The Hindu : Karnataka News : Organic food outlets in districts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 18, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka

Organic food outlets in districts

Nagesh Prabhu

100 NGOs engaged in promoting organic farming
Organic crops grown on 38,000 hectares of land

BANGALORE: To bring more land under organic farming and to provide marketing facility for food products, the Government has proposed to establish organic outlets in all 29 district headquarters of the State.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Departments have proposed to provide funds to farmers’ associations to set up stalls in all districts. The outlets will be established on the lines of Jaivik Mall set up by Jaivik Krishi Society (JKS) promoted by the Horticulture Department, at the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens here.

The farmers’ associations have established organic food outlets in district headquarters of Bangalore Urban, Dakshina Kannada, Belgaum, Hassan and Tumkur with the financial support from the Government, sources in the Secretariat told The Hindu.

The stores will offer organic food products such as fruits, vegetables, spices, health products, beverages, herbal cosmetics, baby food, handicrafts, gift items, bakery products and so on.

As many as 100 non-governmental organisations have been engaged in promoting organic farming in the State.

A few years ago, the Government had established an Organic Cell at the Directorate of Agriculture here to promote organic farming. Now farmers have been growing organic crops on 38,000 hectares of land. About 100 hectares of land in each taluk has been brought under organic farming.

Following the fertilizer crisis, the Government has decided to promote organic farming on 100 hectares in all 745 hoblis from the current financial year. This major policy shift is an indicative of the growing apprehension of excessive use of chemicals in agriculture and shortage of fertilizers.

The Government has already converted the Agricultural Research Station at Naganahalli, near Mysore, into an Organic Farming Research Station.

It has been established to scientifically validate the claims of organic agricultural produce and help popularise it among farmers. Affiliated to the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, it is being funded by the Organic Farming Cell of the Department of Agriculture.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka