OFAI

Vizag: As the people are growing conscious about maintaining a healthy diet, the millet seem to have taken to the charts at a decent number of households and the new trend is obvious for the increasing footfalls at the store that are selling millets within the city.

The traders at the MVP Rythu Bazaar and the say that they have been doing a good business for the past few months.

“Even the high prices are no deterrent even to the average middle class customer. We have been buying jonnalu and ragulu grown through natural farming practices for the past few years. Since the past few months, we have started purchasing ‘chiru dhanyalu’ too as they have high nutritive value. Protein deficiency is growing among vegetarians. I have been watching several programmes on Youtube and learnt about the benefits of millets,” says K.V.P.S. Achari, a resident of Sector-III, MVP Colony.

C Pandian, a farmer from the Sivaganga district in Tamil Nadu, walks through his 10-acre land, all covered in grass. This 5-feet-tall Vetiver grass that spans all over his farm will fetch him profits in lakhs.

Inspired by stories like his, several people are quitting their cushy jobs to return to their villages and take up farming.

And some, like Pandian, are taking an unconventional route in traditional farming to earn huge profits.

Vetiver grass, also known as the “wonder grass” of Tamil Nadu, has seen high demands from various sectors, including the pharma and cosmetic industries.

Nestled amidst the foothills of Morni Hills near Panchkula, the quaint little Aanandaa Permaculture Farm was flagged off by a husband-wife duo in 2010 for a simple purpose—to encourage urban folk get back in touch with nature.

But unlike the various other ‘retreats’ across the country, this is no fancy hotel with a sprinkling of trees amidst the waiters. In Aanandaa, one can truly understand how to give back to Mother Earth, by learning the wonderful practice of permaculture.

Hailing from Chandigarh, Manisha and Agam were working in Mumbai when they were introduced to permaculture. This addressed a significant concern that gnawed at Manisha—the deteriorating quality of the food and water.

In eastern Himalayas’ Khangchendzonga National Park (KNP), eye-catching Wight’s rhododendron shrubs and graceful firs, frame the upper limits of the sub-alpine forests. Beyond this boundary of closed canopy forests, called timberline, the climate is too harsh for trees to grow.
But as the climate warms, globally, studies have documented an elevational upwards expansion of the forest line in many mountain ranges, such as the Polar Urals (Russia), the central Swiss Alps, western Himalayas (India), the Rocky Mountains (Southern Alberta) and central Himalaya (Nepal).

A recent assessment has said that Sikkim, India’s first organic farming state, is bucking the trend so far. This particular forest timberline is unlikely to budge in the near future. However, the edges around the forest limits may become greener due to densification as more tree individuals spring up.

India’s GDP growth of 6.5per cent in 2017 was strong despite challenges like the implementation of GST. The forecast for GDP growth in FY2019 is predicted to be more than 7per cent. This will certainly improve the performance of different industries like Organic Foods, Pharmaceuticals and FMCG.

According to TechSci Research report, Global organic food market stood at $ 110.25 billion in 2016 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.15per cent, in value terms, during 2017 – 2022, to reach $ 262.85 billion by 2022.

With Indian Organic Food industry growing in double-digit during 2013-2017, it would not be wrong to say that the industry will perform well in 2019. There are many factors that have contributed to this growth until now

India’s agriculture exports will have to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 25% over the next 3 years to achieve the target of doubling farm export by 2022, which is crucial to the target of doubling farmers’ income by 2022.

The NDA government is facing a daunting task to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious target of doubling farm exports to $60 billion by 2022.

India’s export of agriculture and allied products was 16% lower in 2017-18 compared with the peak of $32.95 billion achieved in 2013-14, according to commerce ministry data. The ambitious target looks even more diificult with the exports growing at a paltry 1.19% in the first seven months of the current financial year.

For Anju Agarwal, the love for gardening started right from her childhood days, as she grew up seeing her parents working in the kitchen garden of their bungalow in Mumbai.

Speaking to The Better India, she says, “There was never a need for us to purchase vegetables from the market as my parents grew anything and everything. From bottle gourds and beans to even capsicum, everything was grown here organically. So, I think that is where it all began,” she says

In 1993, Anju got married and moved to Chennai. Shuttling between household responsibilities and taking care of her children, there was never a free moment for her to invest in gardening or even consider the thought seriously.

Guntur: AP CM Chandrababu Naidu inaugurate ‘Zero Budget Natural Farming’ training program organized at Bible Mission Ground in Guntur. Speaking at the event Naidu said that the state has achieved 10.52 percent of GDP growth in last four and a half years.

In order to generate wealth, there is a high need for implementing development activities. AP government is keen to invest and promote organic farming in the state and he also said that his government is ready to spend huge funds in order to promote organic farming and products. Naidu aims, AP to be a role model for the world in organic farming practices.

Muthukrishnan remembers the time when he was a young boy who used to bring paddy seedlings from their nursery in Kumbakonam to his grandmother, who lived in the coastal town of Tharangambadi. He would help his grandmother plant them on her farm, which was on the coast of Bay of Bengal at a half kilometre from the sea, and return home.

At 56, he now observes the groundwater and soil are saline in his farmland even though it is 20km from the coast. He and a group of friends have a combined ownership over 20 acres of land in Kadagam village in Nannilam taluk of Tiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu.

Inadequate rains and droughts have been leading to groundwater depletion in many coastal villages in Tamil Nadu. This has led to seawater seeping in and increasing the salinity levels in water and soil. But the farmers are taking the problem on the chin by tackling it through organic agricultural practices and some innovative measures.

Since the inception of inorganic fertilizers and other farm chemicals which accompanied the use of machines in commercial farming, most commercial and wealthy farmers have abandoned the natural and ecofriendly way of food production and seamlessly adopted inorganic farming methods which are commonly perceived as being more economically viable in commercial scale and also enhance rapid soil fertility and pest extermination or reduction. This has been the case with many Nigerian farmers leaving Nature (organic) farming in Nigeria to be majorly practiced by poor farmers who actually do not have the financial buoyancy to afford chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Nature farming is evidently not popular among most commercial and even well-placed subsistent farmers as they can afford the cost of fertilizing their farm the chemical way. This means that in Nigeria, nature farming is majorly enhanced by the inability of farmers to afford the use of farming chemicals. Very worrisome is the fact that their output proportion is relatively small when compared to Nigeria’s total food output. This means that most Nigerian consumers have little or no access to organically produced foods. This equally means that most of our exported foods which are likely produced by commercial farmers who obviously adopt inorganic farming methods are non-organic. Little wonder why lots of our farm produce were being rejected at the European border in 2012 and 2014 on the grounds of excessive chemical content.

The organic food tsunami came about a decade ago, washing over our lives completely. From the humble cucumber to the exotic avocado, from pulses to salad leaves to spices to rice, every single food item we used to buy from the grocers suddenly had an organic cousin sitting next to it on the shelves – with the only obvious difference being a higher price tag. Soon, companies specialising in organic food deliveries came up, claiming to bring produce directly from an organic farm to your table. Now, many restaurants promise the same. This trend has surpassed all food trends and one can even get organic Diwali sweets now.

The United Nations’ recent declaration of Sikkim as the world’s first ‘organic state’ has brought the big organic debate back into focus: what exactly is organic – and how do we identify a genuine organic product?

Imagine you are a small scale rain-fed farmer.  This means that you have less than 2 acres of land, and rely solely on the monsoon to water the crop. Traditionally you have been growing chemical dependent ground nut like all the other farmers around you, but this season you have diversified to growing intrinsically organic millets inter-cropped with legumes on some of your land. You have heard in the media about the health benefits of millets and how the demand is increasing.

Come harvest time you have several hundred kilograms of millets threshed and bagged for sale. You approach a local merchant who offers you the lowest rate because of in spite of threshing quite a bit of stalk and seed head, aka “agro-waste” remains to be cleaned.  Along with sand, dust, even stones and mud balls.  You sell because it is not economically viable to hand clean the grain. Now consider as a farmer, whose sole income is from your annual harvest, are you going to again plan to grow millets next season ? Are you going to encourage other farmers to grow?

