Use of well decomposed organic manures

Organic farming scenario

                Indian farmers were basically organic farmers before the advent of inorganic fertilizers and chemical pesticides. Overtime the use of these synthetic inputs has come to the level of causing a concern to the environment and human health. Consequently, it is felt necessary to advocate the use of the age-old practice of organic farming not only to ensure uncontaminated food production but also to sustain the agriculture by keeping the land in a healthy condition. In the recent past, this has become a major concern where the consumers started demanding produce grown organically by not using chemicals. To make organic farming successful, it is essential that eco-friendly technologies, which can maintain or increase the agricultural productivity, have to be developed and made available to the farmers.

                Organic food products, especially the fruits and vegetables are slowly gaining momentum in the foreign markets like USA, Europe and Japan and fetching premium prices. The areas under organic farming are slowly increasing due to the awareness of the impact of chemicals on the environment and human health.

                World trade in organic products for 2000 was estimated at US $17.5 billion which includes 7.0, 8.0 and 2.5 billion US $ in Europe, USA and Japan, respectively. Trends indicate that the organic food market would grow substantially in most of the European countries, USA and Japan. Currently, the demand out places the supply. In the UK, demand for organic food increased by 55 % in 2000. The organic fruits and vegetables sector represents between 15 and 25 % of the total organic world market. 

Main markets for organic produce

                In the EU, Germany is a leading country in terms of organic production; followed by Italy and France. The European Union and the United States (US) are approximately at the same level of organic production, somewhere between 4 and 6 billion Euros per year, with Japan at third place. In respect of worldwide organic food consumption Denmark and Austria lead the way with 37.3 and 34 Euro per capita consumption per year. The average consumption of organics in EU and USA is approximately 16 Euro ($15) per capita per year. The worldwide market share for organic products is between 0.5 to 3%, but it is hard to determine, as some countries do not certify their products.

                More than 60 % of India’s arable land is under traditional agriculture, where no synthetic inputs are being used. Although, the products grown under such systems have so far not been defined as organic products but by all mean they are genuine organic products. In view of their wide availability there is an urgent need to ensure premium prices for the produce grown in these regions. Unfortunately, these farmers are so involved in their struggle for survival that they have no time to figure out what is organic and what is not? These organic products are sold to the middleman and are being marketed along with other chemically grown products. It is the lack of awareness among the consumers in our country that some times the chemically grown products which look healthy and attractive, in spite of having alarmingly high level of pesticide residue fetches higher prices than the poorly looking organic products. There is neither subsidy for organic cultivators nor incentives to practice organic cultivation.

There are many areas in India where crop residues, manures, legumes and neem are being used to grow their crops. They rely on crop rotation and interplanting, to do their job. These farmers practice, farming through organic inputs. Now it is high time that attempts are made to classify these practices accordingly. If this is done, the poor farmers will get a premium price for their low yields. This will also go a long way in alleviating poverty and raising the living standards of the poor villagers. Most of the agriculture in backward and tribal areas especially in the hills of northern, eastern and northeastern region could be safely classified as organic. We must take advantage of this opportunity by arranging a market for these products both for domestic and export market.

Constraints in Organic Agriculture in India

                 There are number of firms in India, which grow vegetables, fruits, plantation crops, spices and tea organically and export to Netherlands and Germany. Usually farmers associated with big exporters do not have to worry about the sale of their products and their certification, small and marginal farmers are a harrowed lot.

                 For exports, an aggressive strategy demanding free access needs to be adopted. In Argentina farmers and Government joined hands in the early 90’s and established the state of the art principles for organic farming which was recognized by the European Union. Recently under a National Programme for Organic Production, Ministry of Commerce, Govt of India has formulated and circulated National Standards for Organic Production.

Marketing is the main problem for organic produce. The lack of awareness among people is the main hurdle in selling organic products. Further the cost of the organic products is high which only the elite and foreigners can afford. The organic marketing in most of the countries is still relatively small and on an average it is less than half a percent of the total agricultural sector except in Germany and Austria, where 2-3 per cent of their agriculture area is under organic production.

Several institutions and movements are making concerted efforts to promote organic agriculture in India and to bring changes in the policies favoring ecological agriculture. In June, 2001, the Director General of foreign trade issued a notification declaring the export of an agricultural product as organic would be permitted only if it was produced, processed and packed under a valid organic certificate issued by a certifying agency duly accredited by either APEDA, coffee board, spices board or tea board.

