NEW DELHI: After bringing Sikkim on board as a fully organic state, the Centre has now looked to turn Andaman & Nicobar Islands ‘organic' as the Union Territory has full potential to completely switch over to chemical fertilizers-free and pesticides-free farming.The cluster-mode approach, which has been adopted for converting additional areas to organic farming in the country, will be promoted in the UT to have the mission accomplished in due course of time.
“My aim is to make Andaman & Nicobar Islands an ‘organic island’. It (UT) has immense potential and is favourably placed for organic farming due to less use of chemical fertilizers and abundant species”, said Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh. He was addressing a conference on organic farming in Port Blair on Thursday.
Though over 22 lakh hectares of land has already been brought under organic farming across the country through various schemes with Sikkim being the lone fully organic state, the government has under its ‘Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana’ (PKVY) been encouraging more and more farmers to switch over to organic farming under cluster approach. Target is to bring additional 2 lakh hectares of land (10,000 clusters) under organic farming.
Under the scheme (launched in 2015-16), farmers are expected to form a cluster of 20 hectares each of contiguous farm land to take up organic farming. Farmers are being given Rs 50,000 per hectare for the 3-year turn-around time for organic farming, certification, packaging, branding and marketing under the scheme.
Courtesy: The Times of India
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