The Hindu : 12-point proposal to boost organic farming

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 04, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Shimoga

12-point proposal to boost organic farming

By Our Special Correspondent

SHIMOGA, FEB. 3. A 12-point draft proposal prepared by agricultural scientists, officials of the Agriculture Department, and progressive farmers for the formulation of a comprehensive policy on organic farming, was presented to the Minister for Agriculture, H.K. Patil, at Tirthahalli on Sunday.

The highlights of the proposal are:

Information and publicity: Providing information about community seed banks, publicising organic farming through the audiovisual media, creating awareness about organic farming and highlighting the harms of the use of chemical fertilisers, holding seminars and workshops on organic farming, enlightening teachers and elected representatives about the principles and methods of organic farming, encouraging farmers to take to agro-based small-scale industries, and offering online information about organic farming through the Internet.

Education: Incorporation of the profits of organic farming and adverse effects of chemical fertilizer on farming in the <129>primary and secondary school curriculum.

Training to farmers: Training to farmers in the creation of organic manure, insecticides, disease-controlling methods, and management of soil, seeds, and water to ensure better farm output.

Incentives to organic farmers: A scheme to identify progressive organic farmers and felicitate them, identifying progressive farmers who contribute to the promotion of organic farming through their independent research and innovative farm methods and encourage them in their endeavour, offering encouragement to protectors of traditional seeds and plants, forming village-level organic farmers' associations, and ensuring free higher education to farmers' children.

Research: Priority to research on alternative energy sources, development and application of manually-operated equipment to reduce physical work, ensuring that the fruits of research conducted at the agricultural universities percolate to the average farmers, ensuring novelty in agricultural research, encouraging research on the methods to select traditional seeds and plants of superior quality, setting up of research stations in association with mini-soil and weather units for the protection of traditional knowledge on organic farming, strengthening of cattle sheds for the development of Indian cattle breeds and taking up research of cattle-related agriculture.

Seeds: Preservation of traditional seeds and formation of community seed banks at taluk and district level, initiating action against those who indulge in the sale of spurious seeds, seeking a ban on cross bred and terminator seeds, and encouraging farmers to produce and sell their own seeds that suit their climatic and soil conditions.

Organic manure: Encouraging farmers who manufacture organic manure and incentives to set up mini units at panchayat level to produce manure using urban and rural waste material.

Insecticides and pest controls: Manufacture and distribution of insecticides and pesticides to suit organic farming and raising herbal plantations in every taluk.

Soil and Water conservation: Introduction of scientific methods for soil conservation, conservation of soil and water through ponds and check dams, developing at least one tank in each village, enforcing measures to avoid encroachment in command areas, conservation of rainwater and its harvest, and adequate attention to flood control methods.

Basic Infrastructure: Strengthening basic infrastructure such as roads, <129>transport, electricity, marketing and setting up of community processing centres.

Marketing: Creation of special marketing outlets at various levels for organic agricultural produce, opening of special organic divisions in the existing agricultural markets, arrangement for the purchase of organic farm produce at hobli level, and encouraging holding of special shandies at the city and panchayat level for organic farm produce.

Policy modifications: Stopping of the payment of subsidy and other incentives to chemical fertilizers and pesticides, extending loans at reduced interest for producing organic seeds, doing away with the industrialisation of organic farming kits, issuing instructions to government fair price shops to buy organic produce for cooking midday meals in schools, representation to organic farmers and their organisations in various bodies of the Universities of Agricultural Sciences, statutory changes to ensure the effective conservation of forest and other natural resources, and protection of farm labourers' interest while formulating the agricultural policy.

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