Centre to provide Rs.10,000 per hectare for organic farming

VELLORE: The Central government has decided to provide financial assistance of Rs.10,000 per hectare for a maximum area of four hectares per beneficiary, over a period of three years, for the adoption of organic farming for horticultural crops under the National Horticulture Mission (NHM). This was conveyed in a letter written by D. Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Union Ministry of Agriculture, to G.S. Purushothaman, president, Federation of Tamil Nadu Organic Farming Organisations, Vellore.

Mr. Kumar has stated in his letter that there is no provision for providing financial assistance for organic farming for field crops. He advised Mr. Purushothaman to approach the State government for assistance for organic farming for field crops under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).

Consequent to the receipt of this letter, Mr. Purushothaman has written to the Agriculture Production Commissioner and Secretary to the Department of Agriculture, Government of Tamil Nadu requesting the State to provide a sum of Rs.one crore under the RKVY scheme during 2010-11 for the 1505 organic farmers of Javvadhu Hills in Vellore district. The farmers have been cultivating horticulture crops covering an area of about 1000 hectares from 2007 under group certification.

In a separate letter to the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Mr. Purushothaman requested the Central government to extend the subsidy announced for organic farming in horticultural crops to the field crops as well. He pointed out that the farmers, who switched over to organic farming, were facing 25% yield loss in the first three years.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/01/stories/2010050151130300.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu