Andhra Pradesh aims to train 1.5 lakh farmers in organic farming

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government aims to train 1.5 lakh farmers in organic farming in the next three years, a senior agriculture department official said today.

"As part of the scheme, 5,000 farmers will be given training between January 24 to 31 at Kakinada in which the well-known organic farming expert, Subhash Parulekar, will participate," Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Andhra Pradesh, P Vijaya Kumar told reporters here.

"The state government aims to train about 1.5 lakh farmers in the next three years in organic farming," he said on the sidelines of seminar on 'state Credit Plan' organised by the NABARD.

He said the trained cultivators will be given a certificate declaring them as organic farmer which would enable them sell their produces at higher prices.

"The purpose of this project is to eliminate consumption of chemical fertilisers and pesticides and also to promote natural manures like cow dung in farming. The prime concept of this project is to reduce expenditure in agriculture and to raise the income for the farmers," the officer added.

Like Self Help Groups (SHGs), the state government has decided to promote social investments by bringing a group of tenant farmers into "farmers clubs" to provide financial assistance to them under group collateral security from banks, he said.

According to him, another initiative of the state government is to create agro-ecological mapping under which every village will have a map on the crops to be cultivated according to the climatic conditions there.