In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, CCFI alleged the data on organic farming released by National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF) smacked of “deep and widespread manipulation”. In its annual report, the NPOF has cited statistics from the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development (APEDA), which comes under the commerce and industry ministry.
NPOF, a centrally-run scheme under the Union environment ministry, was started in 2004 to encourage and promote development of organic agriculture in India.
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According to CCFI, the official data showed that in FY11, 266 hectares (ha) of land was under organic farming in Delhi, which soared to about 100,000 ha the next year. However, during this period, organic production fell from 2,172 tonnes to 0.01 tonnes, CCFI pointed out.
It also questioned the large area under organic farming. “The total geographical area of Delhi is 148,000 ha. Of this, over 100,000 ha was brought under organic farming, according to the published data by NPOF. Isn’t this a glaring evidence of data manipulation?” CCFI said in a press note.
Another observation by the CCFI noted that in three years, the organic production in Odisha “zoomed from a mere 62,391 tonnes to over 29 million tonnes”. It said the government departments “must explain the magic formula behind this.”
The final observation by the industrial body showed that the data for Uttar Pradesh had “disconnect between area and production” in every financial year.
A questionnaire sent by Business Standard on Thursday afternoon to the National Centre of Organic Farming, which administers the NPOF scheme and APEDA, did not elicit any response.
The CCFI asked the Prime Minister for action over the alleged data fudge. "We must state that what we have given as examples are truly the proverbial tip of the iceberg. There is a more. It is extremely rare for data fraud to exist without hidden corruption while managing huge budgeted grants and subsidies. We seek civil and criminal action besides administrative action against those found guilty," Rajju Shroff, Chairman of CCFI, wrote in a letter to the Prime Minister.