India pitches for Organic farming at BRICS meet

 The Dollar Business Bureau The Union Minister of Agriculture, Radha Mohan Singh, expressed the Government of India’s commitment towards promoting ‘Organic Farming’, with an aim to improve soil health and ensure better quality crops. Under this move, the Government of India (GoI) will be implementing ‘Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana’, a new scheme to develop organic clusters and provide chemical free inputs to farmers, from the current financial year, the Minister added. The Union Minister made these announcements during his participation at the 4th Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Agriculture and Agrarian Development in Brasilia, Brazil on Friday. Speaking at the meet, Singh also made a mention about the GoI’s ‘Gokul Mission’, an initiative aimed at improving cattle population for boosting milk production and ensure increased income to the farmers. According to an official release, the Indian government is already under process towards the implementation of measures to increase population of cattle and other livestock species in the country. The Department of Animal Husbandry Dairying & Fisheries, GoI, is already underway for implementation of schemes like National Programme for Bovine Breeding & Dairy Development, National Livestock Mission, Central Cattle Breeding Farms, among others, across the country. Under the National Action Plan on Climate Change and National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, India also wishes to transform the Indian Agriculture sector into a climate-resilient production system. In this regard, India is taking adequate measures towards effective management of water resources, mainstreaming of rain-shed technologies and promotion of location-specific farming systems, among others, under the above mentioned action plans, to increase the country’s potential of food production. While highlighting the water security as the GoI’s top priority among others, the Minister said, “Under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana’ scheme, the government aims at providing appropriate solutions in irrigation supply chain." Referring to all the initiatives, Singh called upon the BRICS countries to consider ample scope for cooperation with India, in various areas like enhancement of productivity of horticulture crops, exchange of processable varieties and development of cold chain facilities.  

This article was published on March 14, 2015.