Nearly half of the total organic farming area in the country exists in Madhya Pradesh which stands at 25.82 lakh hectares. "Madhya Pradesh has maximum of 25.82 lakh hectares under organic farming in the country. This is about half of total organic farming area in India," according to an official release issued here today. It was informed at a meeting of Agriculture Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan here yesterday.
At the meeting, a presentation was given on three subjects, including arrangement of fertilisers, organic farming and paddy procurement. Chouhan directed officials to keep on with their continuous monitoring to ensure that farmers get fair price for their produce. Immediate and strict action should be taken as soon as an irregularity is reported. It should also be ensured that paddy is not sold on rates less than support price, it said.
The meeting was informed that Rabi sowing has been undertaken this year on 91.54 lakh hectares. So far, 12.21 lakh MT fertiliser has been distributed. In the state, 77,971 organic farmers have been registered and demonstration farms have been selected in 16 districts. One organic village in each division will be awarded, it said. As many as 5,14,202 farmers have been registered for procurement of paddy and coarse cereals on support price. Besides, 3,42,606 MT paddy and 1,22,742 MT coarse cereals have been procured, the release added.
Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya and Farmers Welfare and Agriculture Development Minister Gaurishankar Bisen also attended the meeting.
One-third of organic products sold in the national capital in the last two years were loaded with pesticides, Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) claimed today. Citing information obtained under the Right to Information Act, the federation in a statement said that fictitious and fraudulent organic farms in India regularly use chemical pesticides to protect their crops and stealthily pass their product into the market as organic.
The RTI was sought by CCFI from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI).
"According to the IARI laboratory analysis, out of the organic products samples analysed in the national capital, the 33 per cent were found loaded with pesticides," the statement said.
The samples were collected during the period from January 2012 to October 2014 by the IARI scientists. "Their sophisticated analysis surprisingly showed that every third sample of organic vegetables had pesticide residues proving the suspicion that the organically certified farms have always been using a variety of pesticides," it said.
CCFI Chairman Rajju Shroff requested the government to take strict action against such organic brands that are cheating the consumers with unethical marketing practices.
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