Articles from General Knowledge Today

National Project on Organic Farming

2010-11-28 06:11:00 Suresh Soni
The National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF) is a central sector scheme
launched in 2004 i.e during 10
th
five year plan by subsuming National Project on
Development and use of Biofertilisers under the Ministry of Agriculture, Government
of India.
Objectives:
Promote organic farming practices to reduce the burden on Chemical
Fertilizers, to ensure effective utilization of farm resources
Financial and Technical support for setting up of organic input production unit
such as Fruits and Vegetable market waste compost, Biofertilizers and
biopesticides and Vermiculture hatcheries.
Human resource development and awareness creation and market
development for Quality Control of Organic Inputs.
Features:
Implementation agencies:
Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC),
Ministry of Agriculture through National Centre of Organic Farming,
(NCOF) Ghaziabad and its six Regional Centers of Organic Farming
(RCOF).
Financial assistance are provided on the recommendations of Screening
Committee duly constituted by the Director NCOF,
Financial assistance for setting up Production and maintenance units are
provided as credit linked back ended subsidy through any
commercial/scheduled bank through NABARD. In case of Municipalities,
District Agricultural Council can directly release the funds.
Capital Investment Subsidy scheme (CISS) for setting up of organic inputs
production for Municipalities, APMCs, Public sector/Private sector companies,
fertilizer companies or any individual entrepreneurs.
Besides four bio-fertilizers viz: Rhizobium, Azotobacter, Azospirillum and PSB
and two organic fertilizers: City Waste Compost and Vermi-compost, there
are large numbers of organic inputs being produced and promoted.
Under the scheme a capacity has also been created for processing of 708
tons of agricultural waste per day in to compost, 5606 MT of bio-fertilizers and
more than 17000 ton of vermiculture and vermicompost. Since the launch of
the scheme, the area under certified organic farming has increased 20 fold
from 42000 ha (2003-04) to 865,000 ha (2007-08). The organic food
production has increased from 4.09 lakh ton in 2006-07 to 9.02 lakh ton during
2007-08.
Under National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF) financial assistance is provided
as back ended subsidy @ 33% for setting up fruit/vegetable waste compost and
25% for bio-fertilizer production units of total project cost. Besides under "National
Project on Management of Soil Health & Fertility" (NPMSF) there is provision for
subsidy on promotion of organic fertilizer up to Rs.500 per hectare. Assistance is
also available for organic fertilizer under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).