The Union Territory of Lakshadweep has been declared as Organic Agricultural Area by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s welfare. The UT is second after Sikkim to achieve the status of 100% organic region. It is first in the Union Territories of India to achieve the status.
The entire 32 sq km area of the UT has been certified as organic under the Union Government’s Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (organic farming improvement programme). Lakshadweep has been separated from the main stream India geographically. There has been no shipment of chemicals and fertilizers to the island group for the last 15 years. The UT administration has been practicing farming only using inputs like compost, poultry manure, green leaf manure. The UT has not made any expenditure for procurement of chemicals.
What is Organic Farming?
It is technique that involves cultivation of plants and rearing animals in natural ways. It avoids use of synthetic substances to prevent soil fertility and ecological balances. By this, organic farming aims to minimize wastages and pollution. It involves biological methods.
Schemes of Central Government to promote Organic Farming
- The Paramparaghat Krishi Vikas Yojana was launched to promote organic farming with participatory guarantee system certification. It involves training, cluster formation, marketing and certification.
- National Mission on Oil Seeds and Oil Palm was launched to increase irrigation coverage of oilseeds from 26% to 36%. It aims to increase seed replacement ratio.
- National Food Security Mission was launched to increase rice, wheat and pulses production to ensure food security in the country on sustainable basis. Under the mission, financial assistance was provided to bio-fertilizers.
Other States and Organic Farming
Uttarakhand was the first state to launch Organic Farming Policy in 2000. Sikkim was the first state to become 100% organic.
Benefits: The main benefits of organic farming are lower input costs, environmental friendly, improve soil structure, premium price, etc.
