BHUBANESWAR: The Regional Centre of Organic Farming (RCOF) has sought proposal from the State Government for establishment of mechanised biowaste compost production unit.
The Centre is encouraging production of organic manure from biowaste under the capital investment subsidy scheme (CISS) of National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) programme.
The Centre is providing financial assistance to Government agencies and private entrepreneurs for setting up organic inputs production units by releasing credit linked back ended subsidy through National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), said RCOF Regional Director Gagnesh Sharma.
Under this scheme, financial assistance up to a maximum limit of `190 lakh to State Government and its agencies and up to `63 lakh per unit to individuals and private agencies is provided through Nabard as capital investment for setting up of mechanised fruit/vegetable market waste and agro-waste compost production unit of 3000 tonnes per annum capacity.
Sharma said RCOF, Bhubaneswar has been engaged in development and maintenance of efficient crop specific strains which are distributed to different bio-fertiliser production units situated in Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands on demand.
Stating that the State has a great potential for organic farming, Sharma said a number of alternative methods to guarantee the organic integrity of products have been developed for small domestic producers. These alternative programmes are now collectively referred to as Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS). The term PGS embodies the active participation of producers and other stakeholders in their organic guarantee process.
Since majority of farmers in the State practised organic farming and over 80 per cent of small and marginal farmers used less amount of fertilisers and pesticides, there is vast scope to generate jobs in on-farm storing, processing, packaging and marketing facilities.
Apart from paddy, cotton, turmeric, ginger, niger and some variety of pulses are certain organic crops produced in Odisha.