India has emerged as one of the top three countries where area under organic agriculture has significantly expanded in 2020.
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International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), an umbrella organization for organic food and farming, has released latest global data, according to which India has emerged as one of the top three countries in the world where organic agriculture area has expanded the maximum in 2020.
In 2020, the total increase under organic cultivation was recorded at 3 million hectares (mh) globally. Out of this, Argentina accounted for 7,81,000 hectares (21% surge), followed by Uruguay at 5,89,000 hectares (28% surge) and India at 3,59,000 hectares (16% surge).
Out of world’s total 74.9 mh land under organic farming, Australia leads at 35.7mh, whereas India has 2.8 mh. Out of 34 lakh organic producers in the world, 16 lakh farmers in India are into certified organic farming.
As farmers face issues like certification process, the experts suggests that until the government takes concrete steps, the growth in organic agriculture may not see any significant improvement.
The government is under process to approve Agriculture Ministry’s ₹ 2,481 crore proposal to launch the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF). The mission is supposed to be implemented from the current fiscal until 2025-26, with a target to bring on fold 7.5 lakh farmers to practice non-chemical natural farming on 7.5 lakh hectares. The scheme will enable farmers to get a maximum of ₹ 15,000 per hectare (until 2025-26) depending on loss in income, if any, after switching over to natural farming.
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