish composite production unit in vegetable markets of cities across the State for manufacturing organic fertilizer using fruits and vegetables.
State Urban Development Agency had issued directives to all 168 urban bodies to send information about the vegetable markets in respective areas, where significant amount of fruit-vegetable waste is found.
Notably, in February last year, the Chhattisgarh Government had also sent a proposal to the Central Government for setting up an ‘Organic Farming Research Centre’ in the State.
Presently, Chhattisgarh State Regional Organic Farming Research Centre is working under Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), but as the agro-climatic condition of the State is different, Chhattisgarh has demanded from Central Government, Chhattisgarh's own Research Centre, Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal informed.
This apart, during the ongoing Rabi season, farmers have collected nearly 10.96 lakh packets of organic fertilizers for various crops, he said.
Chhattisgarh State Agriculture and Seed Development Corporation supplies organic fertilizers as per the demand of farmers, Agrawal said.
He said that organic farming has become need of the hour. The farmers are also becoming more and more aware about the benefits of this method of cultivation.
The State Government has launched Organic Farming Mission to promote organic farming in Chhattisgarh, he said.
This Mission is being conducted in all 27 districts of the State, under which nearly 3,854 hectares of land has been earmarked for organic farming. State-level organic farming cell and district level organic farming cells have been set up for success of the mission.
Farmers have been provided organic seeds to develop seven government agricultural cells as model organic cells.
Organic fertilizers are produced on-farm by the farmers. When on-farm organic inputs are used, cost of production is less than 13% under organic agriculture than inorganic management, the Central government informed. However, if organic inputs from outside the farm are purchased and utilized, the cost of production increases by about 15-20% depending on the nature of inputs used. Integrated Organic Farming System (IOFS) models being developed under National Project on Organic farming (NPOF) promises to meet 70-80% of organic inputs within the farm thus reducing
the market input cost
considerably. Government is promoting use of organic manures under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) of National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).