From the times immemorial, historians described India as a land of milk and honey as it is blessed with innumerable natural resources. Dubbed as ‘Annapoorna(The food bowl of India) Andhra Pradesh is a major producer of  rice, wheat, Sugar Cane, Cotton, Maize,  pulses, spices, tobacco and chilly. There is no dearth for perennial rivers like The Godavari, Krishna, Penna, Nagavali and Vamshadhara that emerges from both the eastern and the WesternGhats surrounding the state.

Andhra Pradesh is also the proud owner of the fertile alluvial soil in and around the river catchment areas and the delta basin. Yet, the state in general and the Northern part of the Andhra Pradesh in particular is unable to feed its own people. It is a dire necessity today for   AP to re-evaluate why her children are dying due to hunger and malnutrition and why the farmersfrom the northern part of the state are migrating from their native land, leaving their kith and kin and their community in search of livelihood?

Over 30 women have gathered to deliver milk here: a daily rendezvous for this clique belonging to a women-run dairy co-operative, in the Sundarbans delta in south Asia, that is inching its way to becoming 100 percent organic.
In the bucolic settings of the Chowrangi village in West Bengal, these empowered women milk producers ranging from age 20 to 80, have now begun to think of themselves as important stakeholders in a potential organic-farming driven rural economy.

More attention is being given to adopt the methods of organic farming. Not only Indians but people from abroad are also interested in this method of farming. That’s why MaungMaung Tin, who is an industrialist, businessman, and farmer from Myanmar, came to India this week, and visited the “Organic Model Farms” developed by Suminter India Organics located in Akola and Wai (Satara) of Maharashtra.

During this time a program was organized where Tin interacted directly with the farmers. Tin saw crops like sugarcane, vegetable, turmeric etc. being cultivated with organic methods. After this he said that his aim is to produce turmeric and ginger in Myanmar in organic way. Tin has tried to understand the turmeric’s organic crop system and its working in detail from farmers and learnt how it is beneficial. Tin also learnt about the machines used in boiling, drying and polishing along with the turmeric crop.

Government of India is giving more priority for welfare of the farmers. In this regard it is implementing several farmers welfare schemes to revitalize agriculture sector and to improve their economic conditions.  Therefore, the government has rolled out new initiatives, schemes, programmes and plans to benefit all the farmers.

Farmers of Chudzom gewog in Sarpang are learning the basic and rightful implementation of the technique of organic farming.

Chudzom is one of the most remote villages of Southern Bhutan , where most of the farmers have been emphasising on cardamom as the main cash crop. Many farmers have even converted their kitchen garden into cardamom orchard.

The trend is now changing. Farmers have begun growing vegetables for personal consumption and for sale.

As we know waste decomposer has been in use by our farmer friends since long but still there are problems in its availability. Farmers don’t know from where to get these waste decomposers.

With reference to the information given on Krishi Jagran web portal regarding our previous article on waste decomposer, we would be keen to help our farmer friends regarding its availability.

Firstly we would like to tell you about the centers in your area where it is easily available. Waste decomposer can be obtained from the National Centre of Farming and Regional Centre of Farming in just Rs 20. Moreover, it is also available online.

Below is the list of places from where you can get Waste decomposer:

