We often have said that we should eat healthy, safe food to have a good active lifestyle but do we know how confusing it is to choose between nutritious and healthy diets. The food we eat might be healthy, but it’s equally nutritious or not is what we need to concentrate on. Where is it grown? Is it laden with chemicals or fertilizers? How long has the food traveled? Is it fresh or from cold storage. Answers to all these are Seasonal, Regional, Local, and Organic Produce. Over the years, therefore, organic food chains have gained immense popularity because people have become aware of the benefits it gives back to us. As they naturally grow, which has no chemicals and fertilizers, their nutrients are mostly intact. Another advantage of consuming organic food is that it does not contain any antibiotic residues. These as the residues if consumed daily, make our body ineffective to fight germs and infections.
Consumers prefer to eat organic food products as it contains nutrients, vitamins, minerals which are needed for bone development, growth, maintenance, and repair of all tissues and cells. Organic farming not only generates nutritional value in food but also sustains the health of the soil and the ecosystem. Presently India holds a unique position among 172 countries practicing organic agriculture: it has 6,50,000 organic producers, 699 processors, 669 exporters, and 7,20,000 hectares under cultivation. Yet there is scarcity in the Markets as we know.
The essential requirement in organic farming is to increase input and more and more people to adapt to this farming lifestyle. Increasing efficiency at each step of the farming operations. This is achieved partly through reducing losses and the adoption of new technologies for enrichment of nutrient content in manure as well as enhancing nutrient uptake. All these measures are being run and there is a considerable involvement from the Government. Practices are needed here as the Government develops schemes to promote organic farming in India, where these farmers are benefited so as to shift to Organic Farming. This is needed for a positive transformation in agriculture.
These are some schemes which are running. We will like to synopsis some for your benefit here.
Under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) scheme, Organic farming will be promoted, preferably in hilly, tribal, and rain-fed areas where utilization of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is very less.
- The cluster approach will be adopted in large patches of up to 1000 ha area.
- The ceiling of subsidy a farmer is eligible will be for a maximum of one hectare.
- The Certification is essential to authenticate organic produce and to validate the price margin.
- The incentive to farmers for organic conversion, inputs, to be provided as DBT for direct farmer accounts
- To empower 30-50 thousand farmers of the northeastern region through the creation of about 100 farmer producer companies.
- Obtaining Certifications for Organic Farming has become easy and available on some prerequisites and checks for all
Despite best efforts from the Government, subsidies, and other schemes, we still lack behind in the total cultivated area for Organic Farming in India. As farmers adopting organic farming face difficulty in surviving and marketing their end product because we have a lot of middlemen involved within the complicated value chain. Because we as consumers still demand far less than the optimum agriculture output. They are consumers still sitting on the edge and not willing to take a plunge because of High prices. They are aware of the benefits of a nutritious lifestyle they want to follow but for them to take “the” plunge becomes a deterring factor. When demand is less-. The challenge posed by farmers is the inadequate delivery of food products in the market. To get ourselves in the proper physical conditions to fight diseases, germs, and attacks like #COVID, we need to maintain our food and health safety standards.
How will we do it? By making the right choices in food. Physical Health, which leads to a healthy mind, body, and soul is the key here. Adopting a natural Organic diet is a wise choice for both the environment and our own personal health. So switching to organic food is the right decision for better health.