The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : 5,000 hectares in State organic

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Tuesday, Jul 01, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

5,000 hectares in State organic

Staff Reporter

Krishnagiri: A total of 40,000 hectares of land in Tamil Nadu are under organic farming, of which about 5,000 hectares have been currently certified as organic, said Krishan Chandra, Regional Head, Regional Centre of Organic Farming, Bangalore.

Inaugurating an organic farming workshop under Farm Innovation and Promotion Fund in Hosur on Sunday, he said that farmers in Tamil Nadu were progressive and it was time to take the movement forward by creating awareness among them.

He highlighted the subsidy schemes under the national programme on organic farming such as setting up of vermicompost units, bio-fertilizer units etc. He appealed to the farmers to get the subsidy under the scheme, which had been extended for another year.

Raveendra, Regional Head, Agriculture Processed Foods and Export Development Authority, Bangalore, highlighted the potential available for organic farming globally, which was pegged at 40 billion US dollars during 2008-09. However, the share of India was abysmally low at .5 per cent of the global trade and amounted to 78 million US dollars only.

The organic market was slated to increase to 100 billion dollars by 2013. About 1,00,000 ha in India was under organic cultivation and 20,000 ha had been certified. A policy on organic farming evolved in India only in 2000. As a result, certification was done only by foreign agencies.

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