1. NCOF Ghaziabad – Director National Centre of Organic Farming, Sector 19, Hapur Road, Kamla Nehru Nagar, GHAZIABAD – 201 002 (UP). 0120-2764906, 2764212; Fax:0120-2764901 Web: http://ncof.dacnet.nic.in Email: nbdc@nic.in
2. RCOF Jabalpur - Regional Director Regional Centre of Organic Farming, 67/1, Keshav Smriti, Lakshmipur, Shatabdipuram, Behind Muskan Plaza, JABALPUR-482 002 (Madhya Pradesh). 0761-2904320, Email: biofmp06@nic.in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand.
3. RCOF Bhuvneswar - Regional Director Regional Centre of Organic Farming, GA-114, Niladri Vihar (Near KV-4), PO Sailashree Vihar, BHUBANESHWAR-751007 (Orissa). 0674-2721281, Email: biofor04@nic.in Orissa and Andman & Nicobar.
4. RCOF Bangalore - Regional Director Regional Centre of Organic Farming, Kannamangala Cross, Whitefield – Hosekote Road, Kadugodi Post, BENGALURU-560067 (Karnataka). 080-28450503 Email: biofkk06@nic.in, rcofbgl@gmail.com Karnataka, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Pondicherry and Lakshdweep
5. RCOF Imphal - Regional Director Regional Centre of Organic Farming, Langol Road, Lamphelpat, IMPHAL-795 004 (Manipur). 0385-2413239 Email: biofmm01@nic.in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim
6. RCOF Panchkula - Regional Director Regional Centre of Organic Farming, Kisan Bhawan, Sector 14, Panchkula-134 109 (Haryana). 0172-2564460, Email: biofhr05@nic.in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir
7. RCOF Patna - Regional Director Regional Centre of Organic Farming, ICAR-Walmi Complex, Phulwari Sharif, Jamipur Road, Patna-801 505 (Bihar). Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal
8. RCOF Nagpur - Regional Director Regional Centre of Organic Farming, Amravati Road, NH6, Village – Gondkhairy, Post – Wadi, Kalmeshwer, NAGPUR-440 023 (Maharashtra). 07118-297054, Email: recofnagpur@gmail.com, biofmh10@nic.in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Daman & Diu, Dadra and Nagar HaveliTo get more information on National and Regional Centres, click on the link below; 

   http://ncof.dacnet.nic.in/RTI/AddRCOFs.pdf

Dhaka is among the most densely populated city having thousands of buildings for habitation. Residents can create well-planned garden in the rooftop, MA Sobhan says as he sees a huge opportunity to turn the rooftop gardens into earning sources for urban people.
Citing the Cuban experience, he says that Cuba has become the pioneer of urban horticulture, especially in rooftop and balcony gardening. At least 70 per cent fo the Cubans live in urban areas.
They not only can meet their daily demands of vegetables and fruits from their own gardens but also earn some extra by selling them.

‘Bangladesh’s weather is almost similar to that of Cuba. People here can make use of it by farming vegetables and fruits at their rooftop and balcony gardens throughout the year beside flower. This is a country of six seasons and varied crops can be grown in each season,’ Sobhan says.

There was a time when our agriculture scientists as well as farmers believed that with the invention of various types of chemical pesticides they had overcome the problem of pests or bugs in crops. Undoubtedly the initial success was marvelous and soon people began to put their whole trust solely on chemical pesticides and began to use in over dosage, which resulted in the progressive accumulation of pesticide residues into the soil.

Application or use of high dosage of chemical pesticides causes deterioration of the soil fertility as well as accumulation of harmful elements and compounds in the soil takes place. Hence farmers realized the need of turning to organic farming and utilization of organic pesticides.

Japan and South Korea have evinced interest in importing organic vegetables, food grains and medicinal plants grown in Sikkim, which if successful, would add yet another feather to the cap of the Himalayan state’s Organic Mission.

Business delegations of the far eastern countries have already visited the state and held discussions with officials of the Sikkim agriculture and horticulture departments. Another delegation from Ukraine in central Asia is scheduled to visit the state to explore business opportunities in organic vegetables.

Khorlo Bhutia, the secretary of both the agriculture department and Sikkim Organic Mission, said delegations of two Japanese companies, Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan and Kowa Company Ltd, and a team from the trade office of the South Korean embassy had held exploratory talks.

The Maoswm Farmers’ Club at Sonapara Karigaon in Kokrajhar district has set an example in the district for other farmers through organic farming.

The 10-member Maoswm Farmer’s Club, Sonapara cultivates chilly, ladies fingers, brinjal and other vegetables in a plot of six-and-half bighas of land.

They have been selling their products in Kokrajhar town, Balajan Tinali, Karigaon and Audang Bazaar in the district.

Department of Agriculture organized a function to felicitate the farmers of Bangund hamlet which was declared first model Organic vegetable village in the State in 2017.
Deputy Commissioner Pulwama, G M Dar was the chief guest. Speaking on the occasion, DDC said that Organic farming is evolving in all the countries around the world and the culture of organic farming would usher a movement towards sustainable development. He reiterated that organic farming would enhance the income of farmers and lead to a healthy lifestyle and better food habits amongst people.