Published: 13th September 2012 12:33 PM
Last Updated: 13th September 2012 12:33 PM
Organic farming can generate about 80 lakh jobs in Odisha during the next five years. It has the potential to create 60 lakh jobs in the State and another 20 lakh jobs if on-farm storing, processing, value addition, packaging and marketing facilities are included, industry body Assocham said here on Wednesday.
In its study ‘Organic Odisha: Inching towards Organic Farming,’ Assocham said organic farming can lead to wealth accumulation of about ` 23,000 crore and generate exports worth ` 600 crore during the five years. Of the total organically certified area of 1.7 lakh hectares (ha) across the country, Odisha has the maximum area of over 26,300 ha followed by Jammu and Kashmir (22,316 ha) and Rajasthan (22,105 ha).
“Adoption of organic farming can increase net per capita income of a farmer in the State by a whopping 250 per cent - from a meagre ` 3,000 now to over ` 10,500 in the next five years,” Assocham national secretary general DS Rawat said after releasing the study. “This will also arrest migration for jobs,” he added.
Rawat said Odisha has a huge role to take India’s share in global organic exports from about 0.2 per cent to about 2.5 per cent by 2017. Besides, the State has the potential of being India’s export hub for certified organic food to different world markets, he added.
The chamber said over 80 per cent of farmers in Odisha use less fertilisers and pesticides. Organic farming in Odisha is a default practice. Cotton, turmeric, ginger, niger and some varieties of pulses are the organic crops produced in Odisha and efforts are being made to produce pulses like arhar, moong along with honey, garlic, chilli, medicinal plants and others.
Assocham has also proposed formation of a national commission for organic agriculture with participation of private sector. Besides, an organic food council can also be set up to institutionalise policy dialogues between the government and organic sector, it said. It also suggested the Government to promote the concept to set up an organic village in each district to encourage usage of organic fertilisers to protect the land from residual effects of the chemical fertilisers.
SOURCE: http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/article605859.ece
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