Organic Farming Can Create more Jobs & Wealth : ASSOCHAM Tweet

Bagish K Jha, TNN Jan 19, 2012 for Times of India

Organic farming in Madhya Pradesh can create nearly 60 lakh employment opportunities, Rs 23,000 crore of wealth accumulation and export worth of Rs 60 crore in next five years, says a study 'Madhya Pradesh: Inching towards Organic Farming' conducted by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

The study that was released here on Wednesday, urges member organizations of ASSOCHAM to promote organic farming it the state as MP has potential to take India's global share in organic farming export from current less than one per cent to 2.5% by 2015.

Director ASSOCHAM, U K Joshi said organic farming provides 30% more jobs per hectare as compared to non-organic farming. And if on-farm storing, processing, value addition, packaging and marketing are included then it would create an additional 20 lakh job opportunities in the state.

The study claims that if the state manages to exploit its organic farming potential then it can check migration of people to other states and it can increase the per capita income of farmers of state by about 250%. The current per capita income of farmers in Madhya Pradesh is Rs 4,200 and it can touch Rs 10,600 per month over the period of next five years. The reason is that organic farming can bring down the input cost and can fetch farmers premium pricing of their product up to 50% of the normal price.

Considering the increasing awareness about health, ASSOCHAM believes that demand for organic food products will increase rapidly. In MP nearly 45% of the cultivable land can be converted into organic farming over a period of five years. It is significant in the scenario when the state is facing shortage of fertilizers. To deal with this, apex industry body has suggested the state government to focus on organic farming in their agricultural policy.

The study suggests that state can harness its potential by increasing cultivable areas through cluster approach to generate marketable surplus. Along with this regional action plans need to be developed for organic farming stating the direction and target for adoption and combination of specific measures including direct income support, marketing and processing support, certification support, consumer education and infrastructure support.

The state government should promote a concept to set up an organic village in each district to encourage usage of organic fertilizers to protect land from residual affect of chemical fertilizers, said ASSOCHAM.

What is Organic farming?

Organic farming works in harmony with nature and the methods and materials used for organic farming are:

-Use of recycled and compost crop wastes and animal manures

-Soil cultivation at the right time

-Crop rotation

-Mulching on the soil surface

-The use of resistant crops

-Good crop rotation

-Encouraging predators that eat pests

-Using natural pesticides

The LEAF Initiative

Organic Farming Can Create more Jobs & Wealth : ASSOCHAM Tweet

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