The Karnataka Government is running various programmes to educate farmers about organic farming. The movement of organic farming is growing in India and the government of India is helping farmers in saving their farm lands.
THE FARMERS of villages in Southern Indian State of Karnataka are not aware of organic farming. They are still using conventional methods of farming, which include chemical fertilizers cow dung and manure to grow their crops. “We aren’t aware about organic farming, as we use our ways to grow crops like ragi,” said Apanna, a farmer. He added that they use urea as a chemical fertilizer to cultivate their crops early and to earn more money.
“We have certain policies and schemes to educate farmers about organic farming and put various training programmes in districts and talks in Karnataka,” said Krishna Chandra, regional director of Organic Farming, Ministry of Agriculture, Bangalore. He added that they are providing funding to the Non Government Organisations and each organisation has a target to cover 1500 farmers and for that they are paying Rs 200 per farmer per year to the NGO’s to support the farmers.
They will also be providing professional extension training, whereon the professional farmers will guide the unprofessional farmers about organic farming. They will also be giving market linkage to the farmers where they could take the growing organic products and sell them to the retailers and half of the income will go to the farmer.
“There are 16 agencies in India and we give certification to farmers, as per the standards of Government of India and is equivalent to European standards of regulation, we only give certification to those farms whose farmland is purely organic and if it is under conversion, we mention that in the certification form.” Suresh, chief coordinator, Apof Organic Certification Agency, Bangalore
The movement of organic farming is growing in India and from the past three to four years, government of India is also interested in saving their farm lands. The government of Karnataka has made a separate cell called as ‘organic cell’ especially for farmers.
“The Government of Karnataka is giving 100 hectares of area in each district and taulk, being converted to organic farming and there are 29 districts in Karnataka, for which state government has selected 29 Non Government Organisations and given them the responsibility to work with farmers to make their farms organic,” said Suresh.
He also added that 50 per cent of the funding for organic farming is been done by Government of Karnataka and rest is by the farmers.
“We run various programmes, teaching students and also give training to farmers, a programme called Krishi Vignan Kendra wherein we demonstrate various organic farming practices,” said Dr Shranappa, professor of Agronomy, College of Agriculture and Gandhi Krishi Vignan Kendra, Bangalore
He added that the conventional methods of farming contaminate the water and pollute the surroundings. It causes health problems and also reduces the soil productivity and increases soil erosion primary to loss of nutrients from the soil and also the microbial life cycle gets disturbed.
He further added that several fertilizers being used by the farmers, mainly used is urea potash.
“We are operating a National Horticulture Mission under the Department of Horticulture, Lalbagh, in which 1500 farmers are supporting us to convert to organic farms, receiving payback profits from organic farming is time-consuming and ongoing. The end result will be seen after two years for organic crops like ragi, paddy and millet and for perennial crops like coconut, coffee and pepper will take three years.” said CN Renukaradhya, Chief Functionary, Courtesy India and a Non Government Organisation, Bangalore.
“My father was a organic farmer and I am also doing organic farming from back 10 years and in year 1998, I had used chemical fertilizers for my crops and saw the disaster, the chemical fertilizers are the killers for the crops they damage the land, crops and the environment. In India we are using banned fertilizers, wherein which were banned in other states years back. Most of the vegetables that are grown in Bangalore city are from sewage water and farmers washed the vegetables with the same water itself.
They harvest rain water to grow the crops in the farm land and sell all the organic products like sugar, soil, vegetables and oil which are fresh and healthy.” said Jairam, Organic Farmer and the owner of Eco Organic Outlet, Bangalore
THE FARMERS of villages in Southern Indian State of Karnataka are not aware of organic farming. They are still using conventional methods of farming, which include chemical fertilizers cow dung and manure to grow their crops. “We aren’t aware about organic farming, as we use our ways to grow crops like ragi,” said Apanna, a farmer. He added that they use urea as a chemical fertilizer to cultivate their crops early and to earn more money.
“We have certain policies and schemes to educate farmers about organic farming and put various training programmes in districts and talks in Karnataka,” said Krishna Chandra, regional director of Organic Farming, Ministry of Agriculture, Bangalore. He added that they are providing funding to the Non Government Organisations and each organisation has a target to cover 1500 farmers and for that they are paying Rs 200 per farmer per year to the NGO’s to support the farmers.
They will also be providing professional extension training, whereon the professional farmers will guide the unprofessional farmers about organic farming. They will also be giving market linkage to the farmers where they could take the growing organic products and sell them to the retailers and half of the income will go to the farmer.
“There are 16 agencies in India and we give certification to farmers, as per the standards of Government of India and is equivalent to European standards of regulation, we only give certification to those farms whose farmland is purely organic and if it is under conversion, we mention that in the certification form.” Suresh, chief coordinator, Apof Organic Certification Agency, Bangalore
The movement of organic farming is growing in India and from the past three to four years, government of India is also interested in saving their farm lands. The government of Karnataka has made a separate cell called as ‘organic cell’ especially for farmers.
“The Government of Karnataka is giving 100 hectares of area in each district and taulk, being converted to organic farming and there are 29 districts in Karnataka, for which state government has selected 29 Non Government Organisations and given them the responsibility to work with farmers to make their farms organic,” said Suresh.
He also added that 50 per cent of the funding for organic farming is been done by Government of Karnataka and rest is by the farmers.
“We run various programmes, teaching students and also give training to farmers, a programme called Krishi Vignan Kendra wherein we demonstrate various organic farming practices,” said Dr Shranappa, professor of Agronomy, College of Agriculture and Gandhi Krishi Vignan Kendra, Bangalore
He added that the conventional methods of farming contaminate the water and pollute the surroundings. It causes health problems and also reduces the soil productivity and increases soil erosion primary to loss of nutrients from the soil and also the microbial life cycle gets disturbed.
He further added that several fertilizers being used by the farmers, mainly used is urea potash.
“We are operating a National Horticulture Mission under the Department of Horticulture, Lalbagh, in which 1500 farmers are supporting us to convert to organic farms, receiving payback profits from organic farming is time-consuming and ongoing. The end result will be seen after two years for organic crops like ragi, paddy and millet and for perennial crops like coconut, coffee and pepper will take three years.” said CN Renukaradhya, Chief Functionary, Courtesy India and a Non Government Organisation, Bangalore.
“My father was a organic farmer and I am also doing organic farming from back 10 years and in year 1998, I had used chemical fertilizers for my crops and saw the disaster, the chemical fertilizers are the killers for the crops they damage the land, crops and the environment. In India we are using banned fertilizers, wherein which were banned in other states years back. Most of the vegetables that are grown in Bangalore city are from sewage water and farmers washed the vegetables with the same water itself.
They harvest rain water to grow the crops in the farm land and sell all the organic products like sugar, soil, vegetables and oil which are fresh and healthy.” said Jairam, Organic Farmer and the owner of Eco Organic Outlet, Bangalore
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