The Hindu Business Line : Experts see good potential for Indian organic farming

INDIA could become an important player in the global organic farming scenario soon, provided the stakeholders are able to set-up reliable and efficient supply chains linking organic farmers with consumers.

Though the movement has gained popularity, it has yet to acquire the pace of growth corresponding to the potential.

In fact, a large number of farmer groups, companies, NGOs, development agencies and government bodies promote organic farming in one way or the other.

Villages and even State Governments, as in the case of the States of Uttaranchal and Mizoram, have declared that they wanted to switch over to organic farming, according to Mr Frank Eyhorn of Swiss Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL).

Latest data from a research project on organic and conventional cotton farmers in Central India confirm the favourable economy of organic farms, he said.

Despite the launching of a National Programme on Organic Production (NPOP) and allocating considerable funds for it in the current plan the organic sector is still scattered and its development lags far behind its actual potential.

Total area under certified organic cultivation, according to the NPOP, is 25,08,826 ha, but it includes 24,32,500 ha of wild herbs collection from forest area of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The actual area under cultivation comes to 76,326 ha. Total quantity of organic products exported so far is 6,792 tonnes valued at Rs 71.23 crore involving 31 items.

European sales of organic products were estimated to have expanded by about 5 per cent in 2003 to reach approximately 10.5 to 11.0 billion euros (FiBL survey 2004).

The US organic food and non-food sales grew by approximately 20 per cent during 2003, to $10.8 billion, a world survey released in May 2004 indicated.

Meanwhile, "non-food" organic products, such as personal care products, nutritional supplements, organic fibre, household cleaners, flowers and pet food, grew by 19.8 per cent, to reach $440 million in sales.

India's total export of agricultural products during 2003-04 stood at 38,80,454.67 tonne valued at Rs 14,184.16 crore, according to Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority . Of this exports of fruits and vegetables stood at 12,91,306.97 tonne valued at Rs 1,457.26 crore and processed fruits and vegetables at 4,29,797.92 tonne worth Rs 1,125.81 crore.

India is placed at an advantageous position, Dr Samuel B. Moser, Project Coordinator, Asia International Cooperation Division of FiBL told Business Line. About 30 per cent of farming in India is already organic as the farmers still follow the traditional system. Therefore, by improving these methods by adopting new approaches such as organic plant protection measures, all these farms could be transformed into fully organic complying with the organic and hygienic parameters set by the certification agencies. Certification of organic farms has also become easier and less costly, as the country has now 13 certifying agencies of which five are indigenous.

However, concerted efforts are needed to motivate farmers to take up organic farming on the one hand and diversification of crops on the other understanding the demand of the world market.

Sources at the Indian Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture said the development of markets had emerged as the main bottleneck, and hence its first project aims at facilitating market access for organic producers.

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