Context

• Recently, India ranks first in number of organic farmers and ninth in terms of area under organic farming.
• The major organic exports from India have been flax seeds, sesame, soybean, tea, medicinal plants, rice and pulses, which were instrumental in driving an increase of nearly 50% in organic exports in 2018-19.

Back to Basics:

• Sikkim became the first State in the world to become fully organic and other States including Tripura and Uttarakhand have set similar targets.
• North East India has traditionally been organic and the consumption of chemicals is far less than rest of the country.
• Similarly, the tribal and island territories are being nurtured to continue their organic story.

Dedicated Programs

• Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North East Region (MOVCD) and Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) were launched in 2015 to encourage chemical free farming.
• Both PKVY and MOVCD are promoting certification under Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) and National Program for Organic Production (NPOP) respectively targeting domestic and exports markets.
• The Food Safety and Standards (Organic Foods) Regulations, 2017 are based on the standards of NPOP and PGS.
• The consumer should look for the logos of FSSAI, Jaivik Bharat / PGS Organic India on the produce to establish the organic authenticity of the produce.
• PGS Green is given to chemical free produce under transition to ‘organic’ which takes 3 years.
• Natural farming is also in sync with the Sustainable Development Goal 2 targeting ‘end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture’.

One District – One Product (ODOP)

• The programme aims to encourage more visibility and sale of indigenous and specialized products/crafts of Uttar Pradesh, generating employment at the district level.
• The presence of aggregators is imperative to bring about economies of scale for the small and marginal farmers.

PM Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PM FME)

• The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI)launched the PM FME scheme as a part of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’.
• It aims to bring in new technology, apart from affordable credit to help small entrepreneurs penetrate new markets.

Zero Budget Natural Farming

• Zero budget natural farming is a method of chemical-free agriculture drawing from traditional Indian practices.

Source: PIB