PANTNAGAR: Chairman of the Confederation of Organic Food Producers & Marketing Agencies (COII) Dr. D. S. Rawat has expressed concern over non-implementation of the declared policy “Uttarakhand Organic” and sharp fall in exports from 285 tonnes worth Rs.11.6 crore in 2022-23 to 97 tonnes worth Rs.4.2 crore in 2023-24, a sharp decrease of 66%.
Dr. Rawat said this has been because of the state government’s non-implementation of the policy and the continuous migration of people in search of livelihood, who find ‘doing agriculture as disincentive’.
He stated this while addressing a training and demonstration programme for sustainable organic export, which was attended by over 100 farmers today with the support of APEDA and G B Pant University of Agriculture & Technology.
“Unless the state government incentivizes the farmers, establishes mandis, provides training to farmers on all aspects of organic farming and holds demonstration programs, the situation will continue to be disturbing and over the period of time even the farms will become uncultivable”, the COII chief said.
He said APEDA should help hold training programs in interior parts of the state and that buyer-seller meetings should be held on a regular basis. He urged the state government to accord priority to organic farming to discourage migration and attract the migrated people by making the farming profitable.
COII, with the active support of these institutions, will train 500 farmers to do organic farming and facilitate the issuance of organic certificates from the competent authority. The state government must provide financial help to each farmer switching from synthetic farming to organic farming for at least for three years and strengthen the infrastructure.
Dr. Rawat said that once organic farming becomes economically beneficial, horticulture and handicrafts sectors will be revived, and the new generation will promote it further to a level of agri-based micro and small industries generating jobs.
On this occasion Dr. Subhash Chandra, Acting DEAN, College of Agriculture, G B Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Prof. (Dr.) D. K. Singh, Professor Agronomy & PI AINPOF, College of Agriculture at G B Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Dr. Manoj Arya, Officer In-Charge, Uttarakhand State Seed Certification Agency, Rudrapur and Dr. Santosh Kumar Yadav, Asst. Professor Agronomy & Co-PI AINPOF, G B Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, also shared their views and assured farmers of all support.
It was stated that India’s organic market size has already reached USD 1,918 million by the end of 2024 and is expected to reach USD 11,000 million by 2033, exhibiting a growth rate of over 20% during this period.
The COII chief said that though the market of organic food is growing across the globe in the developing as well as developed nations, the organic food production in Uttarakhand is becoming negligible despite tremendous potential.
Dr. Rawat lamented that unless technical know-how was passed on to the beneficiaries, awareness was created regarding organic agriculture, infrastructure was strengthened to overcome the existing challenges, Uttarakhand will lose an opportunity to attract migrated population and arrest further exodus of the local people.
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