National Project on Organic Farming

March 8, 2013 November 22, 2013

The National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF) is a central sector scheme launched in 2004 i.e during 10^th five year plan by subsuming National Project on Development and use of Biofertilisers under the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.

Objectives:

Promote organic farming practices to reduce the burden on Chemical Fertilizers, to ensure effective utilization of farm resources
Financial and Technical support for setting up of organic input production unit such as Fruits and Vegetable market waste compost, Biofertilizers and biopesticides and Vermiculture hatcheries.
Human resource development and awareness creation and market development for Quality Control of Organic Inputs.

Features:

Implementation agencies: Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of Agriculture through National Centre of Organic Farming, (NCOF) Ghaziabad and its six Regional Centers of Organic Farming (RCOF).
Financial assistance are provided on the recommendations of Screening Committee duly constituted by the Director NCOF,
Financial assistance for setting up Production and maintenance units are provided as credit linked back ended subsidy through any commercial/scheduled bank through NABARD. In case of Municipalities, District Agricultural Council can directly release the funds.
Capital Investment Subsidy scheme (CISS) for setting up of organic inputs production for Municipalities, APMCs, Public sector/Private sector companies, fertilizer companies or any individual entrepreneurs.
Besides four bio-fertilizers viz: Rhizobium, Azotobacter, Azospirillum and PSB and two organic fertilizers: City Waste Compost and Vermi-compost, there are large numbers of organic inputs being produced and promoted.
Under the scheme a capacity has also been created for processing of 708 tons of agricultural waste per day in to compost, 5606 MT of bio-fertilizers and more than 17000 ton of vermiculture and vermicompost. Since the launch of the scheme, the area under certified organic farming has increased 20 fold from 42000 ha (2003-04) to 865,000 ha (2007-08). The organic food production has increased from 4.09 lakh ton in 2006-07 to 9.02 lakh ton during 2007-08.