HYDERABAD: The centre is planning to bring 14 million hectares of land which is approximately 10 per cent of the total arable land in the country under organic farming by 2025, according to Dr Gagnesh Sharma, Director of National Centre for Organic and Natural Farming (NCOF), who added that presently area under organic farming was only 2 per cent of arable land. Speaking at the two-day ‘Bio- Agri 2022 International Conference’ held on the theme “India- The Global Gateway for Bio Ag Solutions” at Hotel Park Hyatt, Banjara Hills on Wednesday, he spoke about various government initiatives to popularise bio-fertilisers in India.
“We have 537 bio-fertiliser units across India. Their installed capacity is 3 lakh metric tonnes, with its market in India standing at Rs 1,200 crore. The biotech consortium of India’s report indicates that the requirement of bio-fertilisers in the country in comparison to the present installed capacity will increase by three times by the year 2025,” he said.
Dr SK Malhotra, former Agricultural Commissioner, Government of India, who was the chief guest at the event, stated that the three pillars of agriculture have been soil, seeds and fertilisers, but now machines, bio-stimulants, pollinators, agronomy and analytics are also seen as crucial for agriculture.