Promotion for production and trade of organic products in India

To promote organic farming and export of organic products Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, New Delhi has already launched a “National Programme for Organic Production” in May 2001.  Under this programme, Ministry of Commerce is promoting organic farming for export purpose and has established a regulatory mechanism which covers fixing of standards for organic cultivation, accreditation of certification agencies and inspection etc. At present APEDA and five commodity boards are serving as accreditation agencies and four certification agencies have been approved.

   The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture has formulated a scheme for X plan for giving a major push to organic farming in the country. The scheme envisages setting up of a National Institute of Organic Farming (NIOF) which will be responsible for promotion of organic farming, setting standards wherever necessary, expanding the regulatory mechanism to cover the requirements of small and marginal farmers etc. The Ministry of Commerce and its agencies will continue to promote export of organic products.

                Adoption of organic agriculture necessarily involves a sequence of steps that need to be followed by the growers and verified by certification and inspection agencies. This is necessary to ensure that the consumer is not duped and genuine organic cultivator is not put to disadvantage. To ensure this following steps are being initiated by the Govt of India and State Governments.

2.  Registration of farmer’s group with district authorities -  The registration of farmer’s groups taking up organic cultivation may be done by the state Govt. designated district level authority. This authority could be constituted under Department of Agriculture or Horticulture. For registration, only intimation may be prescribed, receipt of which may be acknowledged. This may constitute registration. The state government should prescribe a proforma for giving intimation. This should include information about individual members, plot number, area and crops to be covered etc. Information contained in the intimations received should be compiled periodically and made available to the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Govt. of India.

3.  Documentation of individual farms/farmer’s records -  Documentation being one of the prerequisites for the certification of organic product, certain documents are to be maintained for individual farms and farmers. These documents provided by the certification agencies will be maintained and updated periodically both at the level of individual farmers and at the group level. An educated farmer from the group after training may be assigned the responsibility of maintenance of required documents for the entire farmer’s group to the satisfaction of certification agencies. In case such a person is not available, service providers registered with state government may provide this service at nominal cost.

4.  Service providers -  The state Government may register service providers. These may be KVKs, State Agricultural Universities, Agri Clinics, farmers groups, ATMAS, NGOs, private entrepreneurs, Central agencies etc. The state government should select area specific service providers, based on their credibility and expertise. To begin with SAUs, KVKs, Agri-clinics, ATMA, Central Agencies and reputed NGOs already active in the field of organic farming may be approved as service providers. Later other private sector trained persons can be registered as service providers. The service provider will help in the documentation, development of package and practices and providing day to day advice to the farmers. Service provider being local agencies, well versed with the agronomic practices, availability of organic inputs and the technology will provide necessary advice to the farmer’s groups and will serve as real friend in need. The state Government may fix nominal fee to be charged by private service providers from individual farmers for the facilities provided. Some service providers could also become input suppliers on their own as commercial venture. However, a service provider can not become inspection agent or a certification agency.

The state Government may prescribe minimum qualification necessary for a service provider. It is suggested that he/she should be matriculation with training in any of the recognized institution. The training should be for a period of one month.

5.  Accreditation agencies -  Currently following six agencies have been approved as accreditation agencies by the Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India.

6.   Certification and inspection agencies – Since the organic farming is a process certification and not product certification, the role of certification agencies is very critical. The certification agency has to be impartial and a Non-Government agency. Its accreditation by an authorized accreditation agency is mandatory. Presently there are only four certification agencies accredited by APEDA. They are as follows:

The certification agency may appoint one or more inspection agents by entering into a written contract, specifying the terms and conditions of their agreement. It is basically the responsibility of the certification agencies to ensure strict compliance of National Standards of Organic farming. They prescribe specific documents to be maintained at the level of farmers\farmers group. They also prescribe minimum conversion period after inspection of farm and other details. They are also authorized to issue necessary certificate of organic production to the farmers.

The state Governments can encourage the formation of local certification agencies fulfilling the requirements. Details can be obtained from Ministry of Commerce\APEDA. The inspection agencies fulfilling requisite criteria may approach the accreditation agencies. Only after the issuance of accreditation certificate by the accreditation agencies, the concerned agency can function as a certification agency.

7.  Periodic Inspection of organic farms -  The certification agencies either themselves may inspect the records of the organic farmers groups or may appoint inspection agencies to ensure proper compliance of the process of organic agriculture by the farmers. The certification agencies, if need arise, may get the samples of soil, water, organic inputs, pesticides etc and get them tested in their own laboratories or recognized laboratories to decide about the conversion period, as also to ensure the adoption of national Standards of Organic Farming.

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