Hafed-Morarka MoU on organic farming

Chandigarh, Jan 25: The Haryana State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (HAFED) has decided to adopt a holistic approach to promote organic farming in the state and for this it has tied up with the Morarka Foundation.

While stating this here today, Agriculture Minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha said that the farmers would get the benefits of professional and fair linkage, easy market access and environmental benefits if they give a commitment "to go organic". He said that initially, the project would target 5000 acres of land of about 1000 farmers, who would be provided best technological inputs including training and farm level advisory services as per standards of organic farming.

Mr Chatha said that organic certification as per international standards would be done to facilitate domestic and export market for the output. HAFED had tied up with a non government organization, Morarka Foundation, having nation wide presence and wide spread experience on state level organic farming projects to provide farmer services.

He informed that all expenditure on farmer services, certification procedure, consultancy was being done by the HAFED and a weekly radio program on various aspects of organic farming had also been aired for the farmers. He said that organic farming and demand of organic certified consumer products had been rising appreciably in most of the countries and progressive farmers were taking advantage of this.

The Minister said that many small and marginal farmers had shown an interest in organic farming but were holding back due to lack of any expert advice. He said that HAFED would not only enlighten the farmers in the most appropriate manner, it would also save farmers from substandard inputs and ensure genuine organic products for consumers at competitive prices.

UNI