Minister claims farmers getting profits from organic farming
AGARTALA: Farmers in Tripura engaged in organic farming have reaped significant benefits with organic products worth Rs 8.79 crore exported over the last three years. State's Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare Minister Ratan Lal Nath informed this in state Assembly Monday.
The Minister highlighted human resources in agriculture and underlined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s support for natural and organic farming.
While only 24% of the state's land is cultivable, plans are in place to convert 50,000 hectares to organic farming. The Central government’s funding under the Mission Organic Value Chain Development initiative has facilitated this growth, leading to the cultivation of organic crops on 26,500 hectares, a jump from just 2,000 hectares initially.
Minister stated that in 2016-17, farmers primarily cultivated scented rice, turmeric, pineapple, ginger and chilli for personal use; however, the initiative has flourished, involving about 26,884 farmers and expanding from 132 organic clusters to 1,276. The number of Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) has increased from 4 to 49, now cultivating a diverse range of products including scented rice, pineapple, bird eye chilli, Gondhoraj lebu, sesame and orange.
Collaborations with companies like Big Basket Kolkata, Mother Dairy of Delhi, and others have been established to facilitate exports.
In terms of export volume, Nath said the past three years saw shipments of 29.58 metric tons of scented rice, 501 MT of ginger, 52.50 MT of turmeric, 17.10 MT of bird eye chilli, 32.56 MT of lemon, and 554 MT of pineapple. The government has provided support to FPCs, including 50 transport vehicles, promoting further development of organic farming. To enhance market access, 10 organic outlets have been opened, with plans to establish more in the future.