Growth and trend of organic production in India

Abstract

India produces a large variety of food crops including cereals, pulses, and oilseeds. At present, India has achieved self-sufficiency in food grains and is in a position to export food grains especially for wheat and rice. The continuous adoption of modern technologies with increased use of chemical fertilizers and plant protection chemicals has resulted into various negative effects like deterioration of soil health, heavy infestation of weeds, severe incidence of insect-pests and diseases, depletion of ground water etc. Hence an alternative method of farming is of urgent need which could satisfy the needs of increased food production as well as providing nutritional security against any health problem. Organic agriculture is a unique production management system which promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activities, and this is accomplished by using on-farm agronomic, biological and mechanical methods in exclusion of all synthetic off farm inputs. This paper examines the growth and trend of organic production in India using time series data on area, production and trade pertaining to the period 2009-2019. Descriptive statistics like percentage, average and Compound growth rates were worked out to draw valid inferences. India has the largest number of organic producers in the world. With 1,093,288 certified organic producers, it is home to more than 35.11 per cent of total number of organic producers (3.10 million) in the world. Uganda (210,352) and Mexico (210,000) are the second and third largest organic producers. However, when it relates to area under certified organic cultivation, India contributes only 2.54 per cent (1.8 million ha) of the total area (69.8 million ha). Organic farming is cost-effective occupation for farmers due to the lack of usage of chemicals, turning to inexpensive methods, such as biological resources rather than chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Indian is one leading country for export of organic products to various destinations in world. The compound growth rate for export of organic products (in quantity term) like organic herbs, organic spices, organic basmati rice from India attained was 34 per cent during 2002-2019. As the demand is increasing for the organic products in the domestic as well as international market, there is ample scope for organic food industries to expand and generate revenue for strengthening the Indian farm economy.