Budget 2020: Organic food sector needs stimulus for growth, says Kesarwala

Organic food start-up Kesarwala on Monday sought incentives from the government in the forthcoming Budget for the fast growing sector to push the industry growth.

"The industry needs adequate infrastructure in terms of number of testing and certifying labs in the country. This will help in cutting the cost as currently these things are expensive," Founders of Kesarwala Divaker Bhalla and Yousuf Khan said.

They said that starting from the farmers to the industry, the sector needs support from the government.

"To replenish farm land for the purpose of growing organic produce, which are completely chemical free, a farmer has to wait for at least five years as he or she can not use that land before that for organic farming. Leaving the land for five year is a long period. If government can announce some kind of subsidies to those farmers, it will provide a big help to them," Khan said.

He also said increasing awareness about the benefits of consuming organic produce too is important for the growth of the sector.

Bhalla said although people are gradually shifting towards organic foods, more steps needs to be taken in this direction in all big and small cities.

"We can take cue from countries such as the US and Europe to taker forward this sector," he added.

Further, Khan said that skill development is another area, which needs to be focussed.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget for 2020-21 on February 1.

The company is running its organic food restaurant in Noida. It is planning to open 10 new franchise restaurants in the national capital region in next few months.