Areport released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) reveals thatorganic farming and natural farming have still not become a mass movement inIndia. According to the survey, a mere 2 percent of India’s net sown area isorganically farmed and only 1.3 percent of the farmers in the country areregistered to do organic farming. Organic food production does not use chemicalfertilizers, chemical pesticides or chemical preservatives and hence hasseveral health benefits. Hence it is gaining popularity across the globe.Various states in the country can play an important role in helping farmerssell their organic and natural produce by procuring the organic produce andhelping farmers get remunerative prices. Farmers of organic and natural produceneed to be able to sell the produce directly to the consumer. The consumerneeds to know where the organic produce is available. Hence it would bedesirable to have a separate area in the market-place earmarked for sellingonly organic produce. Adequate availability of good quality and affordable organicfertilizers and bio-fertilizers need to be put in place. The state should makeavailable city compost as an organic fertilizer. The country needs awell-funded country-wide programme in order to change towards organic andnatural farming. The Goa government too needs to boost organic farming in thestate so that people can enjoy the health benefits and farmers can make aprofit.
