Parliament Question: Review of Organic Farming

O.I.H GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2742 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 04/08/2026 Review of Organic Farming

2742. SHRI RAJESH RANJAN:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृिष एवं िकसान क(cid:208)याण मं(cid:253)ी be pleased to state:

(a) the details of budgetary allocation, actual expenditure and the number of farmers benefited under natural farming schemes during the last three years, State-wise and whether farmers are being compelled to practise organic farming, while reducing chemical fertilizer subsidies, without providing adequate training, marketing facilities and compensation;

(b) whether it is a fact that the organic certification process is complex, expensive and out of reach for small and marginal farmers, thereby making them dependent on large corporations and middlemen, if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether any separate Minimum Support Price (MSP) or assured procurement mechanism is in place for organic products and if not, the manner in which farmers may get a fair price for their produce, if so, the details thereof; and

(d) the concrete action plan being formulated by the Government to strengthen training, certification and marketing facilities for organic farming in backward agricultural regions including Bihar? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृिष एवं िकसान क(cid:208)याण रा(cid:186)य मं(cid:253)ी (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR)

(a) to (d): The Union Cabinet approved the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) on 25th November 2024 as a centrally sponsored scheme. Details of budget, expenditure and number of farmers benefited during 2024-25 and 2025-26, State-wise is given at Annexure-I.

Farmers are encouraged to practise natural farming in clusters, with each farmer taking it up in 1 acre. Under NMNF, there is a provision for an Output Based Incentive of ₹4000/- per acre, per year to a farmer for 2 years (up to 1 acre per farmer). The incentive is for farmers topractice Natural Farming, to train more farmers, upkeep of livestock, preparation of natural farming inputs or purchase of inputs from Bio-input Resource Centers (BRCs) etc.

The Government is implementing two schemes to promote organic farming namely Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), which is implemented in all States and Union Territories (UTs) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region

(MOVCDNER), which is implemented in the North Eastern States. Both schemes stress on end-to-end support to farmers engaged in organic farming i.e. from production to processing, certification and marketing.

Government has initiated Organic Certification to help small farmers reap these benefits, making farming systems more sustainable, prosperous, and profitable. Participatory Guarantee System (PGS-India) organic certification being implemented by Ministry of Agriculture and farmers’ Welfare. PGS-India organic certification system is a simplified, training led, low-cost, peer-reviewed certification tailored for smallholder farmers. PGS ensures transparency , participation, traceability and enable farmers in group to link with market. So far 16.35 lakh ha area has been certified benefitting 24.14 lakh farmers under PGS- India Certification Programme. Till now more than 500 brands have been developed for organic farming under PGS-India, which have received good and stable prices in the market.

The prominent brands developed under PGS-India Organic Certification programme include Pure & Sure (Bengaluru), Swadesham Organics (Uttar Pradesh), Organic Himachal, Organic Jharkhand, Kerala Organic, Sahaja Aharam (Hyderabad), Tamil Nadu Organic Products, Aadim Organic (Dantewada), Organic Uttarakhand, Namami Gange Jaivik Kashi etc.

National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) which is a third-party Certification for organic products is managed by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) for export and large- scale domestic production. Till 2025-26, 39.68 lakhs ha land certified under NPOP Organic Certification. The prominent brands developed under National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) certification includes, Mantra Organic, Organic India, Natureland Organics, Morarka, etc.

Under MOVCDNER, all 8 North East states have developed their own organic product brands namely Organic Arunachal (Arunachal Pradesh), Organic Manipur (Manipur), Mission Organic Mizoram (Mizoram), Naga Organic (Nagaland), Sikkim Organic (Sikkim), Megha

(Meghalaya) and Tripura Organic (Tripura), Asoma (Assam) which are used on its organic products for marketing.National Cooperative Organics Limited (NCOL) under the Ministry of Cooperation, is engaged in promoting certified organic farming through procurement, processing, branding and marketing of certified organic produce under the "Bharat Organics" brand. NCOL has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with State Nodal Agencies in 28 States/UTs and enrolled 14,550 cooperative societies as its members. NCOL has launched more than 28 certified organic products, including wheat flour, rice, pulses, jaggery, brown sugar, khandsari sugar, dry fruits, honey, ghee and apple cider vinegar. These products are marketed through a network of retail and e-commerce platforms, including Safal (Mother Dairy), National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Limited (NCCF), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) outlets, Amazon, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, Reliance Retail, BigBasket and other channels. NCOL has achieved sales of approximately ₹40 crore through marketing of certified organic produce.

So far 18.93 lakh hectares area has been covered and 33.63 lakh farmers benefited under PKVY. Since certified Natural or Organic farming produce command high prices in the market, separate MSP has not been proposed. In Bihar, so far 31783.27 hectares area covered under PKVY and 54449 farmers brought under PGS-India Certification Programme.Annexure-I State/UT wise Budget release, Expenditure and number of Farmers benefitted during 2024-25 and 2025-26 under National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) (Rs. in Lakh) S. No. State/UT Budget Released Expenditure Number of Farmers Benefitted Andaman & Nicobar 17.48 6.89 250 1 Islands 2 Andhra Pradesh 12298.655 11957.17 650163 3 Arunachal Pradesh 831.44 831.43 2982 4 Assam 242.18 225.74 3721 5 Bihar 1241.368 1086.75 50065 6 Chhattisgarh 2619.059 2041.22 57590 7 Delhi 27.26 0.73 375 9 Goa 43.817 5.36 1623 10 Gujarat 3640.48 2086.86 117108 11 Haryana 531.92 58.99 11288 12 Himachal Pradesh 3602.057 3448.67 62003 13 Jammu & Kashmir 1380.98 1112.44 19791 14 Jharkhand 249.31 215.89 11562 15 Karnataka 4377.96 3680.44 124332 16 Kerala 558.02 438.01 16700 17 Ladakh 37.79 26.57 621 18 Madhya Pradesh 6323.46 4966.35 167661 19 Maharashtra 7200.93 7077.74 143707 20 Manipur 660.12 325.56 9077 21 Meghalaya 345.96 232.90 7017 22 Mizoram 890.35 890.23 13503 23 Nagaland 950.8545 925.16 7998 24 Odisha 1325.25 1125.74 60422 25 Puducherry 46.86 27.81 772 26 Punjab 269.22 148.37 5295 27 Rajasthan 6992.898 5030.87 212346 28 Tamil Nadu 388.37 381.94 6072 29 Telangana 761.515 492.71 61205 30 Tripura 919.145 857.24 13643 31 Uttar Pradesh 7310.5775 5685.19 230733 32 Uttarakhand 809.745 793.57 23032 TOTAL 66895.041 56184.56 2092657 ***