Underlining the challenges of organic sector Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog said farmers and producers should meet the global standards if they wish to tap both global and domestic markets.
Kant was speaking on the occasion of release of the report“Organic Farming in India: Status, Issues and Way Forward”.
The Report has been co-authored by Arpita Mukherjee, Souvik Dutta, Tanu M. Goyal, Avantika Kapoor and Disha Mendiratta published by the Academic Foundation of ICRIER. The report was released by Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog and Ashish Bahuguna, Chairperson, FSSAI.
Speaking on the occasion Kant said “India has long agriculture tradition and several regions which excel in organic farming. Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland are doing well. We need to push for organic farming in the Eastern part of India. Seeds and availability of planting material is the most limiting factor in organic agriculture. This is critical and once we are able to provide that then we will be able to produce consistent quality product, which is very important.”
India needs to create a time-bound strategy or vision document which will take into account sustainable development goals and organic practices to facilitate a holistic growth of the organic food sector, according to a report released by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) on Wednesday.
The Survey highlights the critical need to establish a uniform standard and clearly lay out the labeling requirements, logo and punishment for fraudulent practices by unscrupulous traders through a comprehensive policy/guideline. In the absence of FSSAI guidelines for the domestic market, the growth of the sector is mired by fraudulence and malpractices such as selling inorganic products as organic and making the situation worse is the lack of a framework to penalize such offenses.
The Report further underscores the urgent need for creation of a single nodal agency for organic sector. Majority of the companies surveyed concurred to a recommendation to appoint the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare as the nodal agency for developing standards and regulating organic practices in India.