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Organic food certification scheme being formulated

Our Bureau

HYDERABAD, Sept. 3

TO offset the impending threat of soil and environmental degradation, alternate, eco-friendly use of land cultivation, particularly of edible crops is necessary. Organic farming offers such an alternative as all activities under it are focussed on buildi ng up soil fertility through the adoption of crop management methods suitable to site-specific situations.

The concept extends from farm to post-harvest management of crop, including storage, processing, packaging, transportation and handling exports. It involves careful monitoring and certification at all stages from farming to the product consumption level.

Though organic farming is native to India, the European Union, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Latin America have emerged as major consumers of organic food such as cereals, fruits, vegetables, oils, wines and dairy products.

Organic cultivation conforms to standards which are well established in the developed world. The Indian national organic standards and certification scheme is being formulated and is likely to be adopted in the next three years.

The withdrawal of chemical fertilisers and pesticides could result in a drop in crop yields initially. But the country has to overcome the hiccups in order to tap the huge export market potential. Organic food products have a growing domestic as well as global market and fetch premium prices over conventional products.

The country has evolved standards for horticulture crops on the lines of those of EU. As part of this, importance is given to soil and water conservation measures such as planting nitrogen-fixing legumes around the field boundary and use of organic manur es to conserve moisture.

Bio-fertilisers assume importance as they offer an additional, renewable and economic source of nitrogen for agriculture. Rhizobium, Azospirillum, Acetobacter and Phosphobacteria have been found to be useful for paddy, sugarcane, groundnut, soyabean, cot ton, wheat, pulses, tea and vegetable crops.

Bio-fertiliser application is known to reduce the input cost and increase crop yields by 10-70 per cent, depending on the agro-climatic conditions. For small and marginal farmers with limited resources, bio-fertilisers have proved to be beneficial.