City to be developed as capital of organic farming

Bangalore, apart from being the IT and BT capital of India, is now getting ready to add another tag to its name. The city is now all set to reposition itself as a centre of organic agriculture movement too.

Karnataka, which is the first in the country to come out with an exclusive policy for organic agriculture as early as March 2004, is now developing organic villages in every district over an area of 100 hectares each. The varied and diversified cropping patterns in Karnataka provides enough scope for turning the state into an organic trade powerhouse.

According to officials in the state agriculture and horticulture department, the state has taken a number of steps to make it the organic farming hub in the country. The four-day national organic trade fair "" India Organic 2005"" at Lalbagh is one such effort to bring all the stakeholders under a common platform and achieve the desired goals.

This is the first step towards tapping the enormous potential for the fast growing international market. The event has attracted 17 state governments and delegates from neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

Ramesh L Harve, president, International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture (ICCOA) declared at the inauguration of the trade fair that Bangalore will be developed as the capital of organic agriculture movement in India.

Karnataka government plans to send an official delegation to the World Trade Fair Bio-Fach 2006, which will be held at Nuremberg, Germany. The government is also making efforts to make India Organic 2006 the Bio-Fach of South East Asia. Chief minister N Dharam Singh has requested the president of International Federation for Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) Gerald Hermann to consider the possibilities in this regard.

Among the strategies envisaged in the organic policy is the plan of the state government to create a market for organic produce. Adequate technical support besides financial incentive are being provided to the farmers in selected villages across the state to develop organic villages in all the districts. It will also involve traders, certifying agencies, NGOs and farmers' organisations as well as exporters to make the state emerge as an organic farming centre in the country.

Ambassador of Switzerland Dominique Dreyer said India has been receiving development aid from Switzerland in the last few years and now Swiss agencies are working towards reorienting their strategy to India. He said that the Swiss aid of 30 million Swiss francs to India will be continued.